Majnun loved Laila; that was ishq-e-mijazi. He loved Laila 100 percent the way a man should love a woman. He went mad for love of her — he could not sleep, he could not eat; he lost everything but his love for Laila. Even this sort of love of a man for a woman is rare. Then what about divine love?
There is a difference between these two kinds of love. You cannot have love for God until it is a gift from God. Then it is effortless. Once you receive this gift, you go on loving. It is all a burning within. The lover thinks only: "When will I see the Beloved, my Christ, my Baba; when will I become one with him?" He lives only for this. This is ishq-e-hakiki or spiritual love, the real love.
Majnun had ishq-e-mijazi , physical love for Laila. When he could not find Laila, he asked everyone where she was. He even went to Mecca and embraced the pillars of the Kaaba, pleading: "Where is Laila?" He almost went mad for her love. Then he met a Perfect Master who told him: "God is real, the world is illusion. There is no Laila at all; how can you find her? Only God exists and is real."
Majnun said: "Whether my Laila is real or illusory, I want her!" Then the Perfect Master had a whim — he touched Majnun on the head. Majnun became God-realized and experienced himself also as Laila! There was no one but himself!
In love one has to suffer a lot. If I tell you, Anita, to discard your dress and go naked around the city and beg, would you be able to? You won't do it willingly.
"Ella, will you do it?" Baba asked.
"I'll try," Ella Winterfeldt said.
"Ben, you won't do it!"
"I won't keep awake!" Ben Hayman joked.
Baba joked, "It is your duty to keep awake this afternoon when all the Easterners come. And if you keep awake, I will keep awake." He continued:
To love God, one should think of God, long for God and suffer the fire of separation until such longing reaches its utmost limits and is quenched in Union. But one who obeys the Master, who is one with God, need not suffer, for in obedience there is the grace of the Master. Even obedience is not easy. Therefore, there is no solution at all. Eruch is with me, he loves me, he works for me wholeheartedly, but even for him it is not easy to obey me.