Monday Musings Season 2 - Episode 127

MONDAY MUSINGS SEASON 2 – EPISODE 127

18th October 2021

When Love becomes Vathsalyam

Love requires certain catalysts to flourish. ‘Not having any expectation’ is a prerequisite for Love to develop. Unconditional love, simply put, is love without strings attached. You don’t base it on what someone does for you in return. You simply love them and want nothing more than their happiness. Maybe it brings to mind the love your parents have for you or the love you have for your own child. ?

Sanskrit and Tamil, the two ancient languages have a beautiful word each to explain the greatness of this emotion ie ?‘Unconditional Love’, which is much more than Love, vathsalyam in Sanskrit and ?????? in Tamil. I could not find an equivalent word in English, affection and warmth are not equivalent.

#MathaPithaGuruDeivam

GOD does not expect anything in return from us for the LOVE showered on us. Lord Vishnu is known as vathsalyan for this quality. Similarly parents do not shower love on their children with an expectation in return. A sincere teacher shares his / her knowledge to the disciples without expecting anything in return. That is why, all these four relationships are revered as DIVINE by our forefathers. Mother, Father and Teacher are placed before GOD in the pecking order in our literature because all these relations shower love without any expectation.

Is ‘unconditional love’ possible with other relationships or is it just restricted to the above four relationships? Is it possible to expect the same from others or is it just a fantasy? ?Possible, but requires transformational thinking,

Unconditional Love requires Unconditional acceptance

People aren’t perfect, and nearly everyone makes a few choices they regret. Unconditional love, however, requires unconditional acceptance. You can’t love someone unconditionally unless your love remains unchanged despite their actions.

Unconditional Love brings happiness and wellbeing for both the loving and loved ones. Unconditional Love is not necessarily restricted to only those with whom you have relationship.

We should be proud of our scriptures that promoted the thought of 'Universal Love'

#WorldIsOneFamily-VasudhivaKudumbakam

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam?(“vasudha”, the earth;?“iva”,?is ; and?“kutumbakam”, family) is a?Sanskrit?phrase?that means that the whole world is one single?family. This comes from the mantra VI-72 in Maha Upanishad. The mantra reads:

??? ???????????? ???? ??????????

???????????? ?? ?????? ?????????? ?

Meaning:?The distinction “This person is related to me or not” is made only by the narrow-minded. For those of noble conduct the whole world is one family.

#YadhumOoreYavarumKelie

There is a similar great saying in Purananooru written by tamil poet Kaniyan Poongundranar

?????? ??? ??????? ??????

?????? ??????? ????? ?? ????

??????? ???????? ??????????

??????? ??????? ?????

??????? ????? ?? ?????????????? ????

???????? ??????? ???????? ????

???????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ?

????? ??? ?????? ???????? ?????? ???? ??????

???? ???????? ?????? ???????

?????????? ?????????? ??????

?????????? ???????? ?????????? ????

???????? ??????? ???????? ????

?????? ???????????

Meaning of this noble thought:

Every village is my village and every person is from my kin.

Like a lot of things in life good and bad cannot be attributed to others … they come from wthin us.

Likewise, agony and relief of agony come without any external triggers … from within us.

Death is not unheard of or new.?It is unnecessary to rejoice that life is sweet or complain in anger that life is bitter.

Like rafts drifting along in the rapids of a great river, dashing over the rocks after a downpour (from skies resounding with thunder and lightning), our lives, no matter how dear, follows its own course.

We know this from the vision of wise seers who can see.

So, we are neither awestruck by the great nor do we belittle the ‘not so great’

Is GOD’s profession giving boons?

Try the habit of fostering ‘unconditional love’ first with your favourite GOD. I have seen tinges of deceit even with some ardent worshippers. Ask yourself the following questions to measure the quality of your spiritual belief.

·??????When do you generally think of GOD? Is it when you need something badly, for a prarthana, to seek the blessings of GOD with a prayer to take care of some of your interests?

·??????What do you think when you stand in front of your favourite GOD? Does your mind automatically starts listing a laundry list of your issues waiting to be addressed or wish list to be satisfied?

·??????Do you offer to GOD unconditionally without linking the same to your pleas? I get intrigued with people offering tonsuring of their head to Lord Balaji if (and only if) Lord Balaji accepts and honours their prarthana. Can you not think of offering unconditionally or at least in advance to requesting GOD’s help to solve your problem? It is after all useless hair.

As I mentioned in an earlier episode, probability of success of your prarthana is neither dependent on the power of your GOD (I fail to understand why some forms of GOD should be more powerful than the other forms?) nor on the value of your offering. Probability of success of your prarthana depends on the strength of your belief in your prarthana. Your offering is only to enhance that belief. Why should you make your offer conditional? If you are not confident, why do you even ask for a favor? SPIRITUAL BELIEF is not a contract signed with ‘ifs and buts’. It is BELIEF and it is not possible to bind BELIEFS with performance terms.

Probability of success of your prarthana ∞ Strength of your belief in your prarthana

When you visit your favourite GOD next time, try and enjoy the experience without asking for anything, just enjoy the LOVE. If you cannot resist asking something, ask for universal happiness. Try to focus on the happiness you gain from the spiritual experience rather than possible benefits you would look for. ?That spiritual experience would be SIMPLY SUPERB.?If you have not practiced it so far, try it and that would be DIVINE.

Some theories suggest that it is important to ask GOD for liberation, moksham, etc. My take is different. If GOD has created the system, would he/she not know whom to be liberated and when to be liberated? Why try and influence the system? A strong belief that GOD will do whatever best for us would be a more powerful plea.

#LoveInReligion

There are many divine relationships in our scriptures.?Love between Hanuman and Lord Ram is divine, both ways. Hanuman never asked for anything in return for whatever he did to Lord Ram.?Lord Ram’s love for Hanuman is not based on whatever Hanuman did for him. That is TRUE LOVE. Thinnan sacrificed his eye for Lord Shiva without expecting anything in return. Friendship between Arjuna and Lord Krishna was without any expectation from both the sides. Lord Krishna was not in need of anything from Arjuna and Arjuna never asked anything from Lord Krishna. Even when he was asked if he would choose the big army of Lord Krishna, Arjuna replied that he needs only Lord Krishna and not his army.?

All religions convey the same. An interesting description of ?true love is in New Testament,? 1st Corinthians, Chapter 12, Verses 4-7

4.????Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5.????It does not dishonor others, 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.

?#CanLoveFail?

I fail to understand the meaning of ‘Love Failure’ which seems to be a big problem for our youngsters. 'Love Failure' is an oxymoron. When Love is given without any expectation, question of disappointment does not arise. Why are we getting worked up for something which does not have a meaning? ‘True Love’ is built without any expectation, including an expectation that the love would be reciprocated.

If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, its yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never meant to be.

Love is not owned. It can only be given. If you love someone, you have to give them the freedom to choose for itself.

?Lovingly Yours & Love to Continue

Jaganathan

www.authorjaganathan.com

I have an expectation though! Please Share, Like and Comment to spread the joy of Love.