When we love or are in love – what happens? – the whole world disappears and we are in that blissful state where we embrace all and yet we are detached from our assumed and false identity. We feel freedom and we become That. That is our true nature. I am now reminded of the Bible parable where St. Paul recites his well known Ode to Love, (1 Corinthians 13). I am now inclined to quote here the whole passage for I could not shorten it to a line or two:
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 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.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love
Jesus has declared: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” That is the essence of spirituality, the essence of all true religions. If we can consciously strive to achieve the purity of the heart by loving and giving that love to all we are half way there – to our true heavenly Abode.
related article: http://www.bhaktimarga.org/
