Page:Love in Hindu Literature.djvu/98

 j84 ■ VI. THE' DIGNITY OOF SEX.

century mystic of,: Hindusthan, also, had to do the same. Says Underhill in Tagore's Kablr : " It is by the simplest metaphors, by constant appeals to needs, passions which all men understand — the bridegroom and bride, the guru and disciple, the pilgrim, the farmer, the migrant birdr— that he drives home his intense conviction of .the, reality of the soul's intercourse with . the Trans- cendent This willing acceptance of the here-and- now as a means of representing supernal realities is a trait . common to the greatest mystics. Their fearless employment of homely and physical symbols — often startling and even revolting to the unaccustomed taste — is in direct proportion to the exaltation of their spiritual lifei The works of . the great Sufis, and amongst the Christians, of Jacopone da Todi, Ruysbroeck,, Boehme, abound in illustrations of this law."

Kablr sings :

"When I am parted from my Beloved, my heart is full oT misery : I have no comfort in the day, I have no sleep in the night. To whom shall I tell my sorrow?

The night is dark ; the hours slip by. Because my Lord is absent, I start up and tremble with fear.

Kablr says: "Listen, my friend! there is no other satisfaction save in the encounter with the Beloved."

All "this smacks of " the heart of a woman." Serisuoug love, when most glowing, utters itself in terms of spiritual :or religious or mystical ecstasy. To men and women under the influence of this passion there is nothing, higher than- love, love is their "highest godd," the only reality. "Love .is and was their Lord and JCing." The world of lovers is an " earthly paradise," and they are tempted .to describe their, experience in