The Festival of Love

When somebody ask you to define love, will that be an easy task?! May be Wikipedia can give you an answer like "Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection to pleasure. It can also be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection..." But do you think that we can limit the love with a simple definition?! Obviously Not! It is not an easy task to define love as it is beyond the words or expressions. The limitation of language can be clearly visible in such a situation. Humans haven't developed a language yet that can explain love. In simple words "Love is beyond language!" Then what is love?!

A survey was conducted recently to find out the most beautiful word in English language. The word which came in the first place is "Love" and the word "Mother" grabbed the second place. See the beauty, Mother, in a broader sense is love itself. This diversity of meanings and uses combined with the complexity of the feelings involved makes love unusually difficult to define or compared to other emotional states. Throughout the history people explained love in different angles. That’s how the cultural, religious, political and philosophical theories of love got formulated.

Almost every religion derived in human history has provided a superior position to love in their doctrine. The Bible says:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 )

How beautifully described - this might be the reason why the Bible is also called as the 'Book of Love'. Bible also gives a new message to the humankind which none of other books have provided:

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." (Luke 6:35)

Atharva Veda, the ancient Indian text, recites "Love binds all hearts in a soft silken symphony. Seen through the eyes of Love, all beings are beautiful all deeds are dedicated and all thoughts are innocent. The World is one vast kin."

Yet another beautiful sloka in Rig Veda starts like this:

"Sing the song of celestial love, O singer!
May the divine fountain of eternal grace and joy
enter your soul.
May Brahma, (the Divine One),
Pluck the strings of your inner soul
with His celestial fingers,
And feel His own presence within.
Bless us with a divine voice
That we may tune the harp-strings of our life
To sing songs of Love to you."

Rig veda takes a non-dualistic approach and equates love with Brahma. The love in its highest point ever! In Hinduism, attaining unadulterated, unconditional and incessant love for God is considered the foremost goal of life.


The Holy Quran also gives immense importance to Love. Quran says "Love is earned (Qur'an, 30:45), Love is true sacrifice (Qur'an, 2:177), Real love does not decay (Qur'an, 49:12), Allah is love (Qur'an, 11:90 and 85:14) " Love is more than an emotion in Islam and like the weather, a spectrum of vivid or dark colors, is prone to change. Its darker shades can lead to lustful corruption; its purer essence lead to faith.

Starting from Sigmund Freud through modern neuroscience love is one of the favorite subject of scientific research. Scientist classified love in two major categories, the Impersonal love and Interpersonal love. The impersonal model talks about love to an object, principle, or goal to which we are deeply committed and greatly value. The interpersonal love further breaks down into Biological and Psychological model. Biological models of love is similar to hunger or thirst. Psychology sees love as more of a social and cultural phenomenon. The conventional view in biology is that there are two major drives in love: sexual attraction and attachment. Attachment between adults is presumed to work on the same principles that lead an infant to become attached to its mother. The traditional psychological view sees love as being a combination of companionate love and passionate love. Passionate love is intense longing, and is often accompanied by physiological arousal (shortness of breath, rapid heart rate); companionate love is affection and a feeling of intimacy not accompanied by physiological arousal.

If we look at the literature and art ever created we can see love everywhere. Love is the most celebrated emotion in the whole human history. Some people talked about love, some spread love, some lived in love and some reformed a generation with love. I cannot forget the names of Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa who lived as  apostles of love. We can read and feel the eternal love in the works of poets like Valmiki, Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Rumi, Pablo Neruda, Khalil Gibran, Coleridge. Ramayana, one of the greatest text in Indian literature starts with the beautiful lines:

"mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṁ tvamagamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
yat krauñcamithunādekam avadhīḥ kāmamohitam"

[You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity

For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting]

An epic poem is inspired by the lost love! This makes Wordsworth's sentence meaningful - "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." Here that emotion is love!

Let's celebrate the festival of love with a beautiful poem of Rabindranath Tagore, "Undening Love":

“I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,

That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain,

Its ancient tale of being apart or together.

As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,

Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:

You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.

At the heart of time, love of one for another.

We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same

Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-

Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you

The love of all man’s days both past and forever:

Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.

The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –

And the songs of every poet past and forever.”

Love is the most beautiful thing in the world. You can find love everywhere in the universe; the stars love their planet and the sun loves the earth; the birds fly from tree to tree singing and telling everybody they are happy together. Always remember "A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love." Love should be eternal and unconditional. I would say Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life!

Karma

"Now as a man is like this or like that,
according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be;
a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad;
he becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds;

"And here they say that a person consists of desires,
and as is his desire, so is his will;
and as is his will, so is his deed;
and whatever deed he does, that he will reap."

—Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 7th Century BC [Ancient Indian text]

What is Karma?

Any deed, any thought, any action that causes an effect, is called a Karma. Karma means not only action, but also the result of an action. As Newton’s law of action says, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Thus work the ways of karma.

The Law of Karma means the law of causation. Wherever there is a cause, there an effect must be produced. A seed is a cause for the tree which is the effect. The tree produces seeds and becomes the cause for the seeds.

Here are the 12 karmic rules you need to know:

1. The Great Law

“As you sow, so shall you reap” In other way its called the Law of Cause and Effect. If you want happiness, love..then you should be happy, loving.. - simple as it says.

2. The Law of Creation

"Life doesn't just happen, it requires our participation." We are an indispensable part of Universe. Whatever surrounds us gives us clues to our inner state. Be and do yourself what you want to have in your life.

3. The law of Responsibility

"Whenever there is something wrong in my life, there is something wrong in me." We are responsible for our actions – all of them. We are responsible for our thoughts and behavior, whether deliberate or unintentional. A responsible person makes mistakes, but when they do, they take responsibility and make it right.

4. The Law of Connection

This is the law that connects each step you do to the next and the next step so that you can reap the effects of the outcome. Everything in the universe is connected and active - This means that the first step you made to connect to what your soul is asking for…to the present step…and to the last step, they all become equally important to the fruition of each connection. The past, present and future are all connected in the eventual manifestation of your desires.

5. The Law of Humility

The law says what you refuse to accept will continue for you. It seems difficult to understand. What you choose not to see that may be happening in your life becomes most difficult to deal with. Awareness is the key to change.

6. The Law of Growth

“Wherever you go, there you are.” In times of unhappiness, people often begin to think that if they moved to a different house, a new part of town or even a different state that their lives will change. This is even true when it comes to relationships. But the truth is - it is we who must change – and not the people, places or things around us.

7. The Law of Focus

"You cannot think of two things at the same time." This refers to the idea that if you are focused on the principal of spiritual values, then it becomes difficult to focus on such feelings of impatience, anger, sadness, greed or any other feeling that only creates angst or upset for your body, mind or soul.

8. The Law of Giving and Hospitality

"If you believe something to be true, then sometime in your life you will be called upon to demonstrate that particular truth." This is where you get to decide that your behaviors match your thoughts. All of the words you are speaking flow in concert with your thoughts and actions.

9. The Law of Here and Now

"Looking back to examine what was prevents us from being totally in the Here and Now." Old thoughts, old patterns of behavior, old dreams... prevent us from having new ones.

10. The Law of Change

"History repeats itself until we learn the lessons that we need to change our path." - the statement sums it all.

11. The Law of Patience and Reward

“All reward requires initial toil, and the rewards of lasting value require patient and persistent toil.” True joy follows doing what we’re supposed to be doing, and waiting for the reward to come in on its own time.

12. The Law of Significance and Inspiration

The true essence of this law is that “you get back from something whatever YOU have put into it.”

With each individual contribution you make towards the greater good or to the “whole,” you create an impact that begins a ripple effect that you may have never seen the end result. But trust me; your soul knows the end result. Your soul aims to create good intention, provide enlightenment and support, and love mankind from its darkest hours. “Each loving contribution brings life to, and inspires the Whole.”

Coffee

Today I can write the happiest lines

It's the 'Hope' inside me recite these lines

I'm going to have a coffee, a coffee with lots of caffeine

Even if it rains or sunny

Even if the stars and moon goes dark

Even if the nature shows its violent face

I will have this coffee with my friend

Oh friend you are the heart of my heart and soul of my soul

Caffeine gives us energy

May that energy fills our heart with joy

May the joy gives us eternal happiness

And the eternal happiness makes our friendship immortal!

                                                                                                      Yadhu
                                                                                                      30th June ‘15