Hyakujo said: I sit here all by myself!

235. Love.

Freedom from becoming means freedom for being.

Becoming is desiring,

being is that which is.

Becoming is longing for the future,

being is to be in the present.

Becoming is mental,

being is existential.

That is why becoming must cease for the being

to reveal itself.

Becoming is just like the smoke around the flame,

or just like the outer covering around the seed,

so please let the smoke go

for the flame to explode in its complete glory

and splendor,

and let the seed die to its outer shell

so that it may be what it is in its innermost depth.

236. Love.

No more principles are needed.

The world is already much too burdened with principles

and people who are men of principle.

I have heard that once a priest was consoling a widow.

He said with much feeling that her dead husband

was a man of principle.

That he was, sighed the widow.

Every Saturday night for these past twenty years

the poor man would come home

and faithfully hand me his pay envelope –

he never missed doing that.

Of course the envelope was always empty,

but mind you,

he was loyal to the principle of the thing.

237. Love.

Religion is – living without conflict,

that is, without ideas

and without ideals,

because whenever one lives with ideals

there is conflict,

there is conflict between

that which is and that which should be,

and then life is misery.

See this and go beyond.

In fact the very seeing of the fact is going beyond.

And please do not ask the seemingly inevitable, “How?”

Because there is no how to it.

Either you see it or you do not see it –

and moreover the how again creates conflict.

238. Love.

Bhakti needs only time to absorb the shock she

has come across

in her deep meditations;

remember – only time and nothing else.

The shock is nothing new.

It happens whenever the deeper layers of the unconscious

are encountered.

Before any mutation this is absolutely necessary.

Be grateful to the divine because this is a good omen.

Bhakti needed it badly,

and when she is out of it she will be a totally new person.

Soon she will be twice-born.

At present she is passing through a great spiritual crisis,

so you be with her – but just as if you are not.

Be present, but with absolute absence.

This is the only way you can be helpful to her.

Let her be alone as much as possible.

Do not talk with her

except where it is needed absolutely,

and then too be telegraphic.

But if she herself wants to talk

let her talk as much as she likes,

and you yourself just be a passive listener.

Let her do whatsoever she wants to do or not do

and soon everything will be okay.

Do not worry at all.

I will always be there beside you –

and if you can see, you will be able to see me also.

Of course Bhakti will feel my presenceand become aware

of me so many times in these days. Convey my blessings to her.

239. Love.

One day a man came to the Sufi teacher, Bahauddin.

He asked for help in his problems

and guidance on the path.

Bahauddin told him to abandon spiritual studies

and to leave his court at once.

A kind-hearted visitor began to remonstrate

with Bahauddin.

You shall have a demonstration, said the master.

At that moment a bird flew into the room

darting hither and thither,

not knowing where to go in order to escape.

The master waited until the bird settled

near the only open window