Loving Swami vs. Liking Swami

 

Bhagawan was sitting on the jhoola and in His inimitable style said, "So boys, do you love Me?"

In response, there was a thunderous chorus, "Yes, Swami, we love You!"  Bhagawan's reaction, however, was very different.  Nodding in disapproval, He said, "No, my boys do not love Me, My boys only like Me."

Everybody wanted to now know the difference between "loving" and "liking" Bhagawan.  And then Swami went on to explain this in a very beautiful manner.  

He said, "You have a dog at home and all along you pet the animal and caress it, you give it a bath and want to play with it, feed it, etc.  But do you really follow the dog through every moment of its life?  Wherever the dog runs, do you run behind it?  No, you do not.  Then how can you say whether you like or love the dog?"

And then Swami said something that probably hurt a lot of us.  He said, "My boys like Me too in the same manner.  They want to be with Me and around Me, they want to feed Me and see Me happy but do not want to follow what I say."

And then He said, "To love Swami is to follow Swami."

(Courtesy of Radio Sai)