Under the existing conditions of no promises from me, no
bindings upon me and no undertakings by me, my
dependents must also be made to feel quite free of their
material dependence upon me. Thus, they will be able to
maintain a pure relationship of love for the sake of love.
I now wish to be outwardly what I always am inwardly:
living solely in love, for love and with love. In that spirit,
the whole world could live with me irrespective of whether
or not there happened to be any provision for food and
shelter for the "todays" as well as for the "tomorrows." As
it is, I am free and no bindings touch me, but I should also
be free of the need to bother about arrangements for others.
I now want love to reign supreme outwardly, as it always
does inwardly in me.
How can one explain love? There are as many ways of
explaining love and obedience as there are men. There can
thus be no end to the understanding of them except through
obedience based on love, and through love itself. All great
saints, teachers and masters say the same thing in one way
or another when the emphasis is laid on love for the sake of
love, or failing that, on obedience in the cause of love.
For spontaneous surrender, the heart must, so to speak, be
worn on one's sleeve. One must be ever ready to place one's
neck under the ever-sharp knife of command of the Beloved,
and the head should figuratively be detached in order that it
might be completely surrendered at the Master's feet.
Obedience should be so complete that one's concern with it
makes one as much awake to possibilities as it makes one
deaf to impossibilities — as envisaged by the poet Hafiz:
"Darmiyane qahre darya, takhta bandam karda-ee
Baad mi gu-ee kay, daaman ter makun hoshyar baash."
"I was tied to a raft
and thrown into the ocean
and then I was warned to be careful
not to let my robe get wet."
Yet, all this does not and cannot explain the required degree
of continued readiness for love and obedience to love. In fact,
one of the three reasons for this sahavas is to help you grasp
what love and obedience really mean.
You must have such a clear picture in your minds of this
sahavas as to forget completely such things as declarations,
messages and discourses by me. This is not an occasion for
the fulfillment or the making and breaking of past and future
promises. You have got to remove from your minds any
picture of me upon a dais and you sitting before me — as
has been the experience of most of you present here.
I want you to be with me, near me and before me in an
entirely different atmosphere, so that you can freely breathe
the air of my personal presence. We must be together as
intimately as if we were living under the same roof for no
purpose other than that of living with each other and for
each other.
Do not look forward to any functions, meetings, timetables,
programs, agendas or any cut-and-dried plans. You have
simply to be near me all the time that I remain with you,
playing, sitting, walking, joking, discussing serious things or
listening to stories. I want you to live with me the day-to-day
life I normally lead.
You are not expected to read, study, meditate or pray, but
to feel at home with me as naturally and unreservedly as
you would do at home in the midst of your own family and
friends. I want you to be your natural selves, putting aside
all the superficial niceties one usually assumes in social life.
Being in my company, watching me and being watched by
me, you will automatically learn and unlearn a lot, which no
amount of teaching can convey. In short, there are three
reasons for this sahavas program:
First: To give you my closest company in order to bring out
the oneness between us.
Second: To help you understand love and obedience, and
to make you imbibe these twin aspects of the nectar of the
infinite existence behind all life.
Third: To show you how to do my work of spreading love.
However much I may explain, you cannot have a true idea
of the enormous strain on my physical body in these last
twelve months. To say the least, I am utterly exhausted
physically, yet I intend to exert myself further for the whole
sahavas month in order to impress thoroughly upon you
certain points. There are points which I have got to drive
in deeper and deeper, not only for you all, who are able
to be near me physically, but for all others, also, who love
me and obey me, as well as for other reasons which are
not apparent here and now. These points you will have to
grasp through the three reasons of the sahavas, as given
above.
Therefore, during the seven days, above everything else,
forget your worries, comforts, discomforts, home and
business affairs. In short, forget about everything
concerning your daily life except your present life here
with me. As I have stated, I have offered this sahavas at
the cost of additional physical exertion for me, because
of all who love me and obey me, including those who are
physically absent.
The only explanations you should expect from me during
the sahavas will be on four points:
Love;
Obedience;
Work of spreading my love;
Freedom from the apparent binding of those dependent on
me.
I want you all to take particular note that I would feel happy
if each one of you not only possessed but read and digested
God Speaks from the first to the last page, as the last
book of its kind by me. I will, likewise, be happy if those
among you who can possibly do so will see that this work is
translated and made available in as many languages as
possible for those who cannot read and understand English.
