LOVE IS AN ETERNAL BRIDGE BETWEEN TIME AND TIMELESSNESS, AN EVER-PRESENT FORCE THAT PERVADES HUMAN EXISTENCE YET REMAINS INDEPENDENT OF IT, SHAPING OUR RELATIOANSHIPS AND ASPIRATIONS.
The interplay between timelessness and time, love does not need the other for its expression. Yet, it covers the whole gamut of human relations and sensibilities, rendering glow to the body, harmony to the mind and beatitude to the soul. ‘Whatever in society is good, great and sublime is working out of that love; whatever is bad, nay diabolical, is also the ill-directed working out of the same emotion of love.’
The former is confined to desires of the corporeal self, the latter is bound an unconditional — it is self-denying but fulfilling. The former gives pleasure, the latter bliss.
Human love and fail or fade out, but Divine love is unaffected by extraneous factors. Falling in love is human; rising in love is Divine.
Love can be sattvic, pure, rajasic, self-centered, or tamasic, sensuous, fickle, one-sided or devilish. Sattvic love has an ethereal beauty to it. It is tender and unalloyed. In a metaphysical sense, sattvic love denotes beneficent affection of God for humanity, or the reverent attitude.
Rajasic love is primarily goaded by biological and social instincts. In its lofty state, it assumes the form of respect, friendship, generosity, philanthropy, or institutionalized social service. In contrast, tamasic love wants to possess, exploit or subdue the other. It cripples noble instincts, aspirations and ideals.
Sattvic love crystallizes into bhakti yog, described as higher love. Rooted in the law of being, it is one of the three cardinal ways of salvation along with karm yog, path of action, and jnan yog, path of wisdom. Karm yog purifies the mind through righteous deeds. Jnan yog vivifies the intellect through study of the Self. Bhakti yog is the practice of self-surrender to a guru, deity, the supreme Being, or one’s inner Self. By helping one transcend ego, it harmonizes the mind, body, and soul.
Higher love is limitless like space. It entails recognition of the cosmic spirit in all, and respect of life in its myriad form — plants, birds, animals, and humans. It is rooted in virtue and faith, and has its own beauty, wisdom, and fragrance. It develops the non-physical dimension of human personality essential for divinizing relationships in society.
Love is an attribute of the soul. It illuminates psycho-energetic centers of the subtle body. In a luminous state of self-awareness, one sings and dances to the tune of infinity and becomes God-like. Says the Bible, I John 4:15-16: “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
