Lover's Paradox: From Casablanca to Ramayana
The story of Casablanca (1942) revolves round Rick who is running a restaurant in the Moroccan city of that name. European immigrants, having escaped the Nazis, are pouring in, hoping to leave someday for America, something easier said than done. The originally French Morocco is occupied by the Germans. The local prefect of police at Casablanca, a very interesting man called Renault, is a very good friend of Rick's. In spite of being a French, he admittedly blows with the wind and is serving the Germans. Before coming to Casablanca, Rick had an affair with a Parisian lady Elsa, who was supposed to come with him to Casablanca, however, she had not fulfilled her promise and left Rick for somebody else. One day, one of guys Rick knows, Ugarte, leaves two letters of transit with Rick for safe custody. As it happens, Ugarte is arrested for being suspected of killing two soldiers. He eventually dies in the prison.
The Nazi and French authorities are speaking of the coming to Casablanca of a legendary resistance movement leader Victor Lazjlo. Lazjlo finally arrives at Rick's hands in hand with trouble. This trouble is his wife who happens to be no one else but Ilsa, the love of Rick's life.
Rick however admires Lazjlo for his work. Another Salon keeper, M. Ferrari, tells Lazjlo and Ilsa that Ugarte's letters of transit are with Rick. Lazjlo sees Rick and tries to make him hand over those visas. Rick refuses and even turns down offers of huge sum of money in return. That night Ilsa herself pays Rick a visit to try get those letters. Seeing his refusal she asks him to put aside his feelings for her and look at the greatness of cause Lazjlo is working for (i.e. anti-Nazi movement) as that is Rick's own fight too (Rick is known by his close friends as a supporter of resistance movements). But Rick says, "I am not fighting for anything anymore except myself. I am the only cause I am interested in!" Completely disappointed, Ilsa aims a gun at Rick who does not show any fear and tells her that by shooting him she would be doing him a favor. Ilsa cannot hold the gun anymore and it is clear that she still loves Rick. She tells him that she had not left Paris with him because she had just discovered that her husband, whom she earlier thought to have died, was in fact alive but sick and in need of her. As they are talking in Rick's rooms, Lazjlo arrives at the Restaurant and asks Rick he should at least take Ilsa out of Casablanca with him, because he knows that Rick also loves her. Shortly afterwords, Lazjlo is arrested. Rick goes to his friend, the police prefect, Renault and tells him that he and Ilsa are leaving for America that night. He says however, that he is worried that the charges under which Lazjlo is being held in police custody are not very serious ones and he will soon have to be released. He proposes that Renault release Lazjlo then and there and arrest him later at the Rick's place when he will be receiving the visa letters from him. Renault agrees and lets Lazjlo go. On the other hand Rick has told Ilsa that he will let Lazlo go!
Now we do not need to tell our readers what happens next. 
Let us leave this troubled lot in Casablanca and go back in time to a forest in south India of around 5th to 4th century BC. Here we meet another troubled lot, the whole family of the deceased Ruler of Ayodhiya. On the one side is Ram with his wife Sita and his younger brother Lakshaman and on the other are his mother, two step mothers and their sons, the most prominent of the latter is Bharat. The Ayodhiyan crown is placed on the ground between the two parties. Everybody, especially Bharat and the Queens, seems on the verge of crying. They are looking hopefully, however, towards an old man as if he holds the key to the promlem. This is Maharaj Janak, Ram's father-in-law. But what on earth is troubling them? Well, it is a very very long story, the relevant part of which can be summarized, with omitting great many details, in these words: Dasarth, the late king of Ayodhya had three queens and four sons. Ram's mother's was Kausalya and Bharat's mother was Keikay. Ram was the noblest and most saintly of these sons and was loved by everyone, also by his step-mothers and step-brothers. The king had decided to hand over the kingdom to Ram. Everyone was participating in the celebrations when an evil maid servant aroused jealousy in Keikay and asked her to demand the enthronement of her own son Bharat in Ram's place. She was aked moreover to demand that Ram and his wife Sita must be banished for 14 years from Ayodhiya to secure people's obedience for Bharat. The dumbfounded King could not but comply with these wishes because earlier he had granted two boons to this queen. When Ram was told of this he did not worry an iota and happily agreed both to his brother's coronation and his own banishment. He accordinlgy left with his wife and his step-brother Lakshaman. The King, however, died of grief and when Bharat arrived back at the Palace, he was greatly annoyed at what his mother had done. He rebuked her and refused to become the King at Ram's place. He sincerely loved Ram and never thought of usurping the latter's rightful place on the throne. He therefore took the crown and left for the forest to bring his brother back and to tell him that he never wanted the kingdom and would not accept it. The whole royal entourage accompanied him. However, it appeared, nothing could be done to convince Ram to return to the city and take up the throne.This was so because the fulfillment of his promise to his late father was now a matter of dharm (duty) for him. On the other hand the love of Bharat for him was so true that he also refused to return without his brother. Hence the royal family is caught in a moral dilemma, between duty (dharm) and love (pareet). This is what is going on in the forest! Now that all other measures have proven useless, they have invited Maharaj Janak, Ram's father in law, to decide between them. Janak is a Sage-King but says he does not know how he would solve a problem that other great sages and saints have failed to solve. Moreover, it is also a moral dilemma for himself, as the fate of his daughter depends on it. He however seeks the help of divine inspiration and gives his verdict. He begins by admitting that it is impossible to decide between Bharat, the embodiment of true love and Ram, incarnation of dutifulness. He says, however, that considering the job his duty in the present moment, and with the help of god Shankara, he can say something. So, in his judgment, there is nothing greater than dharm (the law or duty) in all three worlds and it is this dharm which holds the universe together. He adds, however, that love is something so sublime that it is not ruled by anything else. He says that this is so because, for the sake of the beloved, even God makes exceptions to the Laws, "love, steadfast, selfless love is above all dharm." He declares that in view of this, Bharat's steadfast love has won. These words bring relief to the troubled ones of all their trouble and after many days, one can see them smile. But, this happiness seems short-lived, as the judge announces that he had not finished. Although Love is beyond the law, it has its own laws! Let us now take another leap and go to Ibn 'Arabi who seems to be interested in participating in this discussion. What has he to say? Well, he says that a true lover is someone who loves everything that is willed and done by the beloved. And if the beloved wills separation, the lover must love separation. What is the meaning of this? A lover, by definition, is someone who loves always to be with or be one with the beloved. But now, a lover, also by definition, is someone who has to love everything willed by the beloved. It is easy for the lover to be separated from the beloved externally. But this is not enough! She must love the separation that is the wish of the beloved! Love is not a dilemma but a paradox! Ibn 'Arabi puts this in his beautiful verse:
"My tossing and turning, alone in separation from my beloved
is more pleasant than embracing in union!
For in union I am a slave to my own desire
But in separation I am the slave of my beloved!"
Now, let us complete the two unfinished stories. What has Rick finally done to his beloved who wanted him to leave her and what was said by Maharaj Janak? When Capt. Renault arrives at Rick's to arrest Lazjlo and Ilsa red-handed making arrangements for their escape, Rick suddenly points a gun at Renault and makes him sign the visa letters for the couple. As they leave for the airport, Renault intimates the Nazi major. Rick makes Ilsa go with her beloved husband on the plane and even kills the Nazi leader as the latter tries to stop the plane.
On the other hand, Janak had said that although Bharat's love had won against Ram's devotion to duty, the former must understand that the love's true power is in its being self-less. A self-less love makes no demands of the beloved. Its only desire is to give up everything for the pleasure of the beloved. At this Bharat says that he can even give his life to Ram but Janak tells him that giving life is very easy. The real trial is to live for the beloved. So he must ask Ram what he wants and should obey the command, even if it is separation between the two for fourteen years, as the implication of his own love! At these words, the veils of selfishness are removed from the sight of Bharat who sits at the feet of his brother asking him his will. Now, since the love is mutual between these two brothers, it is Ram's turn to prove his selflessness. So he declares that he honours his brother's request to accept the throne. He however says that as the king, he is delegating the powers for fourteen years to Bharat and at the end of that period will come back and sit on the throne. At this Bharat sends for Ram's sandals and when these are brought, he requests Ram to put his feet in them. He then takes those sandals and declares that he would rule Ayodhya under their shadow. He carries them on his head and the whole caravan returns back to the city, leaving Ram, Sita and Lakshaman in the forest!
So! Who, in our two stories, has really been up to the standard of real love, reflected in Ibn 'Arabi's verse? Both Rick and Bharat finally sacrificed their will and accepted the will of their beloved. Both did what was asked of them by the beloved even though it was nothing less than seperation. But if one pays attention to the standard, it is not about doing but loving. The lover has not only to act upon the decree of seperation issued by the beloved but has to love it. Had Rick and Bharat loved that seperation, we would not have seen tears in their eyes at the moment of departure. It seems that none have really been up to the mark. But can anyone ever have done that? IS LOVE POSSIBLE?
