Love Is Divine

                                         ‘Love’ the four letter word itself has the capacity to send chills into the spines f most of the people. It may bring bliss to someone who feels has found his true love where it may come as a sorrow to someone who thinks he has lost someone he loved dearly. Many emotions start filling up inside our brains on hearing the word. A child may remember his mother, a husband may think of his wife, a sister about her brother, and children may be reminded of their parents whereas a young boy might think of some girl and so on.

                                          But the real question is what is the true meaning of love? What does the word ‘love’ signify in itself? How do you define love? Many definitions have been made to explain the word. One might say it’s a blissful feeling, for someone it may mean care and affection, a scientist may attribute it to certain chemical changes that are occurring inside your brain and so on. Someone who has never been in love might describe it as a selfish feeling because you care for someone else as he is the one who completes you in every way. A die hard lover may totally contradict this idea by saying that it is a selfless feeling of care and affection and he might be ready to sacrifice his own life for someone he loves. ‘Love’ can be for a person, a thing, for ones motherland, for oneself etc.

                                            Come what may, the perfect definition of love has not been made in the past and won’t be made even in the future, though many poems and books have been written on the subject. Many have got close to it but have failed to define it to the satisfaction of everyone. Many emotions have been assigned to love like being ecstatic, joyful, listening to music, ringing of bells in ears, the time stops etc. But these things vary from person to person. As discussed previously, love might not only be for the person of the opposite sex, it might be for parents, children, pets or God.

                                              Thinking on spiritual terms, love cannot be restricted to any particular person. A person who is in communion with God will feel his ‘supreme love’ for the divine. One who is in communion with his soul and has widened his vision will feel love for all the beings in the universe and not only humans. His ‘love’ would be same for the pauper or a king, for an enemy or for a friend. He will equally love a swine as much as he adores a horse or an elephant. This is because that person is able to recognize a part of him in each and every being on the earth.

                                             As it is evident in the Vedic tradition, all the souls(ataman)  are part of one greater or supreme soul(paramaatma) and are directly connected to it. Such a person can scold someone or get mad at someone for his misdeeds, but it does not mean that he hates that person. Once the sinner realizes his mistake and he is ready to repent for it, the enlightened one will approach him with same love as before. An enlightened one can forgive and forget and bestow love on everyone. He will never reserve his love for any particular individual or a particular religion.

                                              All the major religions in this world may it be Hinduism, islam, Christianity, Buddhism or any other are based on this very same principle. Only the perception of humans have changed the basic idea and divided them. Gods or pioneers of any of these faiths have never claimed to bestow their love upon the people of particular group or practice. They have always given equal blessings for everyone and taught the same basic values.

                                            In religious and spiritual terms, soul is the epicenter of all the love. It is the purest creation of nature and is the only factor which is driving all the beings everywhere. It is always satisfied, never demanding and eager to give and guide us to the right path. It drives human beings into divine form. Hence to look for love, one does not have to look outside, but can find it within oneself. One just has to peek inside oneself with a clear mind. If the mind is blindfolded with temptations, guilt, sorrow, pride or anger one cannot reach the soul and hence restricted from experiencing the true love. Our consciousness which is blinded by thoughts is always eager to guide us and pour its love over us, but we miss that because of the blindfold over the eyes of our minds.

                                           By controlling our thoughts and being satisfied with what we have, we can slip into that consciousness and love can flow freely from us into the world and the world would never be the same again.