LOVE...

WHAT IS LOVE…?

I have often been haunted, for years by this simple question with all efforts to find an appropriate answer, in vain. As the season of love looms, with the V-Day just around the corner, my unconquerable desperation to find the answer this time, before all the celebrations for Valentines’ Day sets in, was driving me almost insane.

An article on Calcutta Times (dated: Feb.12,2010) saved me from the ordeal ,just at the nick of time, and put my mind to rest. Though the article was written by one of India’s Spiritual Gurus, Pandit Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ,and was expected to be philosophical ( read: not of much interest to today’s youth), I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of truth, and realization that his words contained.

I would like to quote from the Article, titled,’ Let It Be’ :

“ There are three kinds of love. The love that comes out of charm, that which comes out of comfort, and the divine love. The love that comes out of charm, does not last long. It comes out of unfamiliarity or attraction. In this, you lose the attraction fast, and boredom sets in. This love may dimish and bring along with it a fear, uncertainty, insecurity and sadness.

The love that comes out of comfort and familiarity grows, but it has no thrill, no enthusiasm, joy, or fire to it. For example, you are more comfortable with an old friend who is a familiar person rather than with a new person.

Divine love supersedes both the above. It has an ever present newness. The closer you go, more charm and depth come to it. There is never boredom and it keeps everyone on their toes.

Wordly love can be like an ocean, yet an ocean has a bottom. Divine love is like the sky which is limitless. From the bottom of the ocean, soar into the vast sky. Ancient love transcends all these relationships. Let Love be. Don’t give it a name. When you give it a name, it becomes a relationship, and relationships restrict love.

Often one experiences love at first sight. Then as time goes on, it decreases, decays, turns into hatred and disappears. Ancient love never decays.”

“ Pain goes with love. Because you love someone, even a small action can hurt you. And in hurt, you feel very delicate, very deep. Love also creates the same sensation. Separation creates the same symptom. If you don’t love somebody, you will never feel hurt by them. Understand and accept this. Then that hurt will not turn into a sore feeling. Rather, that very hurt will take you deep into dispassion and meditation.

When love glows, it becomes bliss; when it flows, it is compassion; when it blows, it is anger; when it ferments, it is jealousy. Let Love be. Don’t give it a name! ”

As I go through this article over and over again, I find a new truth unraveled, each time. Everytime I re-read this article, the perception of love changes, and brings with it a realization of a far greater good, and where this good can lead mankind to. There has been instances where I have experienced ‘friendly love’, but as the article advices, and I had committed a mistake each time to ‘name’ it, I have suffered likewise.

I do not know, as of now, whether I feel the ‘divine love’ towards anyone in particular, or whether I am the recipient of such a blessing, apart from my parents, I do firmly believe that every individual, no matter how shrewd, or magnanimous, is loved equally by God, and is a subject of His mercy, to receive the Divine Love once in the lifetime, sooner or later. Life at present has become so materialistic, so practical and so devoid of the softer side of human nature, that people find it difficult to extract time and give these tender aspects a small thought. Mankind, always running after materialistic success, has forgotten the true definition of what Success is, and has permanently renounced the pursuit of happiness. Man has lost his serenity, compassion and mental peace, in the fervor to prove to the world that he is also an eligible contender in the race of life, and is equally apt to win the race.

I personally feel, that this jest of proving one’s standing in life has led to the fear of making a mistake, though mistakes are ought to be made. I had once read a quote, which had left a mark on my mind: “ The biggest mistake that man makes is the fear of making one”. I am on the verge of entering the real world, no more protected by the loving embraces of my parents, and I too suffer from the same fear, a suffering whose cure , I do not know of.