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There can’t be another word, phenomenon, expression, belief,
thought, symbol and deed that is more universally enduring
than ‘LOVE’. The encyclopedia has mentioned several types of
love- ‘courtly’, ‘familial’, ‘erotic’, ‘free’, ‘platonic’,
‘puppy’, ‘religious’, ‘romantic’, ‘unrequited’ and ‘covenant’.
While more definitions and expressions pour in, it would be
worthwhile for each one of us to explore the infinite love
that resides in our hearts. The world has its share of
ignorant thoughts that the heart that oozes love and the
physical heart that pumps blood are the same. And they have
gone to the extent of symbolizing love to the physical ‘heart’
shape. Probably a little hint would be, is to try and
experience the presence of the heart center that has no
location in our physical body but is present in the astral
body (which is the fourth body, not seen or experienced by the
majority of the population) and is experienced by self
realized souls and many spiritual aspirants in their
meditative states. The heart is infinite and communes with the
heart of the universe. It is also our doorway to universal
love or truth.
Before we get consumed in the cosmic nature of love, we got to
make relevance of it in the real world around us. Who wouldn’t
want to discuss or indulge in love? The world seems to be
revolving around it. Love is often called a mystical bug that
bites most of us and captures us in an emotional state that is
hard to describe. It would probably make our lives more
interesting, if we could pause for a moment, and contemplate
over what ‘love’ means to us.
We all have categorized ‘food’, ‘clothing’ and ’home’ as
basic needs of life. And it is common knowledge that we can’t
really buy true love and yet need it most of the time. So love
does become a need when we don’t have that special someone in
our lives. And when people do have one, they don’t know its
true value. This tricky situation is a product of our
insatiable desire that can’t find solace with what it already
has gained.
Most of us agree that love needs expression. The next question
arises is that; Do our expressions still retain that ‘mountain
fresh air’ kind of feel to it, or has it been left to the
copywriters’ imagination (endorsed by greeting card giants),
who off late have become our mouthpieces for expressing our
personal feelings. While all arguments fly around me, I would
still like to subscribe to the ancient thought that the
greatest expression of love is in its depth of silence, when
one all the sense organs tune in to receive the unsaid words
while decoding the subtle body language and gestures.
We all know that word ‘love’ is a stifling euphemism for
‘lust’ in most cultures. And when a young male says, ‘I love
you’ to a pretty young thing, in most probabilities there is a
heavy dosage of lust in it. But to be more positive and give
the benefit of doubt to the lovers, love can happen pretty
quickly and sustain for varying durations. The love meter
oscillates between the conditions set forth for an ideal love
relationship to unfold and sustain. Hence it’s quite safe to
say that intensity of love is directly proportional to the
ideal conditions that can be abided by concerned parties.
And then we hit upon the aspect of ambiguity in love. And how
we can forget the misery that one- way love relationships
pose? The imbalance of ‘giving’ and ‘receiving’ love is
starkly evident. To love someone is not a crime, but to be
rejected in love, is a cause of many a heart burn. And when we
come across situations that help us know that one-way love is
not restricted to college ‘Romeos’, but also plays havoc on
mature, married people who stumble on the fact that they are
at the wrong end of a ‘non return valve’, where love flows
from their end and doesn’t return.
Modern living has its pitfalls where material possessions
have hogged major spaces in our hearts. Our heady love for
‘cars’, ‘electronic gadgets’, ‘fine jewellery’, luxurious
homes, have set us in a tail spin. We brashly state that true
love is only found in fairytales, and have all the reasons to
further find new methods for filling in the void left by love.
We seem to consider our free will is a ticket to freedom and
can take us closer to our goals. And then one fine day,
something drastic happens in our personal lives, we all wake
up and blame our destiny and fate to have brought us all the
misery. Our perpetual outgrowth of a need to find scapegoats
for our painful situations only make us hollow and leave a
gaping hole in our belief in true love.
Interestingly, the institution of marriage is one of the prime
witnesses to the erosion of love. Promises that usually fail
to deliver or don’t live up to its expectations are predicable
patterns that most people are wary of. This makes love
statements a bit uneasy, and almost gets treated with clinical
precaution. So does it mean that we have forgotten what true
love is all about? Or it’s just that we have lost our way, and
probably need to seek more answers within. But there is ray of
hope too. Love still does carry the punch to make millions of
people ‘sick’, ‘crazy’, ‘hopeful’, ‘faithful’, ‘expressive’,
‘euphoric’, and ‘happy’.
Love has often been under the scanner and microscopic eyes of
researchers and psychologists. However the phenomenon never
fails to amaze when it happens. Doctors often mention about
the chemicals in the body that make us do things so stupid
when in love. When heart begins to rule the head, we do get
blinded and find our reasoning go dumb too. Love has the power
to ignore the skin deep elements and see a beautiful pattern
that is discerning to the eyes of the beholder.
According to the ancient scriptures and enlightened masters,
our Ego (I) makes the mega drama on earth plane seem so real.
The drama is so ‘real’ to the un-awakened or ignorant
individuals. The mind that houses the human body also keeps it
awake only to the worldly around it, also provides it unique
identity by means of ego. Desire is one of the biggest by
products of the mind. To be loved and give love is also a
desire. It is dual in nature. Desire is cause of misery, but
we love to weave it all the time, and hence there are ‘highs’
and ‘lows’ experienced in love. Love fuelled by desire is
subjected to short comings and can bring around short term
happiness with under currents of misery in waiting. So there
seems to be a perpetual quest for true love. Many believe that
true love does exist. For instance, the love that a mother has
for her child stands a testimony to it. There are no
conditions set forth. However this relationship is not
weather proof as the untiring causative elements pose abrasive
threats to this pristine love bond. And ultimately only a few
will understood the meaning of unconditional love.
Life offers a plethora of events with wonderful twists and
turns in its storyline. And love derives different expressions
at each bend. While certain social norms are upheld in
societies. Recent global surveys have thrown more light on new
trends that have crept into our social milieu. Increasing
number of younger generations have displayed pattern that love
for humans is diminishing. There is a disturbing trend that
love is gravitating towards inanimate gadgets and personal
addictions.
There is no harm in people reserving their love to something
outside the accepted pattern, as what matters is that everyone
wants to be happy. And happiness can be derived according to
individual preferences and tastes. The argument of right
versus wrong has its serious fallacies. Our conscience is our
true guide at all circumstances. And hence heart consciousness
or conscious awareness in our love relationships, can bring
around peace and give more meaning to love.
The argument that there is love for the self is often
countered by the wise men who point out there is duality in
our limited thinking and hence we can’t discriminate between
the true self (pure consciousness) and the body that we have
assumed in this incarnation. So do end up loving the temporary
body that we reside in. And when death approaches, fear grips
and shatters the edifices of love and peace that we upheld as
values in our lives. If we do love our bodies just as temples
for our soul, we can take good care of it so that it can
sustain us in our involution journey (gravitating towards God
Energy) while being on this planet.
Talking from a gross point of view, Love is personal in its
many shades. We have reserved several grades of love to suit
our relationships. There is difference in the way we express
love with our dear ones like parents, babies, partners,
friends, and then we have downgraded love approach with our
neighbors, colleagues, and the people that happen to walk
along the periphery of our lives. We have slowly begun to
accept that our love on most occasions is biased. The masks of
denial appear quickly to defend that we still have enough love
in us to give it to people around us. Love has the innate
power to turn into compassion. And when this happens, the
society does benefit from the generous thought pools. There is
a catch here too; can a stranger on the street be a recipient
of our compassion? When this can happen without undue pressure
and fuss, we would have moved closer to understanding the
meaning of universal love.
How much do we feel for the mankind? Do we empathize with the
global suffering? All theories does fall flat at times, when
all compassion gets localized, communalized and has religious
overtones. The concept of universal brotherhood is a theory we
would love to read about and forget. And at times it does seem
far fetched too, as we begin to realize the magnanimity of the
compounded miseries of billions of people across the globe. At
best we can share the pleasure and pains of people whom we
connect with. Otherwise we would end up mourning or
celebrating every moment, as there is someone born and dying
every moment on this planet. Hence our love is restricted to
the sphere of our people network. And our external senses are
deliberately limited to take a little at a time, unless there
is a complete unity of body-mind-soul, which is termed as
cosmic consciousness. This is a state where love becomes
universal and undivided.
An interesting fact is that many enlightened souls remain
detached as they understand the true nature of the drama or
dream that is happening in this world. Then there is no sense
of attachment to people and their joys and miseries. They are
a mere witness to the cosmic delusion that unfolds. And they
offer a helping hand to the souls that are ready to undertake
the involution journey and realize god. Love, Surrender,
Detachment, Unification of mind, and Samadhi are some of the
techniques to reach that state of realization. But the basic
foundation is built on the love factor. This is a lesson that
we take and elevate ourselves beyond sex. Otherwise, it just
gets blown away by remaining in the lower charkas as sexual
outlet. Hence when creative energy which is stored in our
second chakra (swadhistana – below the navel) ascends through
the sushmna nadi (central column in the spine called centralis
cannanalis) , it is also likened to as Kundalini Awakening
which carries thousand times the pleasure of an orgasm.
However the world is content with the 20 second orgasm which
ends with exhaustion, and sense of disillusion.
We could talk about love for eons and explore the infinite
power in it. However, this is beyond the purview of this
article. And I would like to conclude that the phenomenon
called Love is beyond all descriptions. And as the wise say, a
moment of experience in love is far more powerful than a
lifetime of words. And then no words are quite potent enough
to describe that sheer blissful experience of being absorbed
in love for god. Love is God. |
