The Path of Pure Love

As regular at religious discourses, one often finds followers of one guru or faith criticizing those of other faiths because they think that their own philosophy is far superior.

Why is it so difficult for us to respect the right of others to follow any teaching or teacher of their choice? No one who claims loyalty to any faith that advocates compassion, tolerance and understanding can affords to ignore these tenets.

“Few, among thousands of men and women, strive for perfection; and a few perchance, among the blessed ones striving thus, know Me in reality “said Krishna to Arjuna in the Gita (7.3). Too many of us are preoccupied with unearthing details of when Krishna was born and when he actually delivered the Gita. We are more interested in knowing what Jesus looked like, and whether he really got resurrected. We tend to get ensnared in irrelevant details, and we begin to lose sight of the wood for the trees.

Few love God unconditionally. Ramakrishna would tell the story of some men who went into a mango orchard. They began counting the leaves, twigs and branches examining their color, comparing their size, and then proceeded to argue about who was right. The most sensible among them began eating the fruit. Similarly a truly spiritual person is not bothered about the history or geography of God; he simply yearns for God, he is not as keen to memorize the Gita’s verses as he is to follow its teaching.

Ramakrishna Paramhansa did not spend time reading the scriptures. He advised all seekers to ‘eat the mangoes’, leaving it to the learned to pore over the details. He knew from personal experience that God could be reached via any path. He found God by following the various paths of the Hindu faith, including the vaishnava, shiva and Tantrik path. He discovered the beauty of Christ and Mohammed by learning about them. At the end of each path God was there waiting for His beloved devotee. The only qualification needed was pure love.

A true devotee, no matter which faith he believes in goes through the equivalent of a crucifixion. Jesus was crucified, Meera was tortured by her in laws, Prahlada was terrorized by his hather, Kabir was ridiculed by society, Namdeva was labeled mad. Tulsidas was threatened by the upper caste and Socrates was given poison to drink. None was spared. The Lord demands complete surrender. He resides in our hearts. But only the pure are allowed into this sacred space, and that’s why we need the guidance of a hallowed sadhguru.

Ramakrishna said that the heart was like God’s living room. So we need to keep it clean. Ramana Maharshi explained that to seek true consciousness, you must concentrate on the heart which is the seat of consciousness – or we could say it is consciousness itself. The heart is another name for reality, he said, and this is neither inside nor outside the body.

Loving God results in ‘rising’ rather than ‘falling’ in love. Your vision gradually begins to encompass entire humankind, all living beings and inert matter as well. You become one with that loving an earthly being means possessiveness and this is restrictive. That’s why you ‘fall in love. Loving God, however, enables us to love all. This way, you can achieve ultimate oneness of existence of Brahmn.