Love is giving and forgiving, Love is expansion. (CWBSSB, p. 96)
Love is the path. Start the day with love. Spend the day with love, fill the day with love. End the day with love. This is the way to God. Expansion is love not contraction and selfishness, not ‘my’. Such practices as meditation, japa, Mantra, bhajan, are like soap. Without water, soap is not of use. The water is likened to love. It is the water that is important. Without love you live in death. Love is life. (CWBSSB, p. 123)
If you love another person, you will not covet lordship over him; you will not covet his property; you will have no envy when he prospers, no joy when he suffers. Love is the strongest antidote for greed. This therefore, is the fundamental spiritual discipline: give love and receive Love. Love persuades you to consider the distress of the other, whenever you are overcome by it. You are drawn to those who have equal ground for grief. You become engrossed in the sorrow of others and so forget your own. Only a thick shower of Love can smother and destroy the flames of anger, fear and anxiety that envelop the world. (SSS Vol.10)
True and Selfless Love manifests as sacrifice. Such love knows no hatred. It envelops the entire universe, and is capable of drawing near even those who are seemingly far away. Love it is that transforms the human into the Divine. It can transform pashu (a bestial person) into Pahsupati (Divinity). In the phenomenal world, you come across many shades and derivatives of this primordial love. You love your father, mother, brother, sister, friends, and so on. In all such cases, there is always a tinge of selfishness somewhere or the other. Divine love, on the other hand, is totally free of even the slightest trace of selfishness. You must surrender to such love, become completely submerged by it, and experience the bliss it confers.
For acquiring such love, the quality of kshama or forbearance is a vital necessity. Every individual must cultivate this noble quality. Kshama is not achieved by reading books or learnt from an instructor. Nor can it be received as a gift from someone else. This prime virtue kshama can be acquired solely by self-effort, by facing squarely diverse problems, difficulties of various sorts, anxieties, and suffering as well as sorrow. In the absence of kshama, man becomes susceptible to all kinds of evil tendencies. Hatred and jealousy easily take root in a person lacking this virtue.
Divinity is nothing but the combined manifestation of prema and kshama. At one stroke, kshama subsumes satya, dharma, and the entire Vedas. It is the greatest among tapas (penance). It is the grandest and the noblest among virtues. It is all encompassing. (SSB 2000, pp.221-222)
For the divine love may be unlimited. ‘Worldly’ love should have a limit. But love for God is unbounded, it has no limit. (CWBSSB, p. 155)
Any love that is related to the body has an element of selfishness in it and this can be compared to the electric bulb we have in a room. The light of the bulb is limited by the walls of the room and this is like selfish love. Love, if it is on a higher plane, can be compared to moonlight. There is in that case, light within and without. This light too is hazy and not clear. Pure love, which is entirely selfless, is like sunshine. Sunlight gives us a clear view of all objects. God’s love is like sunshine. Human love is like moonlight. Individual love is like the bulb in the room. (SSB 1972, p. 284)
Love is the subjective mental condition consequent upon an attachment, which a subject develops towards an object. In other words, love is the experience of the flow of self-consciousness towards an object as the effect of finding the self in the object, i.e. the act of surrendering the self to the mercy of the object, or superimposing selfhood on the object. Physical love is blind in the sense that where this relationship exists, the subject entirely forgets all the defects, imperfections and shortcomings of the object. But the love of a devotee of God or the universal love, which a sage has, is not blind, for it is pure and spiritual. (DS)
Love is of three kinds: Svartha or self-centred, which is like a bulb, illumines just a small room; Anyonya or mutual, which like the moonlight spreads wider but is not clearer; and Parartha or other-centred, which like the sunlight is all pervasive and clear. Cultivate the third type of love; that will save you. For all the service that you do to others through that love is in fact service done to yourself. It is not the others that you help; it is yourself that is helped, remember. (SSS Vol.2, p. 29)
The love between a mother and her child has been called ‘vatsalya’. The ‘prema’ you have between each other can be called ‘anuraga’. The ‘prema’ that exists between husband and a wife is called ‘moha’. The attachment which you develop towards your material possession has been called ‘iccha’. The same prema towards God is called ‘Bhakti’. In all these aspects, what is common is ‘prema’, but all of them cannot be called ‘Bhakti’. There may be love or prema towards a son, towards a husband, towards friends, towards God. If you can, spread the ‘prema’ that you have for God and widen that ‘prema’ towards all human beings. This is what has been described by saying that the entire creation you see around you should be covered by ‘iccha’. This ‘iccha’ by which you can spread your prema towards every individual must be developed by you. If you keep on talking of ‘prema’ and devotion and direct them towards unholy objects, you will be deceiving God. You should realise this. (SSB 1977, pp. 221-222)
Love needs no reason for its flow; it comes from no selfish urge. (RKRV Part II, p. 99)
When the prema or love is tainted by selfishness, it cannot illumine at all. Self is love-less-ness; Love is self-less-ness. Self gets and forgets; love gives and forgives. Love can never entertain the idea of revenge, for it sees all others as oneself. When the tongue is hurt by the teeth do you seek vengeance against the wrongdoer? No, for they both belong to you and are integral parts of your being. So too, when some other person insults you or inflicts pain, allow wisdom to have mastery over you. Discover the truth and do not rush to conclusions, always keeping love as your guide. (SSS Vol. 10, pp. 106-107)
Love knows no fear, no untruth, no anxiety, no grief. I am Love; I shower love; I share love; I am pleased with love; I bless that you have more of love to more and more beings. Love is God. Love is Love- that is the message of Shri Krishna Janmashtami. (SSS Vol.9, p. 113)
When you cook food, however fresh and clean, however free from grit and dirt, in a copper vessel, it will turn into poisonous stuff, if the vessel has no lining of tin. The heart too is a copper vessel where you prepare various types of food for yourself and others. See that it has a good lining of love; or else, it too will cause harm and pain, to you and the rest. (SSS Vol.9, p. 211)
The Grace of God cannot be won, through the gymnastics or reason, the contortions of yoga or the denials of asceticism. Love alone can win it. Love that needs no requital, love that knows no bargaining, love that is paid gladly, as tribute to all loving, love that is unwavering, love alone can overcome obstacles, however many and mighty. There is no strength more effective than purity, no bliss more satisfying that love, no joy more restoring than Bhakti, no triumph more praiseworthy than surrender.
The achievement of ananda through prema, of the highest bliss through the highest love, this is the teaching of Vedanta, for which all seekers compliment the sages of this land. Vedanta is love, limitless love, the philosophical basis for that Love.
Love should not be rationed, on the basis of caste, creed or economic status or intellectual attainment of the recipient. It should flow full and free, regardless of consequence, for, it is one’s nature to love, to seek out the dry dreary wastes which love can water and make fertile.
When love is directed towards things that cater to the senses or bodily happiness, it will dry up when they fail or disappoint. When profit is loved, loss will undermine it. Discontent will sap its springs, when you love with the motive of worldly contentment. Even when ten million disappointments continue to distress you, never give up love; fix it on the source of love. The spring of love, the supreme goal of love, namely God. Whatever the handicap, however you are tempted to loosen the grip, hold on to God; there is always a calm, after the storm. A bout of hot weather invariably brings welcome showers.
Love saturates all activities with joy and peace. Love enables the least and the lowest. Love yourself for the God that it embodies; Love others, for the God that is enshrined in them, that speaks and acts through them. (SSS Vol.7, p. 437)
The love of God and the love for God are both eternally sweet and pure, whatever the method of your accepting or attaining them. Such love is holy and inspiring. Sugar is sweet when eaten during day or during night. For it is night or day for the person who eats, not for the sugar. Sugar behaves uniformly always. (Bhag Vahini, p. 7)
Love is joy, love is power, love is light, love is God. If at all you want to label Me, then call Me Premaswarup’. (SSSm Vol.3, p. 214)
Love, respect, tolerance, mutual co-operation, forbearance - these must flow from the hearts of all towards all, you are all limbs of one body - the Sai body. (SSSm Vol.3, p. 25)
Love is the keynote of harmony; work, worship and wisdom are the three stages on the godward path’. (SSSm Vol.3, p. 284)
Love is ananda; Love is power; Love is light; Love is God. (SSS Vol. 6, p. 197)
Love your religion, so that you may practise it with greater faith; and, when each one practises his religion with faith, there can be no hatred in the world, for all religions are built on universal love. Love your country, so that it may become strong, happy and prosperous, an arena for the exercise of all the higher faculties of man. (SSS Vol.5, p. 78)
Love leads to expansion; hatred leads to contraction. (SSS Vol.8, p. 164)
Love lives by giving and forgiving, Self lives by getting and forgetting. (Golden Age, 1979, p. 28)
Love helps you to see God in everyone, everyone as Divine. The jagat is not false, it is not a trap; it is the splendour of God, His reflection - He reflected and the jagat happened! It is His own substance, manifesting as multiplicity, as latent or potent energy or matter. (SSS Vol.8, p. 54)
Rama said ‘Hanuman! I shower my love most on those who serve me and who deem that service as the highest means of liberation’. (RKRV Part II, p. 82)
Selfless love is the source of happiness, truth, peace, sacrifice, endurance, and all other higher values of life. There is no security and safety without ‘prema’ the absolute, unalloyed form of love. O brave sons of Bharat, remember that love is more fundamental than all other moral values. (SSB 1979, p. 53)
Love is central. Love in thought is truth that which is always the same and beyond beginning and end. Love in feeling is peace; bliss being unaffected by sorrows or joys, the ups or downs in life. Love in understanding is non-violence and respect and reverence for all creation. Love in action is morality and right living – the giving of selfless service to all in need without desire for reward. (S&M, p. 83)
LOVE is the solvent for the hardest of hearts. Love can confer peace, joy and wisdom; cultivate love, express love. Let love be your breath, let the sun of love help the lotus of your heart to blossom.
Love is my highest miracle. Love can make you gather the affection of all mankind. Love will not tolerate any selfish aim or approach. Expand your heart so that it can encompass all. Do not narrow it down into an instrument of restricted love.
Man is love embodied. He thirsts for love and finds real joy in loving and receiving selfless love. Love all as the embodiments of the same divine principle. The bliss that you give, the love that you share, these alone will be your lasting possessions. Love. Love alone can bind you to others and to God, who is the embodiment of love. Love knows no fear, no untruth, no anxiety, no grief.
I am love. I shower love. I share love. I am pleased with love; I bless that you may bring more and more love to more and more beings.
Love can transform man into a divine being; it helps him to manifest the divine, which is his core. Love can tame even the most ferocious of beasts. Start pouring out love to all the members of your community and gradually expand that love to include all mankind and even the lower creatures.
Soak every moment in love, that is to say in God. Be born in love; die in love, live in love, that is to say emerge from God and merge in God.
Be a wave in the Ocean of love. You should not die; you should merge and fulfil yourself. That is the destiny that is the destination. Spread love; be full of love. If you cannot love man, how can you hope to love God?
Love must see the best in others and not the worst. Love cannot ignore the divinity in others. The greatest of the virtues is love. Love is the basis of character.
God is love and can be won only through the cultivation and exercise of love. Love is expansion and expansion is divine life. Sow love, it blossoms as compassion and tolerance. It yields the fruit of peace. Unless you cultivate love, tolerance, humility, faith and reverence, how is it possible for you to realise God?
Love activates love fulfils. Fill your hearts with the sweet fragrant water of love. Then every act of yours, every word of yours (which are like the water drawn from the tank through the taps, tongue, hand, brain, etc) will be sweet and fragrant. If the tank is polluted how can the word be helpful or the thought beneficent or the deed commendable?
When you know that you are but a spark of the divine and that all else are the same divine spark, you look upon all with reverence and true love. Your heart is filled with supreme joy and the canker of egoism is rendered ineffective. Man is seeking joy in far-off places, in quiet spots, not knowing that the spring of joy is in his heart, the heaven of peace is in himself. Love is God; God is the embodiment of perfect love. So, He can be known and realized, reached and won only through love. You can see the moon only with the help of moonlight. You can see God through the ray of love. One kind of love expresses itself as attachment of things, affection towards kith and kin, desire for objects. Another kind reveals love in human relations, reverence towards the great and devotion to God. Cultivate love and all its aspects will be fed and fostered. There is only one royal road for spiritual journey-love. Love all beings as manifestations of the same divinity that is the very core of yourself. Love ail beings, that is enough. See God in everyone, even in persons whom you regard as your enemies. Practice that broad all-inclusive types of love.
Remember, when love is installed in the heart, jealousy, hatred and untruth will find no place there. Expansion is life. Expansion is the essence of love. Live in love. Love expresses itself as service. Love grows through service. Love is born in the womb of service, and God is Love. Right conduct must be singing from the heart as the core energizing water of love peace. The goal can be reached through the purification of character and cultivation of unselfish love. To attain God, love is enough. Love is the key to open the door, locked by egoism and greed. Love for all should spontaneously flow from your heart and sweeten all your words. The best spiritual discipline that can help man is love. Foster the tiny seed of love that clings to ‘me’ and ‘mine’; let it sprout into love for the group around you and you grow into mankind and spread out its branches over animals, birds, and those that creep and crawl and let love enfold all things and beings in all the world. Proceed from less love to more love, narrow love to expand love. Expand into universal love, unshaken equanimity and ever-active virtue. That is the path, which will bring out the divinity in you to the fullest. Man’s native characteristic is divine love, his nature is divine love, his breath is divine love. God is the source of all love. Love God; love the world as the vesture of God, no more no less. Through love you can merge in the ocean of love. Love cures pettiness, hate and grief. Love loosens bounds. It saves man from the treatment of birth and death. Love binds all hearts in a soft silken symphony. Seen through the eyes of love, all beings are beautiful, all deeds are dedicated, all thoughts are innocent, the world is one vast kin.
Love...... Love .... Love first. Love as long as life lasts. My life is my message. My message is love. (S&M, p. 133/136)
Love is another name for Dharma. True Love is priceless. It has no trace of selfishness in it. It does not change. It is pure and unsullied. It always grows and never diminishes. It is spontaneous. The love of God is of such a nature: it is spontaneous, free from selfishness, unwavering and always full. Ordinary human love is motivated by selfish considerations. It is liable to change owing to changes in time and circumstance. For persons immersed in such love, it is difficult to comprehend or realise the greatness of Divine Love. The English philosopher, Bacon has pointed out how the love of God is all encompassing and unchanging and how it can grow into universal love. Love wears the Mantle of Truth. And one wedded to Truth is ever young and vigorous. The Upanishads have declared that the votary of truth will not know old age. The Bible also declares that the body gets fortified by adherence to truth. Truth should not be confined to speech. It must express itself in action. Only the one who is truthful in word and deed can be esteemed as a genuine human being, according to Prophet Muhammad. Buddhism also lays down that everyone, irrespective of sex or country, must live up to truth. (SS Jan 85 , p. 2)
Where there is love of God, there will be fear of sin. When. Both of these are present society will experience morality. Man’s primary duty is to foster these three. Daiva preeti, Papa bheeti and Samaja neeti. This has to be done by developing devotion (bhakti) on the basis of faith and love. Actions have to be performed with devotion. Love (Prema) is Bhakti (devotion). The faith generated by love is Jnana. The actions done on the basis of Love and Faith are Karma. The combination of Jnana and Karma leads to Upasana (worship). Upasana is combined outcome of Bhakti, Jnana and Karma. (SS Aug 88 , p. 198)
Love does not have birth, love does not have death. From moment to moment it goes on blossoming and it goes on shining. Getting elated at the time of gain and feeling depressed at loss, feeling happy at the time of praise and unhappy at censure this is not equal-mindedness, nor is it a sign of true love. Love is permanent and such true love itself is devotion. (Div, pp. 24-25)
In order to train the younger generation in the proper way the Sai Organisations has prescribed the five guiding principles of their movement – Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and Non- violence. ‘We should understand first the real import and significance of these five principles. Satya or truth is not just relating events, exactly as seen, heard or experienced. It is the eternal Truth, which is beyond time and space, which does not ever change. If Love forms part of your nature, Satya will be there. When your thoughts emanate from a mind purified by love, they will result in Right Action, which is Dharma. When Love becomes part of your experience, thought and action you get Peace (Shanti). When we comprehend Love clearly, ‘Ahimsa’ or non-violence will result automatically. So Love is the unseen undercurrent binding all the four values. It can be summarised thus: Love plus thoughts is Truth; Love plus feelings is Shanti; Love plus action is Dharma and Love plus understanding is Ahimsa. Love is the common denominator for all the values. It is the form of God, for God is Love. One who gives Love is a man and one who fails to nourish this Love is a beast. Love or absence of Love makes one an animal, man or God.
The nurturing of Love is possible only in a tender heart. Because of attachment to worldly objects that tenderness is lost. When the mind is directed towards the sensual world, life becomes artificial. ‘When you go to your office you greet people artificially. The namaskaram is done with ahamkaram. Respect is given artificially for the position and does not emanate from the heart. That which emanates from the heart is Truth or satya. When you see a person doing service to others with love you have to respect him. It is not the formal action that counts. Only the good heart behind the action is entitled to respect and regard. So we should develop a tender heart filled with love rather than act mechanically. If there is no love in the heart there is no use in doing anything whatsoever. (SS Feb 85 , pp. 30-31)
Love is the fruit of life. The fruit has three components: the skin, the juicy Kernel and the seeds. To experience the fruit, we have to first remove the skin. The skin represents egoism, the ‘I’ feeling, the excluding, limiting individualising principle. The seed represents ‘selfishness’, the ‘mine’ feeling, the possessive, the greedy, desire principle. This too has to be discarded. What remains is the sweet juice, the rasa which the Upanishads describe as Divine, the Love Supreme, Parama Prema, is Jyoti, Amritam, Brahma: ‘Apo jyoti raso amritam Brahma’: Everyone has the right to partake of this nectarine Prema and to share it with others. No one is excluded on the basis of race, caste, creed or place of origin. The only condition is: Have. the skin and the seed been removed? When the Love Principle is known and practised, man will be free from anxiety and fear. (SSS Vol.11, pp. 222-223)
It is only Love that binds one person to another and one thing to another. The entire world is filled with Love. Life devoid of Love can be described as lifeless. In Love, there are three levels. The first is the best and highest level. Men at this level have full faith and belief that God, who is the embodiment of eternal bliss, is present in all beings without exception. They will have the feeling that Ishvara is present everywhere, in everything in the form of Love. For such people, ‘Advesta sarva-bhutanam’ will be the feeling. They see nothing but love in everything. They see no difference between their ‘own’ people and others. Persons filled with such supreme love will experience bliss. Those at the second level care only for their own good and the welfare of their own kith and kin, their comfort and happiness. They do not care about others, about their merits or their faults. These people can be termed as ‘Madhyama’, or middle level persons. There are others who don’t feel happy if they see others happy; in fact they grow jealous of other’s happiness. They will be always looking for faults in others and criticising them. They cannot tolerate other people being happy. Thereby they ruin all aspects of love in themselves. Just as crow feels jealous when a cuckoo sings well, these people feel jealous at other’s attainments. Just as the crow ridicules the swan, these people ridicule good people they are in the lowest level of Love (adharma). (SSS Vol.11, pp. 238-239)
Every being needs Love, inhales and exhales Love. For Love is the basic breath; everyone is the embodiment of Love. Love knows no fear and so, love needs no falsehood to support it. It is only fear that makes people warp the face of truth, to make it pleasant for those whom they fear. Love also seeks no reward; Love is its own reward. That is the sole gain, the joy of loving and being loved. When it is directed to God, it is called Devotion. Who would not love God? When once he is aware of His Glory, Majesty, Might and Mercy? Love removes all egoism; the self is forgotten, it is superseded, it is transcended. Any trace of greed for gain, degrades Love into a bargain over the counter. Whatever the Loved One does or gives is satisfying to the Lover, the Adorer. It is only Love that can successfully carry out schemes for service and uplift. Love creates sympathy; love will show the way, where hatred can only confound. (Sens.SS, p. 49)
Love is the solvent for the hardest of hearts. Without Love, free, full and selfless, no spiritual discipline can succeed. Without it, bhajan is waste of breath, good company a waste of time and meditation a self-deception. Bhajan, good company and meditation done with a mind soaked in Love can confer peace, joy and wisdom. (Sens.SS, p. 133)
All are eager to take, none is earnest about giving. The reason is, absence of Love, love that transcends caste, creed, colour and fences erected by man between man. Fill the heart with Love, and distribute that Love to all. Love grows with every gift of Love; the heart that pours only drawing on Him, when you are sharing Love with others. (Sens.SS, pp. 165-166)
Love expresses itself in Seva,
Love grows through Seva,
Love is born in the womb of Seva,
And God is Love.
(Sens.SS, p. 168)
Love, not lust is the essence of life. Devotion and love for the Divine only form the subject matter of love and not lust and the temporal glory. (N&N, p. 46)
In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna taught the principle of love and the need to cultivate love to counter hatred, jealousy, anger and all other bad traits, that cause so much harm to you. Love knows no hatred, Love is free from all selfishness, Love is ever distant from anger, Love will never take; it knows only giving, Love is God. If you want God, you will have to develop this sacred quality of love. Only through love will you be able to experience Him, who is love itself. (DBG, pp. 30-31)
A noble character and good behaviour announces the inner birth of a person; this is based on love. Whether you are engaged in Karma Yoga, sacrificing the fruits of actions or Bhakti Yoga, contemplating on the Omnipresent Lord, or Jnana Yoga, practising inner inquiry, aspiring to gain wisdom, the root ‘of all these spiritual exercises is love. Truth, peace, righteousness and non-violence, Satya, Shanti, Dharma and Ahimsa, do not exist separately. They are essentially dependent on love. When love enters the thoughts it becomes Dharma or righteousness. When your feelings become saturated with love you become peace itself The very meaning of the word peace is love. When you fill your understanding with love it is Ahimsa. Practising love is Dharma, thinking of love is Satya, feeling of love is Shanti and understanding love is Ahimsa. For all these values it is love which flows as the undercurrent. In Buddhi Yoga which has been taught in the Gita, in the chapter on devotion, it says, ‘Fill yourself with love and use this love to reach Me. In that way, you will develop nearness and dearness to Me.’ When love is associated with thoughts it becomes truth. When love is introduced into your activities, your actions become Dharma, when your feelings are saturated with love your heart is filled with supreme peace, and when you allow love to guide your understanding and reasoning, then your intelligence becomes saturated with non-violence. For all these great qualities, love is the undercurrent. Just as sugar is the basis of all different kinds of sweets, so also love is the basic ingredient for Satya, Dharma, Shanti and Ahimsa. Love is the divinity itself. Love is God and God is love. Love is the divine power that activates everything. Through love you can easily conquer hatred and anger. Therefore always live in love. (DBG, p. 62)
Love is only bond that can unite and make us realise the one Reality behind all the seeming diversity. (ICS , p. 82)
Love as thought is Truth
Love as action is Righteousness
Love as feeling is Peace
Love as understanding is Non-Violence.
Love is selflessness,
Selfishness is Lovelessness.
Love gives and forgives,
selfishness gets and forgets.
(SSS Vol.5, p. 123)
But how does one love? ‘See all as but expressions of the same God, as appearances on the same screen as lit by the same current, though of manifold colours and wattage. (SV, p. 35)
Scatter the seeds of love in dreary desert hearts; then sprouts of love will make wastelands green with joy; blossoms of love will make the air fragrant; rivers of love will murmur along the valleys and every bird will beat, every child will sing the song of love.....’ (SV90, p. 123)
Love is flower. Lust is a thorn.
Love is giving and forgiving.
(FDD, pp. L-17)
Brahman is form of Love. Love is all-encompassing Love. Love knows no differences. It shines eternally as Truth in all hearts. However, such Love cannot remain in a heart where selfishness prevails. Only when one rids himself of all selfishness can Love blossom in the heart.
Love and ego cannot co-exist even for a moment. Love is the royal path, which will take one to the noblest heights. This Love must be experienced, enjoyed, and shared with his fellow men by every individual in the world.
Love, Prema, is only one, not two. There is, however, another name for Love. It is Anuraga, which means worldly attachment. It is a mistaken belief that worldly attachment to God is what Love really is. Worldly relationships have nothing to do with Love. These attachments may evoke temporary happiness, but attachment to God confers eternal bliss.
Love for God is formless and attribute-less. Many people say that they love God, but there is not even one in a million who has true devotion. Devotion is not performing rituals or visiting temples. It is not worshipping God in the hope of getting something is return. True devotion is devoid of selfish desires; it expects nothing in return. It is an intimate relationship between the devotee and God. Everything is included in this Love.
There are many paths leading to God. The nine paths of Bhakti or devotion are: listening to the glories of God, singing the glory of God, chanting the Lord’s name, serving the feet of the Lord, salutations, worshipping, serving the Lord, having God as your true friend, and complete surrender of the ego. But none of these nine paths of devotion can compare to the path of Love.
Love is the most powerful thing in this world. Why? Because Love is selfless. If you desire to bring about peace, welfare, and prosperity in the world, cultivate Love. A life devoid of Divine Love is worthless. In ancient times, Rishis lived in jungles where wild and dangerous animals roamed, but the animals never harmed them. What was the reason for this? They were not attacked by these animals because they carried no weapons. They used only the weapon of Love, and this weapon transformed the wild beasts into docile creatures. (LA, p. 52/ 54)
Love is the reflection of Hiranyagarbha and originates from it. The three principles of reaction, resound and reflection have also originated from Hiranyagarbha. Unable to recognise his true identity, man is wasting his life in the pursuit of temporary, fleeting, transient and ephemeral pleasures. As I told you yesterday, gold loses its value, brilliance and identity when it is mixed with different metals such as silver, copper, brass. So also the heart, which loses its value, brilliance and identity on account of its association with the impurities of worldly desires. This is the present plight of mankind. Man is behaving like a demon, devil and a beast because he has forgotten his divine nature. Divine love originates from Hiranyagarbha. This selfless divine love lives by giving and forgiving, whereas selfish love lives by getting and forgetting. Such divine love is essential for man. (SSS Vol.32 Part I, p. 36)
Love will automatically make the heart bright with light and delight. (SSS Vol. 15, p. 170)
The sage Narada declared: ‘Prema amritasya swarupah’ (Love is the embodiment of ambrosia). In the mundane world, man considers the four Purusharthas (the four goals of life) as the means to Moksha (Liberation). This is not correct. Dharma (Righteousness), Artha (Material Wealth), Kama (the Satisfaction of Desire) and Moksha (Liberation), which are considered the four aims of human existence, are not all. There is a fifth aim for mankind, which transcends even Moksha (Liberation). This is Parama prema (Supreme Love). This Love Principle is Divine. (SSS Vol.28, p. 9)
Dharmaja, the eldest of the Pandava brothers, ceaselessly adored Krishna. While living in the forest or when he was in Dhuryodana’s court witnessing the dishonouring of Draupadi, or when Abhimanyu was killed in battle, or when the infant Upapandavas were killed (by Ashwatthama) – in all these situations, Dharmaja used to love Krishna with perfect calmness. He used to feel: ‘Krishna! These joys and sorrows are twins that always go together. Hence there is no need to get elated or depressed. I cannot swerve from my allegiance to your divinity. My love for you is for your own sake and not for the sake of the world. My love is the bond that links you and me. It is like a bridge that connects the Omni-self and the individual Self.’ (SSS Vol.28, p. 102)
Chaitanya, the son of Sachi Devi, once went to Puri and had darshan of Lord Jagannath. He worshipped Jagannath with these words: ‘Oh Lord! You are not merely the Lord of the earth. You are the Lord of the Universe! You are the Lord of Life! You are the Lord of Love! Swami! I do not need wealth or vehicles. Even less do I seek devotion, wisdom or renunciation. I do not aspire for worldly pleasures or possessions. It is enough if I am endowed with the love to love you. If I have that love, all other things will come of their own accord. The only thing I seek is love towards you. Grant me this boon.’
Chaitanya declared: ‘My property is not ‘Shri’ but Hari. I value not Lakshmi (the Goddess of Wealth), but the Lord of Lakshmi (Vishnu).’ If you aspire for the Lord, you will not suffer from any want. There is no greater wealth than love of the Lord.
What gift is greater than the gift of food? Is there a greater deity than one’s parents? What virtue is greater than compassion? What is more valuable than good company? Is there a worse enemy than anger? Is any disease worse than debt? Can any death be worse than infamy? What can be greater than a good name? What wealth is greater than God’s love? (SSS Vol.26, pp. 152-154)
Everything is desired for self-enjoyment and not out of love for the sake of love. We should love for the sake of the Divine, to realise the eternal. Love should be for experiencing the effulgence of Jnana. Love is thus, an amalgam of sweetness, effulgence and wisdom. Compassion is the reflection of love. (SSS Vol.26, p. 407)
What is it that is liked by all? It is only love that is beyond hatred. It is love that is needed by all. True service lies in sharing this love with all. You should not be self-centred and keep the love all to yourself. You should share it with everybody in society and pass on to the entire world. (DTB Vol.3, p. 7)
Prema tattva is Prana tattva and Dharma tattva: Understand that love is life and practise the Dharma of Love. (SEKH, p. 33)
Love all and think of divinity. Moses used to think of Jesus all the time. As a result, his face shone with divine effulgence. He resembled Jesus so much that people used to mistake him for Jesus. Ratnakara, a robber, on being advised by Narada started chanting the name of Rama incessantly, as a result of which the radiance of Rama was seen on his countenance and he became sage Valmiki. Rama is Lokadata (the giver of the world) and Valmiki became Shlokadata (composer of the holy hymns). There is no difference between the giver and the composer. The Vedas declare: Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati (the knower of Brahman becomes Brahman himself). So, you should always think good, do good, talk good and hear good. Only then you can become good. A true human being is one who is good. A wicked person can never be called a human being. (SSS Vol.32 Part I, p. 104)
None can decide that God is here and not there. He is everywhere. Only through love can one have the vision of God. One can see one’s own reflection in the mirror only when a particular chemical is smeared on the other side. Likewise, smear the chemical of love on your Hridaya in order to have the vision of God. Fill your heart with love, then there will be no place for evil qualities like jealousy, anger and hatred. Wax melts when it comes into contact with heat. So also the heart, which can be compared to wax, melts when the rays of love fall on it. The story of Prahlada illustrates this. He constantly repeated the name of Lord Narayana with all love even in the face of innumerable hardships. He was pushed from the mountain top, thrown into the sea, trampled by huge elephants and bitten by poisonous snakes, but not even once did he give up chanting the name of Lord Narayana. Love of Prahlada melted the heart of the Lord and He came to his rescue in times of need. True devotion lies in being in the state of equanimity in times of both pleasure and pain. Prahlada stands a testimony to this. He was neither grief-stricken nor fear-stricken in the face of adversities. He had the total faith that God was within him. God manifests wherever His name is chanted. There is no room for grief or fear wherever God’s name is chanted as God Himself manifests there. Lord Krishan in Bhagwad gita (2:38) says, sukha-duhkhe same kritva labha labhau jaya jayau. Such equanimity can be attained only through love. (SSS Vol.32 Part II, pp. 35-36)
Love will awaken the compassion of man towards all God’s children, human and animal; it will fill him with wonder and amazement at the handiwork of God, and he will see Divinity everywhere and in everything. (EL, p. 93)
There is only one path for attaining God. That is the path of Love. That is the path of Truth. Hold on to this path firmly. Ramana Maharshi used to ask all the visitors this question: ‘Who are you?’’ When you go on enquiring thus, you will ultimately know your reality. Do not identify the principle of ‘I’ with a particular form. Here is a small example. Janakiramaiah (younger brother of Swami’s body) passed away recently. There are several people who loved him. They have been making obituary references in the newspapers, saying ‘Janakiramaiah! You have left your mortal coil, leaving us alone. You please take birth again, so that we may love you’. Is it necessary for Janakiramaih to take birth once again in order that these people may love him? Is that what these people wish for? Should we confine our entire life to birth and death only? In fact, both birth and death are unreal. Where there is birth, there is death surely. The twin stages of life, i.e., birth and death only for the body, not for the Atma-tattva which is eternal, and not the body which is subject to birth and death. I often address you as ‘Bangaru!’ What is the underlying meaning in addressing you in that manner? Gold as a metal does not perish. Its shape changes when it is melted and made into different types of ornaments. Like gold, Atma-tattva may take different forms but it does not undergo fundamental change. Strive to attain the changeless principle of Atma-tattva, not the changing forms. I address you as ‘Bangaru!’ , reminding you of your real nature, i.e., the changeless Atma-tattva. God is always gold. It is truth. It is eternal. You should yearn for this eternal reality. Keeping this in view, Adi Sankara in his famous song ‘Bhaja Govindam’ sang thus:
Punrapi Jananam Punarapi Maranam
Punarapi Janani Jatare Sayanam
Iha Samsare Bahu Dustare
Krupaya pare Pahi Murare.
(Oh Lord! I am caught up in this cycle of birth and death, time and again; I am experiencing the agony of staying in the mother’s womb. It is very difficult to cross this ocean of worldly life. Please take me across this ocean and grant me liberation.)
Yearn for that state where you become free from birth and death. Why should you wish to be born again and again?
Embodiments of Love!
You are the repository of divine love, which has neither birth nor death. This love is always with you, around you, below you, above you. If you cultivate this love, you will always remain as embodiments of love. Have firm faith in this divine love. Do not put faith in worldly love lest you should get deluded. Worldly love is like passing clouds. Such clouds come and go. They are not permanent. Love that which is eternal, That is the Atma. Love the Atma-tattva. People who wish to enter the spiritual field and know the path that leads to Divinity should come to Me. I will explain. Do not be deluded by worldly love that causes only disappointment. Cultivate the type of love that will not cause disappointment. Pursue any type of education but understand the inner meaning of education. Put your learning into practice. Only then can you experience bliss. Do not be disappointed by directing your love towards physical forms. Most students get disappointed in this manner. In the end, they are unable to love anybody. That is not the right way. True love is divine; it is eternal. It keeps on growing more and more. I always address you as ‘Embodiments of love!’ So, cultivate love. When you cultivate love, it will in turn protect you. (SS Jan 04, pp. 30-32)
The principle of love cannot be described in words. All descriptions will only reflect a part of the whole truth. So, instead of trying to describe it, make efforts deserving of God’s love. Love is the form of God. He may bestow His love on you in any form. Love is your ultimate goal. Only love can sanctify your life. Hence, develop love more and more. Love alone will protect you. (SSS Vol.37, p. 128)
You may get immersed in love, experience it and enjoy it. But your hunger for love can never be satiated. Love can be experienced only through love. There is no other path to experience love. Love is love and that is all. Have firm faith that God is the embodiment of love. Love Him wholeheartedly. Do not superimpose your worldly love on God’s love. He is the only true and eternal love. God is present everywhere in the form of love. You should never entertain doubts in this regard. The stream of love should flow in you incessantly. Only then can you have the divine vision. No doubt, you have the desire to see God but you are not expanding your love. If you are interested, I am ready to grant you the vision of God. But you can see Him provided you cultivate true and eternal love in you.
I always teach you love, love and love alone. You may try to describe love in various ways. It is impossible to do so. Love has only one form, i.e., the form of attraction. Love confers bliss and grace. Love is God. Live in love. Worldly love is but artificial. But man, out of ignorance, thinks that there is happiness in it. All that man loves is negative. He should direct his love towards positive principle. It never changes. Here is a small example. You have been coming here for a number of years. Do you ever feel satisfied with Swami’s Darshan? No. The same Swami whom you saw in the morning comes again in the evening. But you long to see Him again and again. The reason for this longing is love. (SSS Vol.37, pp. 130-131)
God’s heart can be melted only through love. So, develop total love. What is the type of love you should have? It should be Paripurna Prema (perfect love). This is not the worldly love that exists between parents and children, husband and wife, friends and relatives. Worldly love is absolutely selfless. Your life will be sanctified only when you develop divine love. (SSS Vol.32 Part II, p. 123)
Truly, God has endowed man with potential. That is love. It is beyond description and measure. There is no greater power than this. But man is frittering away this power without realising its value. He is under mistaken notion that love means physical and worldly relationship. No. No. That is not true love. True love is that which unites you with one and all.
Love is your only true and eternal wealth. But you are misdirecting towards mean and worldly pursuits. It should be treasured in your heart and utilised for sacred purposes. You may share it with any number of people. It will never diminish. But man today is unable to understand and experience the true spirit of love. Love is the life-breath of every being. In order to understand love, you have to dive deep into the ocean of love. Love cannot be understood from a superficial level, you have to immerse yourself completely in it. Worldly love is such that can just taste it, and give it up. But divine love is not like that; once you taste it, you will never leave it. Love is God’s property. Safeguard and protect this property with utmost care. Love is God, God is love. Hence, you cannot separate love from God. Live in love. That is the only way you can understand love and experience God.
Embodiments of Love! It may be easy to give lectures on love, but it is difficult to understand it. Make every effort to comprehend it. If you understand the nature of your love, you will understand the love of others. Love is in you, with you and around you. Once you understand love, you will become the very embodiment of love. If you talk about love without understanding it, then you cannot become embodiment of love. The more you understand the principle of love, the nobler you become. Once you understand the principle of love and put it in practice, others will also try to emulate you. In Ramayana, the four brothersRama,Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna set an ideal example to the world how love should be put into practice in life. Their wives also demonstrated this great ideal to the world. Many people extol only the virtues of Rama and ignore the model conduct of other characters of the Ramayana. In fact, each of them was as great as Rama. (SSS Vol.38, pp. 78-80)
Love is most sacred, sweet and non-dual. It is a great mistake to divide love and associate it with multiplicity. Your love should remain steady in pleasure and pain. Where there is love and devotion, there is no scope for differences. All differences are the making of your mind. Develop the feeling of oneness that you and I are one. Never think that you and I are different. When you give up the feeling of duality, you will attain unity and divinity. That is the sign of true devotion.
Love for God must be developed.mp3
It is a great pity that people are sacrificing the most precious things in life for the sake of trivial and transient pleasures. In the pursuit of the trivial, men involve themselves in sinful activities. They forget the Divine. There is no escape from the consequences of sinful deeds. Hence eryone should have fear of sin. Equally, there should be love of God. When these two are present, one will become a truly moral person in society. All ‘active workers’ should therefore bear in mind these three things: Daiva preeti (Love of God), Papa bheeti (fear of sin) and Sangha neeti (social morality). When one observes these three, he will be practising all other human values. Fear of sin will result in non-violence and peace. Love of God will promote adherence to truth and expression of love for all beings. Social morality will be Dharma (Righteousness) itself. (SSS Vol. 20)
First of all, Man should have love. We can have peace only when we have love. We can have fulfilment in life only when we combine peace and love. When we have both peace and love, then we will have no hatred and we will not hurt anybody. If we hurt others, it shows that there is anger in us. Sorrow is the reaction of anger. Therefore, man should develop love. If at any time, the feelings of anger and hatred arise in us, we should check them. That is the quality of a human being. That is why we should have fear of sin, love for God and morality in society. When we develop love for God, all our sins will be totally burnt to ashes. Therefore, if we want all our sins to be destroyed, we should develop love for God. (SSS Vol.42)
The principle of oneness cannot be explained in words; it has to be experienced through love. But you do not understand the true meaning of love because you interpret it in the physical and worldly sense. Consequently, your love is never steady. It keeps changing every now and then. True has no connection with physical body. It should not be tainted with body attachment. The body is made up of matter. All that is related to matter will never give you peace and happiness. Hence, transcend the matter and see the reality. Develop Ekatma Bhava (feeling of oneness). All are one, be alike to everyone. It is a big mistake to attribute worldly feelings to love. There is no scope for dualism in love. (SSS Vol.38, pp. 99-100)
When Love illumines thought, Truth is revealed.
When Love motivates action, it is transformed into Right Conduct.
When Love saturates feelings, it becomes calm and serene and endures Peace.
When anger, envy, greed and hate are cast away,