Ishq Haqeeqi (ENGLISH VERSION)

True Divine Love

Waris Shah writes in his Heer-Ranjha:

“अवल हमद खुदा का विरद कीजे , इश्क कीता सू जग द मूल मियां ॥
पहले आप ही रब न इश्क कीता, माशूक है नबी रसूल मियां ॥”

First, let us praise the one, incomparable God, who made love the very principle of self-revelation. Through His own love, God revealed the secret of love to His beloved Messenger, Prophet Muhammad.

There is no difference between love and Allah. Love alone bridges the distance between two and gives rise to tawhid—oneness. Love cannot be fully expressed in words; it can only be experienced. The more intensely love is felt, the more one becomes aware of how little one has yet understood it. Love is limitless and beyond the grasp of the human mind, for human reason has its limits. In love, one must relinquish one’s own selfhood, whereas worldly striving seeks to elevate it.

The lover may think that it is he who loves; in truth, the beloved’s beauty compels him to love. A person is left bewildered, wondering how the spark of love is kindled. No one has reached a definitive conclusion about this.

Those who know the spiritual path, and who have experienced union with Allah, say that by Allah’s grace and mercy, the seed of love is planted in the human soul. Love always brings an inner change in a person’s mind, feelings and awareness. Here, the reference is to ishq haqeeqi, true divine love, which has nothing to do with physical attachment, sexual desire or possessive love for another human being. How does the grace of true love come about? It involves the worship of the Kalma or Ism-e-Azam, devotion to a perfect Murshid, love and birha—the pain of separation. I will discuss how these elements fit together shortly. First, it is necessary to reflect on true divine love.

Mirdad writes: “Love is the law of God.” Through love alone can worship be learned, and the purpose of a servant’s life is to love Allah. The blind lover can see everything, because he sees no flaw, shortcoming, failing or fault in anyone else. As the saying goes: “Love is blind, but that blindness is the height of seeing.”

Guru Nanak Sahib says:

नदानी यह दुनिया व फ़ानी मुकाम ॥ तूं खुद चशम बीनी है चलना जहान॥

हर वकत बंदे न तू खिदमत विसार ॥ मस्ती और गफलत में बाज़ी न हार ॥

The world is a foolish marketplace, doomed to perish; it is transient and temporary. O servant, do not turn away from love and service to the Master. Do not lose the game of life in heedlessness and intoxication.

The saint Tulsī Sāhib of Hathras says the same thing:

“ये राहे-मंजिल इश्क है”

This means that love is both the spiritual path and its destination. He further says:

“मंसूर, सरमद, बु-आली और शमस, मौलाना हुए पहुंचे सभी इस राह से जिन्होंने दिल पुख्ता किया”

This is a sweeping declaration: the great Sufi figures of the world—Mansur al-Hallaj and Sarmad, who were put to death for the sake of love; Bu Ali Qalandar, who immersed himself in the waters of love for the Sustainer; and Shams Tabrizi and Maulana Rumi, whose closeness as Murshid and disciple was rooted in devotion and love.

Some Sufis and saints speak of the “Water of Life” as a means of release from the mortal condition and worldly existence. It is also called the nectar of immortality. After drinking it, the soul’s final journey is toward fana—the annihilation of the self—and freedom from the cycle of 8.4 million births. Amritsar—literally, the pool of nectar or the lake of immortality—is the place where one is freed from the ego. This is not an actual pool of bricks, stones and water; it is an image meant to help us understand an inner reality.

The Water of Life is not some outward or unseen substance. In truth, the annihilation of one’s selfhood in ishq haqeeqi is the Water of Life. In such love, the lover and the Beloved become one; the sense of duality disappears. All debate about disbelief and faith, certainty and doubt, idols and temples, the sanctuary and association with God comes to an end in this life-giving love.

मैं अजल से बंद इश्क हूँ , मुझे जहदो कुफ़र का गम नहीं ॥

मेरे सर को दर तेरा मिल गया , मुझे अब तलाशे हरम नहीं॥

“I have been bound to Love since pre-eternity; I no longer worry about the distinctions between zuhd and kufr—between outward asceticism and the labels of belief or disbelief. My head has found its place at Your threshold; I have no further need to search for the sanctuary.”

The speaker describes a soul whose deepest allegiance has always been to Divine Love. When love becomes the seeker’s whole path, outward labels and displays of piety lose their power to define the inward journey. This does not mean that faith or spiritual discipline are rejected; rather, they are no longer treated as ends in themselves. The seeker’s true measure is the sincerity of the heart and its surrender to the Beloved.

Finding the Beloved’s threshold brings the restless search to its inward destination. The haram—the sacred sanctuary—is no longer sought only as a place in the outer world: its deepest meaning is discovered at the Beloved’s door, where the heart bows in humility. The soul’s journey does not end through weariness or escape from life; its longing comes to rest because it has found the One for whom it was searching.

Mansur al-Hallaj, whose blessed teaching of “अनल हक”—“I am the Real”—was an expression of love to his disciples, says:

कहे ‘मंसूर‘ मस्ताना, ये मैंने दिल में पहचाना,

वही मस्तों का मयख़ाना, उसी के बीच आता जा I

Baba Bulleh Shah also says that once he understood the secret of love, the conflict between “I” and “you” came to an end. In other words, he could see nothing but God. This is one of the great miracles of love:

जा मैं रमज़ इश्क दी पाई मैंना तोता मार् गवायी

अंदरू बाहरों होयी सफ़ायी जिस वल देखो यारो यार

Shams Tabrizi gave many indications about the love of God. For example, wherever there is love, pain is inevitable. Fasting and repentance may cleanse the body, but the veils of the mind’s impurity that cover the soul can be removed only through love, service and worship.

Sufis and saints also teach that it is essential to accept God’s will with joy. Guru Nanak Sahib says:

किव सचिआरा होईऐ किव कूड़ै तुटै पालि ॥

हुकमि रजाई चलणा नानक लिखिआ नालि ॥१॥

The question is: How does one realise Truth, and how can the mind be freed from duality and maya—the illusion that the Guru calls falsehood? For the state of haq, or Sach Khand, the Guru gives one way: to realise the Lord, accept with gratitude whatever circumstances arise in life—now or in the future—through His will, His hukam, His Ism-e-Azam or Naam. They should be received as an expression of Allah’s mercy and grace.

Such acceptance comes through the surrender and annihilation of one’s selfhood. Love is the path through which a person can let the self dissolve. At the station of love, duality falls away: the anxieties of “I,” “you,” “we,” “he,” “yours” and “mine” come to an end.