Path of Love.
8th Feb. 2011.
Dear associates in the Path,
1.
It gives me immense happiness to talk to you all on this
auspicious occasion of Basanth Panchami L.E.139.
Pranahuti is something that has become part of our
lives. Love of the Master is so intimate that most of us
live through that all the time.
2.
Our beloved Master said ‘Love Him who loves all’. I
would like to share my meditations on this thought.
Repetition may not be considered wrong when the subject
matter is sublime. I am aware I shared some thoughts on
this subject earlier: I remember to have read the
following sentences that make me think about this
subject yet again. "There are only four great questions
in life: What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made?
What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The
answer to all of them is the same: Only Love."
3.
In Telugu, one of the richest languages spoken mainly in
South India, there is a proverb ‘kaami kaanide moksha
kaami kaadu’ meaning that one who does not know how to
love cannot learn to love moksha or liberation. The
point of concern for me has been whether there is any
difference between loving persons or things to which we
feel related and the love spiritual. The feeling we
derive from loving and being loved brings with it a
warmth to life in a way that no other feeling or emotion
grants to us. Love, in its purest sense, is an
unconditional acceptance, an Unconditional acceptance of
someone or something, the way they are, without
judgement. But that this purity in love rarely happens
in relationships with persons is a matter of experience.
It is a wonder for me when I think about my love to
Master – is it personal or impersonal? I have more
wondered when I think of his love for me- does he love
me because I am His or I am his devotee? These questions
I am sure you all have and we find answers deep in our
hearts.
4.
In many cases when love is felt in personal relations,
it is desire, caring, attraction and admiration. These
qualities are felt in increased measure if the feelings
are mutually felt. Essentially love is accepting and
inviting persons just as they actually are, without
them having to put on an act or behave according to some
hidden standard. The ultimate lesson all of us have to
learn is unconditional love, which includes not only
others but ourselves as well.
5.
The first experience of love for all of us was in
mother's arms. The love we all had from our brothers and
sisters, father, uncles and aunts and host of other
relatives in our family and neighbourhood is what we
remotely remember. Not because they were not genuine but
we have become self centred and started to love
ourselves more and others who we thought are more kind
to us. Sometime in the early days fear of punishment got
somehow ingrained mostly from father and what we are
told of God. Wrath of God, and of elders’ contra to what
we enjoy as Love from those sources I feel is based on a
totally misguided agenda.
6.
I seek your pardon if in this paper I refer to my own
story of anguish and ecstasy. Ever since the
consciousness of Lord Krishna and other avatars got
infused into me, as is wont in our tradition, I felt
they are Love incarnate and are essentially trustworthy
and lovable. When I started learning even though it is
elementary from the school books the systems of
philosophy like Buddhism, Jainism and the three great
acharyas of South India I could validate myself as an
individual spark of the universal consciousness which is
one organic unity. Later on I found that it is an easy
transition to the understanding that Reality is Love.
7.
However hard facts of life, which are based on
competitiveness and conflict made me, look into why all
of a sudden I who was an object of love was being looked
down upon because I was not scoring well in my school
examinations. Good boy I was for purposes of all errands
but I felt I was not treated as well as my other
siblings and cousins. That feeling led me very early to
seek succour from the one true source of love namely God
who or whatever that might be.
8.
As a resident of a temple town it was a common sight for
me to see many persons doing japa or meditation. I asked
an elder whether I can also do that and he said to me to
sit in a quiet place and repeat Ram mentally as long as
I can and that would lead me to other methods gradually.
This practice enabled me to get in touch with elders who
meditate regularly and most of them doing Gayathri japa.
But there was always something in them I found to be
rigid dogma call it orthodox if necessary. The
environment of my town offered little chance to be
totally unaffected by such dogmas and superstitions of
Religions. Yet I decided very early to stay clear of
such organised religions and also to look for better
ways of expanding consciousness that do not take
lifetimes to achieve the goal that is elusive for
understanding. What I had learned from the stories of
Lord Krishna is the power or unalloyed love. Then on to
study of Bhagavad Gita which began when I was about 12
years and it is no wonder I continue to be in primary
class as far as knowing the love of the Lord.
9.
When I started my sadhana while still in ‘teens’ under
the great Master Rev. SriRamchandraji of Shahjahanpur I
started understanding the importance of acceptance of
all that comes in life as a gift of the Lord and his
love for me. That led me to know the value of
non-attachment and due attachment as an expression of
love. But that was not a simple learning. I had to
discuss and argue with Master the happenings in personal
life as well as the Country to know the raison-d’être of
such happenings. Finally I got convinced that it was
enough for me to perceive of God as the quality of Love,
and that when we accept unconditionally all that happens
to us- it is love. However whenever we find enabled to
be in such a consciousness we are God/ Master in form
and person. As the saying goes, "When we love, we are
the universe and the universe lives in us."
10.
Thanks to many things that would normally go by the tag
‘unfortunate’ in my life I learnt that inner gnosis,
that is, intuitive knowledge of spiritual truth is the
way to live leaving aside all dogma. Though I find
reality is simple and graspable when we look inside what
remains complex and mystery is the structure of our mind
and the odd number of ways that lower mind sneaks in to
obscure and corrupt our natural insight and universal
love.
11.
It is one of the dogmas that seem to attract almost all
to live a life of unalloyed love is our ego. Ego
structurally is nothing but our inner thoughts, fears,
likes, desires, dislikes and it is what may be called as
our face to the world. It is an essential part of our
being a human being. It is our everyday conscious
thinking apparatus or structure. It is ever changing and
never static. It grants for its self a certain amount of
illusive identity. But reality permits only plurality
and never separate entity. To feel someone or thing as
separate is a dogma that appears to grant some security
however imaginary and illusive that it may be.
12.
It is true that but for doing things competitively
humanity would be still at the Stone Age. But continuing
to live with competition at the needless cost of peace
and happiness would be playing cricket after we won the
game in the pavilion. Selfishness and Ego are synonyms
and they are a barrier to spiritual growth which demands
compassion and love to be the matrix of living. It is to
be clearly appreciated that Personal spiritual growth is
about transcending the ego and not weakening it. In
reality Ego is similar to the structure of a fort that
we have created to fend ourselves. Most of the time we
live in this illusion fooling ourselves as if we are in
safe zone. It is already too weak and afraid; that is
why it is immaturely selfish and hateful. It should be
treated like a child growing up, not rejected as
imperfect. By trying to translate our ideals into action
through this fragile fort we fail to achieve our best
intentions.
13.
But if we can make this structure serve the larger
purposes of the good for all it can be made stronger and
finally take it to a stage of Oneness with the Divine
decree. The selfish ego trying to protect its fort
always in a defensive manner when made to serve the
purposes of the good of all, starts growing
infinitesimally in the beginning and infinitely later.
The self that is small and timid when grows up to serve
the good of all, becomes stronger and mature. The
stronger and more mature it is, the more transparent it
becomes to the spiritual essence that lies behind the
person. Such a transformed self or ego then becomes an
instrument of Love. Then the Nara becomes Narayana.
14.
Spiritual growth is all about integrating and loving; it
is never about separating and destruction. Ascension is
not destruction of the ego; it is integrating and
transcending the ego, to be one with Master and also
with the body-mind, purified by Love. This is possible
because there is no separation in truth and in Love
which is what we imperience in our meditations as
Oneness. When our meditations mature and we feel a
seamless unity there is only Master and He becomes
everything. This is the highest viewpoint of
oneself-our true Self. The true Self exists only because
of its connection with Master and we may be better
described as a function arising out of such a connection
with Master.
15.
It is obvious that when we are aware of our connection
with Master as His function, the less reason the ego has
to fear its awful loss of identity at death. This fear
underlies all others and releasing it opens a huge
pathway for the illumination of Love to lighten the dark
patches of our personality. The healing of fears is
always Love: unconditional acceptance. A beautiful
aspect of love is that it always integrates and we live
in all that we love. It is a matter of our experience
that we do not trust our own feelings and thoughts that
arise during meditations. Since we are already
conditioned by several dogmas that we learnt from
childhood through schools of learning in life making our
ego very weak and fragile there arises a complex state
of mind which doubts everything of our experience. Such
a state may lead people to be neurotic and unable to
trust their own thoughts and feelings, and enslave them
to the religion or any other belief system that caused
the damage. The real enemy in our love for union with
the Master is our dogmas. We should know as some sage
put it that our "Minds, like parachutes, function better
when open." We each need to realise our own true nature
and not accept the notions dictated to us by
authorities. Reality is simple in essence but the
network of defences we erect to deny our own truth
driven by fears and the sophistication of the
conditioning we have obtained to persist with the status
quo are complex.
16.
Our imperience grants us the vision of Love that is
simple and fundamental that words are inadequate to
express the same. It is a state of being; it simply is
what it is, perceived with perfect communication,
understanding and empathy. When the underlying truth is
realised it is always a message of love, of
unconditional acceptance, of oneness with what Is. To
love is to live in the present ignoring the past and not
dreaming about the future. In any situation we have to
be mindful of the intimacy we have with the Master and
should refrain from reacting emotionally. Most of the
time emotion kills reason. We have to pull our attention
trapped in the past and the future and get grounded and
centered in our function of Love of the Master. We
should respond, from love and not from fear. We should
learn to communicate with the Master and we should
remember that communication is the solvent of problems.
When in doubt or anxious, or when we feel stranded we
need to communicate with Master in absolute faith and
confidence.
17.
Though truly speaking there is nothing but Love as the
core reality in all conceivable situations we cannot
ignore the fact of painful experiences in our lives. The
most empowering thing we can do in our lives is to
connect with the Master or one who is connected to the
Master in a true sense. Master always complements us
perfectly, in a truly connected loving experience
-spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. In such a
situation we become more than twice the person we are.
Life is then more than worthwhile. We know instinctively
that this state of being is a possibility for everyone
in this world. However when it goes wrong, and the
relationship does not connect on all levels as we had
hoped, it is deeply disappointing and we feel we have
lost what could have been a perfect gift.
18.
The main barrier for the expression of true Love is
surprisingly our attachment. Attachment and love we
think are near synonyms. But we should note that
attachment to something or person really means the fear
of losing it or the person. Fear distorts the truth. It
is wise not to get attached too quickly and perhaps we
should try to have no attachment except with the Master.
We may really feel that we are better off on our own
than in a mismatched relationship. However we learn in
spirituality that it is much better off to be in a
relationship based on true love with the Master than to
be on our own. When we get attached to others without
having the Master as the core we do get into situations
that threaten the bonds of affection in attachments.
Love to any person who appears to be not connected to
the Master leads to hurt and needs to be healed. This
type of situation has led many to renounce married life
and somehow it has become a matter of admiration. While
in fact Love is what is needed to heal, ironically love
has become a barrier. The only way forward is to love
the Master in all and also realising that love resides
always in our heart in abundance. It is our duty to cast
the beam of lovely light on all. It is then, new
possibilities emerge and healing solutions ooze out of
such love.
19.
Fear of losing the attachment and consequently the love
between persons is purely due to possessiveness. Then
jealousy rears its ugly head. We should be cautious of
jealousy which is an immature emotion. Aspirants in the
Path should have learned better but in many cases they
have not. Jealousy is less than love, since it resents
the other's freedom. Jealousy is to consider another
person as an object of possession, a person who has no
right to make their own choices. In reality we all feel
the sting of jealousy sometimes and we need to
acknowledge and accept the emotion, and then release it
as something that is simply not rational.
20.
The institution of marriage is the finest example where
love is expressed in totality. We realise and affirm
that though we were born separately we bind ourselves by
strings of love and together we shall be forever even
when we are in the silent memory of God. The value of
Grhasta life is the possibility of two souls emitting
the fragrance of love on all occasions. There is
intimacy but it is wise to allow spaces in the
togetherness. For, if winds of the heavens are to dance
between the souls there is need for space between the
two. Grhasta life teaches us to love one another, but
make not a bond of love. Sagacity lies in filling each
other’s cup but drinking not from the same cup. To love
means not merely to sing and dance together and be
joyous, but allowing each person to be alone. The
relationship is to be like the strings of a Veena that
are alone even though they quiver with the same music.
Even as the pillars of the temple stand apart yet serve
the same cause the partners in marriage stand apart to
serve the cause of Love-God.
21.
Love is more than an emotion. It is actually the fabric
of the entire universe. Love is a state of being and
intention, spiritual qualities that are above the level
of physical energy. Love when expressed becomes a
creative force, an energy of imagination, that manifests
physically in space and time. In the human sphere, love
expresses our dreams and vision. Our ability to
creatively manifest our vision is empowered by the
emotion of love. The path of love is not narrow as some
poet put it but is as vast as the universe. Obviously
this is because our Master, an expression of unlimited
and unbound love is the connecting link for all of us.
By loving Him who loves all we embrace the universe in
its entirety. That leads to the state where there is
neither suffering nor joy. We go beyond Satchitananda.
The path of the Master is the path of love. I am happy
we are all in the path and reaching the shores of the
divine ocean of bliss.
22.
Pranam.
