The title of this book is Love of God: The Bhakti Tradition of India. The expression 'Love of God' can mean two things: first, God's love for us humans and for this world: "God's unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God's love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with his beloved Son" (Jerry Bridges: American Evangelical Author and speaker). Second, our love for God. In this treatise we are dealing with the second type of love of God, namely, our love for God and our commitment to this love.
Love is the most powerful, most dynamic and all-encompassing force, the most sacred and fundamental value, and the very basic and inspirational principle in the religious and societal life and in the interpersonal rapport of human life. Love, or lack of it, governs all human activities. Bruce Larson, the American author and theologian says: "Peace is love resting. Prayer is love keeping tryst. Sympathy is love tenderly feeling. Enthusiasm is love burning. Hope is love expecting. Patience is love waiting. Faithfulness is love sticking fast. Humility is love taking the true pledge. Modesty is love keeping out of sight. Soul-winning is love pleading. Sanctification is love in action"¹.
The most basic, most important, and the very fundamental virtue, principle, value and tenet of Christian spirituality and theology is love, which is otherwise expressed by the word 'charity'. Love is the body and soul of Christianity; without love, there is no Christian dharma. This love has two orientations, or two aspects: one, the love that moves vertically, the love that ascends upwards; we call it love of God. The Book of Deuteronomy of the Bible commands: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6.5). Jesus says that loving God is the 'most important commandment' (Mark 12:29-30). Second, the love that moves horizontally, the love that spreads to sides; we call it love of fellow humans, or love of neighbours. "And the second is this: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Mark: 12:31). St. Thomas Aquinas defines love as: "To will the good of another" (Summa Theologica I-II, 26.4). These two dimensions of love are like two sides of a coin; you cannot separate them. If you possess one of these two loves, you necessarily will have the other also; if you have love of God, you will have also the love of neighbour, and vice versa. Love or charity is the highway for God realization in Christianity, of course, through Jesus Christ. This kind of love of God and service of humanity are expressed aptly and poignantly by the word 'bhakti'.
It would be rather difficult to ascertain whether a seeker loves God or not; it is a matter of internal attitude and imperceptive spiritual orientation. But love of the neighbour is perceptible and ascertainable by the means of right knowledge.
Vedas (1180)
Upanishads (493)
Puranas (624)
Ramayana (740)
Mahabharata (356)
Dharmasastras (165)
Goddess (497)
Bhakti (243)
Saints (1503)
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Shiva (370)
Journal (187)
Fiction (60)
Vedanta (362)
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