Bhakti Ras

Ignite the Lamp of Love

The natural propensity of every soul is to love. However, we love everyone around us for our happiness, says Saint Tulsidas:

सुर नर मुनि सब कै यह रीती। स्वारथ लागि करहिं सब प्रीती।।

sura nara muni saba kai yah riiti , swaarth laagi karahi saba preeti

“Everyone follows the tradition of showing affection for selfish gains.”

Even when we embark on the spiritual path, we love God and Guru for our happiness. What, then, is true love? Where there is no cause, that is true love. True love is independent of selfish desires and is always content with God's happiness, never needing a reason to love. Love is compassionate, benevolent, considerate, patient, tolerant, gentle, etc. In short, true love is unconditional. It is the means to attain the bliss of divine love. To kindle that selfless love, we need:

• Divine knowledge
• Pure mind

We Rise Through Divine Knowledge

To fall in love with God requires faith, and faith comes with knowledge. We need to hear of the Supreme Lord’s names, attributes, descensions, pastimes, teachings, abodes, saints, and devotees invariably. This divine knowledge helps us embark on the odyssey of love, an eternal adventure!

By cultivating faith through this knowledge, myriad devotees have set themselves free from self-seeking desires and attained a state of pure, unending, and blissful consciousness. Being cognizant that the benevolent and captivating Supreme Lord is the sustaining energy of the entire cosmic creation, devotees nurture devotion to God and dispassion towards this world.

So, it’s imperative to ignite the lamp of love, with knowledge as the wick and faith as the oil. “Spiritual Knowledge has the power to purify, elevate, liberate, and unite a person with God. It is thus supremely sublime and pure,” elucidates Swami Mukundananda. Hence, when one does sadhana (i.e., spiritual practice) in accordance with the scriptural injunctions and the Guru’s instructions, it results in the purification of the mind.

Purity of Mind Results in Selfless Love

All living souls of this world are the manifestation of God’s spiritual energy, the jīva śhakti. We are not mere bodies; we are the eternal souls and fragmental parts of Shree Krishna. When we see ourselves as the children of that one eternal father, we begin to operate selflessly for the common good with minds anchored to the Supreme Lord. This alone helps the mind transcend the three modes of material nature - sattva, rajas, and tamas (i.e., goodness, passion, and ignorance). When we absorb ourselves in God steadily with devotion, it purifies the mind, states Ramayan:

प्रेम भगति जल बिनु रघुराई। अभिअन्तर मल कबहुँन जाई ।।

prema bhagati jala binu raghurāī, abhiantara mala kabahuñ na jāī

(Shree Ramacharitamaanas)

“Without loving devotion to God, the dirt of the mind will not be cleansed.”

When the mind is pure and tranquil, one quickly rids oneself of worldly desires, gravitating toward selflessness. The more selfless one becomes, the higher one rises and the closer one gets to divine love. Such devotees are able to discern God everywhere and in everything, as they have premaanjana chuurita bhakti vilochanena – “eyes anointed with the ointment of love.” They perceive everything in relation to the Supreme Lord and understand that everything is eternally situated within the Lord. This universal love is possible when we actually fall in love with God.

Thus, knowledge and loving devotion go hand in hand. The deeper we dive into the knowledge, the stronger will be our faith. It will then nurture and enhance our love for God. When we further delve into devotion, the Supreme Lord seated in our hearts will bestow upon us new and deep spiritual experiences. This is how devotion leads to realized knowledge. Hence Kripalu ji Maharaj said, “Practice devotion to God. Divine knowledge and detachment from the world will be automatically obtained accordingly.”