Love is a term of such common usage these days. Yet, how rare is this emotion the floods the banks of the self, of sectarianism and all narrowness, and embraces all of life. To experience fleeting moments of this selfless love may be the lot of many a fortunate one but to be established in it for good requires purity of being and intense spiritual practice whereby the system is cleansed of all the dross that obscures this vision of oneself in all and is uplifted beyond bodily bounds unto the soul serene which is the seat of love sublime.
This love is unconditional for it is in essence impersonal, although, it manifests itself through focus on some personality which is idealised by the lover and conceived of consciously or unconsciously beyond all physical grossness. Sublimity is its soul and bliss its outcome. Attachments melt in it and a detached self-giving is all that endures amid pulsations of the spiritual heart that releases one into the realm of ineffable bliss. Love becomes the breath of life as constant contemplation of the beloved sets the soul free of all material associations and deifies the lover till he forgets his self and identifies with the divine object of his love. This is how transformation takes place where the lover becomes one with his beloved and with the very ideal of love.
But there is danger along the way. Such rapturous experience raises consciousness only for the while in ordinary souls and when the emotions subside, there is its violent reaction which sweeps off the soul into forbidden terrain and causes irreparable harm. Without adequate preparation and sustained spiritual practice following the master guidance of a qualified Guru and without establishment in absolute purity, such a heightened emotion lashes back on the aspirant during its fall and destroys his straw-built citadels.
This is why Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda have in this age laid supreme stress on the practice of purity and renunciation and have admixed knowledge with devotion as their recipe for realisation. It is 'jnana-mishra bhakti' that they have advocated for this age, that is, spiritual emotion tempered with reason and philosophy. But for the soul that has passed the kindergarten of religion and has successfully become established in the Self Supreme, the doors to devotional delight are wide open. For such a one is an open invitation to enter the realm of the 'Raashleela' and witness the union of the gopis (cowherd girls of Vrindavan) with their divine beloved, Shree Krishna.
Written by Sugata Bose
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