What Is Love?

Offer Adorations to the sky, to the air,
to fire, to water, to the earth, to the
luminaries in the sky (stars and planets),
to all created beings, to the four directions;
bow down to the trees, the rivers
and the seas, considering them all
as manifestations of God.

– Srimad Bhagavat Puran 11-2-41

CHAPTER THREE

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga literally means Yoga of Devotion or Divine Love. The Path of Devotion is the general theme of all religions of the world. Even though you might not understand the various tenets of the many philosophical systems or religions, if you have Divine Love in your heart, you are bound to evolve spiritually and succeed in your spiritual practice.

As Karma Yoga purifies the mind, the practice of Bhakti Yoga becomes increasingly possible. Remember that the human personality is based on four pillars—Action, Emotion, Will and Reason. Through the study of Bhakti Yoga, an aspirant gains insight into the nature of emotions and sentiments, and how to culture them. The culmination or climax of one's movement in Bhakti Yoga expresses itself in the most profound Love for God, which allows the worshipper and the worshipped to merge as one.

The basic understanding in Bhakti Yoga is that every soul has an intrinsic urge to love God, and the goal of Bhakti Yoga is to discover that Divine Love which exists in every human heart. This Divine Love is obscured by numerous impurities or obstacles, expressing themselves through mental complexes such as egoism, selfishness, impressions of attachment and hatred, Karmic involvements and the like.

It is much the same as placing some obstruction between a magnet and iron filings; although the magnet is constantly exerting its influence pulling and tugging at the filings, they are not attracted to the magnet because of the obstructions in between.

Bhakti Yoga is a disciplinary process of recognizing a Divine basis in life, developing devotion, awakening Divine Love and serving humanity as an expression of that Love. Bhakti Yoga is not a “faith” or “belief.” It does not present any sectarian type of limitation, such as accepting a dogma or strict doctrine, and does not come within the scope of “religion.” Rather, it focuses on the awakening of Love of God and the expansion of the heart.

In this light, therefore, the practice of Bhakti Yoga is able to culture the sentiments of an individual to such an extent that one would be amazed at the extent and dimension of one’s latent possibilities. An average person loves only certain people around him—some family members or close friends. But that same love can expand to such a dimension where one’s heart can resonate with all humanity, considering everyone as his brother, his sister, his very Self. That expansion of feeling makes one a saint.

What is Love?

If we observe people and their lives in the world, we know that all try to experience love in two ways—firstly by being loved and secondly by loving others. These two sentiments in the human personality actually proceed from the Divine Self, from God. Ultimately, the fulfillment of love in its highest form lies in Divine Communion with, or Realization of the Divine Self.

People seek fulfillment by loving other people and objects around them. A child begins by loving his parents. As he grows, different relationships develop—love for his brothers, sisters, love for friends and relatives, love for husband or wife. Yet one finds that no relationship is able to completely fulfill one’s thirst for love.

Love is also directed towards objects—toys, pets, cars, boats, vacations, an easy job, etc… But no matter what, the object or person which has been a source of intense love turns out at one time or another to be a source of great bitterness, pain or disillusionment!

Seeking fulfillment by being loved, we again encounter the same consequences. A person turns to the loving arms of his mother or father, the tender care of his wife, the understanding heart of his friend, and others. But soon he discovers that all relationships have their limitations. No one can truly fulfill another’s need to be loved according to their expectations.

If a person is sensitive enough, he will ultimately realize that the world cannot fulfill one’s need for love because, what he is essentially seeking is that Love that transcends the relative world of time and space. This is the theme of Bhakti Yoga—training the sentiments in such a way that a person can pull himself out of the world of relativity and direct his mind to the transcendental Self.

Love that is intensely concentrated gives an aspirant’s emotions an escape velocity that takes him beyond the pull of the world. A devotee then experiences the mystic joy arising out of loving God, and he begins to understand that Love of God is more tangible than any other love in this world.

From the book Integral Yoga: The Secret to Enlightenment by Swami Jyotirmayananda, published by the Yoga Research Foundation. © Swami Jyotirmayananda. All rights reserved.

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