True Love - Love with the Divine

As long as there is purpose/reason in love, it is more of business and less of love. As long as there is reason, there will also be exploitation. The motive behind it would be something else. Expecting something from the other person. Frankly speaking, what we call love is our wish to derive happiness through the other. Since the other is the medium, so he has to be pampered. Normally what we know as love is very much ego-centered. The feeling behind this kind of love is that I’ll get peace and happiness if others love me. And the others will love you only as long as you love them. It’s a condition. So you have no other way out, except to show that you love them. Otherwise you will get nothing in return from the others. You will get something in return from the others, only, if you give something or at least pretend that you are giving. It is just as if two beggars are begging from each other. Neither has anything to give. Both need something from the other, and pretend as if they are about to give something to the other. If not now, then don’t worry, maybe in future. There is a whole treasure with us and we are going to shower it over you. The actual intention is to take something from the other. The other is also doing the same kind of cheating. And the interesting thing is that you cannot see the begging bowl of the other. He is hiding it and showing that he has immense wealth that he is ready to give to you. A lot of cheating is going on. Two beggars are trying to cheat each other.

Conditional love means there’s some motive behind it. Love with a reason means we have something to gain from the other. Definitely some selfish motive is there in it. This kind of love cannot be of a high level.Remember, I am not denying that this is love.

It is love indeed, but of a low level. Here the target is to get something from the other, to achieve certain selfish gains. Actually you love only yourself. But you will gather around yourself those who feed your ego, give you complements. And you think this is love. This love is only a matter of convenience. It’s merely amusing and distracting the other from the truth. There is no love in it, only selfishness. Even if you are loving for the sake of it, giving you pleasure and thus it’s your own pleasure that is at the center. Ultimately this type of love is also ego centered. This is again conditional love.
Unconditional Love

And now, with this background try to understand what Osho says about the sound of one hand clapping. It can be heard within ourselves. It’s the sound of the Divine, the Naad of the Omkar. The love born out of this sound has got no utilitarian purpose, nothing to do with giving or receiving anything. With what objective can you fall in love with God. There can be no purpose in this. The sound of one hand clapping is resonating in your Being; you are listening to it and drowning in it. What purpose does it serve? You cannot get anything out of it. There is no question of giving or receiving anything here. This is the love that has no purpose. That’s why Osho mentioned this love while discussing the sound of one hand clapping. There can be no objective here. There is nothing to be taken here. Frankly speaking, the ‘other’ does not exist here.

The sound of the existence, divinity (Paramatma) is resonating in the core of your being (atma). The sound of one hand clapping is in the form of ‘Prana’ (life energy) there within you. Falling in love with this sound is Parabhakti (or love with the whole existence). Shandilya calls it Parabhakti and calls the rest Gauni bhakti (or reverence to the deity). Osho has beautifully explained Parabhakti in the book “ Athato Bhakti Jigyaasa” as love with the Omkar, the divine music. When you drown in the sound of one hand clapping, that is Parabhakti. By and by you merge with the sound and remain no more. One day you will be no more only the sound of one hand clapping will remain. “Ek Omkar Satnaam.” There will be no two. You will get dissolved in this love. This is the ultimate love, you are not going to get anything, rather you are going to vanish completely. It is your death ultimately.