The dividend that grows as you give

Sonal Srivastava

Who does not want to be rich? We all want fat bank accounts, beautiful properties in pristine Alps or cottages in Himalayas; a house by a beach and a farmhouse near a bustling metro, where we might retreat for quiet time after exhausting ourselves with city life, forays into malls and cinema halls, clubs, five-star brunches, soirées at friends’ and concerts headlined by our favourite rock stars – luxuries of life are expensive. But true wealth is an uncountable noun. If you know exactly how much you have, you probably do not have enough.

The wealth of love is beyond measure. Greeks call it agape , love for its own sake. In its purest form, love makes the world go round, for it is the most widely recognised and deeply felt emotion across the globe. It rises beyond language; it is a dialect of Korean dramas and an idiom of OTT platforms, and no Bollywood movie is ever complete without its leading pair. From Raj Kapoor and Nargis to Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, actors have enacted this emotion with utmost sincerity.

In a film starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, a song goes: “Rom-rom tera naam pukare, Ek hue din-rain humare, Humse hum hi chhin gaye hain, Jabse dekhe hain nain tihare (sajdaa)/Teri kaali akhiyon se jind meri jaage/Dhadkan se tez daudoon, sapno se aage/Ab jaan lut jaaye, ye jahaan chhut jaaye/Sang pyaar rahe, main rahoon, na rahoon” – every pore of my body calls out your name. Our days and nights have become one. I feel as though I’ve been taken from myself. Ever since my eyes met yours. From your dark, kohl-lined eyes, my life awakens. I run faster than my heartbeat, beyond my dreams. Now, even if my life is lost, even if this world slips away, let love remain – whether i remain or not.

It can safely be said that the more love you give, more it grows. “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with” is a phrase from a 1970s hit song by Stephen Stills.

“A life without love is of no account. Do not ask yourself what kind of love you should seek – spiritual or material, divine or mundane, eastern or western. Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is – pure and simple. Love is the water of life, and a lover is a soul of fire. The universe turns differently when fire loves water,” said Shams Tabrizi, pir-o-murshid of Rumi, who saw Shams not merely as a teacher but as an agent of transformation.

In one of his poems on ecstasy and longing, Rumi says, “Why should i seek more? I am the same as he. His essence speaks through me. I have been looking for myself.”

For is it not the Guru who helps us walk spiritual path, inviting us to taste wine of divinity flowing from the chalice of Atman? Guru and the Self are one, and so we wish to unite with them, heart and soul. In Gita, Krishn says, “On those ever united through meditation with Me and worshipping Me with love, I confer that yog of wisdom through which they come to Me,” and “Whosoever offers Me with love a leaf, a flower, a fruit or even water, I appear in person before that selfless devotee of sinless mind, and delightfully partake of that article offered by him with love.”

For have we not dreamt of singing to our lovers – “You’re my heart, you’re my soul, That is the only thing I really know, You’re my heart, you’re my soul, Yeah, a feelin’ that our love will grow.”