"Regard God as water and the longing for water as love..." - Avatar Meher Baba
AVATAR MEHER BABA on the beach at the Meher Spiritual Center, Myrtle Beach, SC in July 1956. (©Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.)
From Avatar Meher Baba
There are three kinds of certainties — Yakin — regarding the existence of God. They are:
(a) Intellectual certainty = ilmul Yakin
(b) Sighted certainty = ainol Yakin
(c) Realized certainty = haque Yakin
The most that philosophy or intellectual gymnastics and shariat (religious rites and dogmas) can achieve is ilmul Yakin [intellectual certainty].
They may make one intellectually certain about the existence of God, but it is only the love for God, the divine love, that enables one to find Him, and see Him actually, and finally to become one with Him.
One gets the sighted certainty (ainool Yakin) by seeing God, and the realized certainty (haque Yakin) by becoming one with Him.
For the purpose of illustration regard God as water and the longing for water as love; and philosophy, or Shariat, as a water-divining rod.
With the help of a water-divining rod one may become aware of the existence of water, though one may not actually see it. This is certainty without seeing, and knowledge without experiencing. If one has no longing for the water one will certainly remain satisfied with this intellectual certainty only.
But if one longs for water one will zealously undergo all the troubles of getting it till one gets it. Needless to say that, after seeing it, the longing for drinking it will become intense, and this intense longing will drive one to drink it.
There are millions of people who believe in God but do not care even to see Him. They are satisfied with merely ilmul Yakin (intellectual certainty).
But those who are really spiritually-minded cannot be satisfied with this intellectual certainty, which is, after all, shallow. It is far better to be spiritually restless than to be thus satisfied. One must yearn, not only after ainool Yakin (sighted certainty), but also haque Yakin (realized certainty), for God can be seen and realized.
AVATAR MEHER BABA rafting on the Ganges River, Benares, India, in January 1939. (©Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.)
Sources
K. K. Ramakrishnan, editor, Meher Baba on Love, Fifth Edition, pp. 22-23. (Poona, India: Meher Era Publications, Avatar Meher Baba Poona Center). © 1978 Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India. Used with permission.
Thank you to Scott Lesniewski for suggesting this passage from Avatar Meher Baba for “The Divine Gift of Water” film and the event celebrating the new well and finding drinkable water at Meher Mount.