Getting To The Island

Devi knew what happiness was. She lived what happiness is. She was a very lucky young woman. She knew she was a very lucky woman. A very great sage had shown her his beautiful, lovely, pure heart and had told her, "You too can know, live, and enjoy the purity of the heart."

"How can I do that?" she had asked.

"It will be an ordeal, but it is a very happy ordeal, to realize my heart."

"I will try, Master. What should I do?"

"Live honestly and simply. Do what is required to take care of your life. Throughout the day, see my smile and feel my love. When you have time to be by yourself, sit alone, quietly, and give all your loving attention to me. I will fill you up with my love. We will become enchanted with each other, and when the enchantment becomes perfect, maddening, something very special will occur."

"What will happen then, Master?" asked Devi. The Master laughed, "I can't give away this secret right now. But believe me, you will love it. It is the most wonderful surprise there is."

Devi applied herself to her Master's instruction. Her Master was the center of her life, and whenever she wandered away from the center, she felt morose and degraded, so she always stayed with her beloved Master. Her staying grew deeper and deeper. Nothing in life—its great pleasures or pain—could distract her from bringing her loving attention to her Master.

Her life was a beautiful life of loving her Master and knowing and feeling His Great Love. She was in love with her Master, and her enchantment had grown very deep, very wide, and very high. It covered her whole body. Her head was filled with thoughts of her Master, her heart was beating in a longing and thirst of his Love, her body vibrated and danced to the call of his enchantment. Oh, she wasn't perfect. She made mistakes at times—sometimes she was lazy and selfish, but her longing and her love for her Master always caused her to outgrow her mistakes.

The day did arrive when the enchantment of love, of her Master's Heart, burst her own heart wide open. That day she saw and felt a wonderful thing. Her Master, Her Great Beloved, was her very Self, her very Heart. His Heart was the One True Heart of all, and she realized that her heart was His Heart—The One True Heart of all. Her Master lived Her perfectly without separation. His purity, his pure Heart was and is Hers as Her—for all time.

Devi saw and loved all as the One True Heart. She felt a gratitude toward her Master. She lived what happiness is. Her life was a simple one. She still did her duty. She still sat in silence with her Beloved. She became an artist and painted pictures and wrote poems about the One True Heart. Most people didn't understand her. They thought she was nice and eccentric. Her life was a beautiful one.

One morning she woke up and felt a delicious smile on her lips. She had a dream of her Beloved Master. He was very loving and playful with her, giving her a big kiss. He asked her, "Will you come and live with me on my island?" "Of course! Of course!" she exclaimed. She got up and made her bed and danced with the pillows a bit. She was deliriously happy. "Today I must start getting ready. There is much to do. I must pack and get my tickets to go to my Beloved."

The funny thing about Devi's love of her Beloved was that she had never met him in person. She had met him in his books, in dreams, in his transmission of His Heart. She knew Him as her truest intimate and as Her very Self, but she had never seen him in his flesh and blood body. She lived with Him every day in every moment as the One True Heart, but now he had asked her to come and live with him at his perfect home—on his island. Her heart was bursting with excitement. She couldn't wait to get there and feel her Beloved's hug and give one right back! She was very busy preparing her departure. The phone rang several times throughout the day, but she didn't want to stop her preparations to answer it. Whoever is calling won't give up, she thought. So she answered it. It was her friend Moko.

"Yes, Moko, how are you doing?"

"I'm okay. Can I come over? Johan and I had a fight."

Devi was quiet for a moment. Usually she would help her friend, but today she was busy preparing to get to the island. "Moko, I'm leaving soon."

"Going to town?" asked Moko. "I need to get some groceries, I'll come along."

"No, I'm not going to town. I'm going to the island."

"What island? Where are you going?" asked Moko.

"I can't tell you now. When I get there I'll send you a note and tell you all about it."

Moko thought this was most peculiar of Devi. All this was news to her, and Devi was her best friend. She was beginning to feel that there were some gaps in her knowing of Devi. Devi was eccentric, but she was also very compassionate and kind. She was a simple person, but genuine and authentic in everything she did. And now she was going to some island. Moko's heart crumbled at the knowledge that her friend was leaving. The fight with Johan, her boyfriend, had been upsetting, but she knew that they would patch things up and get over it. But Devi leaving? She felt that her heart wouldn't ever get over that. She mumbled a goodbye to Devi, hung up the phone, got on her bike, and raced over to her friend's house.