Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
The
virtues of living have been our focus this past few weeks. We come now to the
big one. The single, most-abiding and enduring virtue of all.
LOVE.
This
is the most divine of the virtues. It is the diadem in the crown of virtues.
Love
mends the broken, heals the wounds, embraces the aches, soothes the pains. Love
quells the fears, makes sacrifices, inspires and serves.
Love
conquers hatred. Love forgives.
Love
seeks not for itself, it doesn't barter this for that. There is no selfishness in Love. Love is
goodness, honour and peace. It strengthens and ennobles the character. It takes
interest in others without expectation of self-benefit.
We are talking here of Love with the capital 'ell', Supreme and Universal. Unattached, non-expectant, undemanding. It is the Love
which enables a view of नारायनभाव/Naaraayanabhava
- seeing the Lord in all and knowing all to be a manifestation of the Lord.
Love like this purifies and redeems. It
brings divinity into daily living.
This
is not the base and common, acquisitive and jealous 'love'; the word has been
misused, mistreated. We hear 'love' and assume much of it only to be
disappointed. Why are we so often thus? It is because in our depths, in the core of
our beings, we know and understand what True Love is and it far outreaches and
out-performs that of the needy, the controlling, the clinging, the lewd and the
lustful.
Love
has no 'use-by' date; it does not get bored neither does it seek beyond itself
for answers.
How
to nurture this universal virtue within our personality? We all have it. It has become dormant is all. What is required is an adjustment of focus.
By reading this, there is already a little light. Read more on the subject of
pure Love. Read the scriptures and seek to employ saadhana chatushtaya. Seek
satsanga (meeting and discussion) with the teachers and leaders who live the
example. Find a way to serve them and your fellow beings. Start small, local.
Within your immediate social circle, even. Where you find a spark of distrust
or a flash of anger or a hint of hatred within you, stamp it out with
remembrance of the Lord and replace it with the Love He provides. If you cannot
speak softly in that moment, refrain from speech at all. If you cannot extend full Love to those whom
you meet each day, how will you ever manage Universal Love?
Feel
the world as if it were your own body. Feel the body as a temple of
God/Universal Love. Allow it to unite
you with all who share this world, be they other races, other creeds; animal,
vegetable, mineral. Unite with all. Universal Love is One-ness. Pure Love is
the ultimate leveller. It brings equality and equanimity. Ramdas, Hafiz, Kabir,
Tukuram, Hildegarde, St Thomas, John of God…. All great souls have tasted this
bliss. What others have achieved, you
can also.
Little by little build your Love muscle!!!