The Concept of Love Divine in Hinduism

By

Sri Ajit Halder

The word Love in general parlance and Love in the context of the title of this article deserves our thorough understanding - for Love is an emotional feeling that emanates from the heart and flows towards another person or to an object of adoration. Before we elaborate on the subject, we should all be aware of the fact that it is God who has placed Love as an instinct in our hearts.

Love is a many splendour feeling and we are deeply interested to know what True Love really is. The quest for Love is ever growing in our minds. The dictionary offers a spread of the meanings for the word ‘Love’, and these are: deep warm affection, attachment, liking or fondness, holding dear to somebody or some material object - but its connotation is much wider.

We all understand that worldly Love is a force of attraction operating on the human level. On the human level it joins two individuals (lovers), friend and friend, parents and children, husband and wife. On the higher, spiritual level, it is Love Divine as it unites a human with God.

Thus there are two kinds of love that are dear to humans; Worldly Romantic Love and Love. Divine. There is no doubt what the human soul is longing for: it is Divine Love, because the power of Divine Love is a healing force that brings peace to our world. For humans it is a common experience to fall in love with an individual of the opposite sex and enjoy a pleasurable feeling. It is not, however, that easy to turn our mind to spiritual love, to experience the bliss of Love Divine - because that would imply making a ‘quantum’ leap to a higher spiritual level towards divinity.

To ensure a smooth progression from human love to Love Divine, it will be worthwhile to understand the relationship of Radha and Krishna, regarded as a projection of human love and as the embodiment of love, passion and devotion. This knowledge will serve as the preparation necessary for the development of Love Divine in our hearts. With this objective in mind, this article will discuss the topic of Love in three inter-related parts: Worldly Love, Love Divine, and interposed between the two parts will be Loving Devotion, i.e. Prema Bhakti, which we find vividly described in the Hindu mythology of Radha-Krishna. We will study the feature of each kind of Love mentioned above.

WORLDLY ROMANTIC LOVE
This kind of love is limiting because it is formed from the personality of two human beings. As such this duality is fragile with highs and lows, togetherness and separations. This relationship is much like a roller-coaster ride, which both thrills and chills but is short lived. It may so happen that romance evaporates and one lover goes his/her own way and the other partner is left to despair. This feeling of dissatisfaction and of emptiness will turn the mind towards enjoying more lasting love, divine love.

Romantic love is a blend of erotic and pragmatic, with a dash of emotional feeling shared between two individuals. This worldly love is high on the priority list of modern human beings; this is of a fleeting nature and lasts as long as both parties are in agreement. Worldly love based upon physical attractions and passion is short-lived, unsatisfactory and inadequate because the objects of such love are material forms which are impermanent and limited. There is one beneficial feature of worldly love pleasurable though it is between two individuals of opposite sex. The loving relationship may lead to the intimate union of partners; from which the prospect of the birth of a new baby may arise, thereby prolonging human life on earth.

Worldly love gives one the pleasure of enjoyment meant to satisfy the senses, whereas Love Divine gives us the joy that symbolises the soul’s intense longing for the ultimate union with God - thus realising the true goal of human life. The image of Krishna and Radha as the universal symbol of the lover and the beloved inspires humans to bring an aspect of the sublime, the spiritual and the divine in their love on the worldly plane. We should emulate the love of Radha for Krishna. This love is so divine and so pure that most of Krishna’s images are considered complete only when Radha (the word meaning ‘one who does worship’ or aRADHAna of Krishna) stands by his side. In the next paragraph we will discuss the salient points of .Radha-Krishna Prema to serve as an inspiration to all humans.

LOVING DEVOTION OF RADHA-KRISHNA
Krishna is the complete and perfect man of the Hindu mythological traditions. He was born as the child of Basudeva and Devaki in a human family but was brought up in Vrindavan by the cowherd family of Yoshoda and Nanda Raja to escape the tyranny of his uncle Kamsa. God took a human form as the avatar ‘Krishna’ to redeem mankind from evil forces. Enters Radha into the life of Krishna and Radha’s passion for Krishna symbolises the soul’s intense longing and willingness for the ultimate union with God. Shri Krishna is not only the ultimate object of all love, but also is the topmost enjoyer of all loving relationships. To humans, he is the model of spiritual loving relationships or pastimes (known as leela) and lovers of the world engage in their own pastimes. Like Radha-Krishna engaging in sublime loving pastime in kadamtala on the bank of the Jamuna, lovers of the world meet in gardens or on the bank of a river like the Ganges to exhibit loving exchanges. The path of Bhakti Yoga is a step towards fulfilling divine love and is also the principal means to attain loving devotion for Krishna.

BHAKTI YOGA, DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP
Bhakti is loving devotion for God, and is another name for Prema Bhakti which is Love expressed to the Supreme Lord. In Hinduism Kama, the pleasurable aspect of love between two individuals is selfish, physical love while Prema, refers to elevated love. In essence, Bhakti Yoga is all about getting in touch with the Divine Being - in the form of Lord Krishna or Sri Vishnu - by following the outpourings of one’s heart. In our act of loving devotion, we are conversing with God anytime, anywhere - and we receive Divine Inspiration for peace of mind. The whole purpose of Bhakti Yoga is love and devotion as the path to Moksha, i.e. salvation from worldly bondage.

Now is the time for recapitulation: in worldly love, our emotions are active but they act on the human plane and are directed to mundane things. In Bhakti Yoga all our emotions are lifted to a Divine plane and our feelings are transferred from mundane to the level of Love Divine.

LOVE DEVINE
In Love Divine, God becomes the object towards which our love, our emotion, our affection and our sentiments are directed. Divine relationship is an expression of purity. It requires surrendering to a higher purpose, and is everlasting.

The word Love is an abstract form of idea, but the real source of love is God who as spirit pervades the whole universe, He is the inmost self of all beings - thus humans are assured of everlasting life through union with Him. In Divine Love one partner is God, a steady lover of humankind. Our constant thought then should be: ‘Love is God; God is Love so Live in Love. When one holds on to this principle of love, one will attain the state of non-dualism. Ekatma Prema (non-dual love) is true love.

The long term value of Divine Love is that two partners will become one in sacred union with God. You will become unified and sanctified resulting in a higher vibration which leads to a higher spiritual gain. Live in Divine Love; in Love Divine, God is your partner all the time - eternal, never changing, which makes this love, permanent.

There should not be any apparent difference between Love Divine and worldly love. The beauty of the love flowing from the heart of one individual towards another is as spiritual as the love of a devotee of Lord Krishna because the former has the love for God residing in the other person. As a support of this assertion, I quote from the Gita, Chapter Eighteen, Verse sixty-one:
‘Ishwara Sarvabhutanm Hriddese Arjuna Tishthati’ – the Lord resides in the hearts of all persons.


I know of no better way to conclude this article than to sing Charles Wesley’s lovely hymn:

Love Divine, all Loves Excelling
Joy of Heaven to Earth comes down
Fix in us thy humble Dwelling,
All thy faithful Mercies crown.

Wesley’s hymn asks Love Divine to choose the humble human heart as its residence in preference to its native heaven. It is fervently hoped that we humans will change from glory into more glory with divine grace and God’s love.