THE STAGES OF LOVE

 
When lust goes love appears; and out the love comes longing. In love there can never be satisfaction, for longing increases till it becomes an agony which ceases only in Union. Nothing but union with the Beloved can satisfy the lover.

The Way of Love is a continual sacrifice; and what gets sacrificed are the lover's thoughts of "I", until at last comes the time when the lover says, "O Beloved! will I ever become one with you and so lose myself forever? But let this be only if it is your Will." This is the stage of love enlightened by obedience.

Now the lover continuously witnesses the glory of the Beloved's Will; and in the witnessing does not even think of union. He willingly surrenders his entire being to the Beloved, and has no thought of self left. This is the stage when love is illumined by surrender.

Out of millions, only one loves God; and out of millions of lovers, only one succeeds in obeying, and finally, in surrendering his whole being to God the Beloved.