Insight
Truth and Love
Abstract
Love is the ultimate source of well-being but Truth must always be consolidated first. This article looks at a way of making Love a living part of our lives. It looks through the lens of personal experience.
Love is not really an emotion. It is above emotion. Its dazzling splendour lights up our emotional nature. It represents a supreme state of well-being. There is no stronger armour than the softness of true Love! I believe that once it inhabits our being, we are completely protected. At the source, it is absolute and transcendent. In essence it is quite impersonal. It is not something reserved between only two individuals. Here, “one loves purely and simply, without any need or joy than that of loving (1).”Love is entirely independent and untainted. It “does not depend upon the objects — it depends only on itself or only on the Divine; for it is a self-existent power of the Divine (2).”
It is a counterpart to Ānanda and together they form the chief foundation to all existence. However, although latent in everything, it is still a Force largely held back from the world-play. The truth is, humanity erects an enormous barrier against its workings because it seeks to pervert this Force for its own devices. It is only attachment, pure and simple. True Love cannot be appropriated; it simply withdraws from any sign of distortion. But Love is always waiting in the wings for the right opportunity to intervene. Love constantly seeks resonance; it seeks revelation only in its own reflection. It finds fruition only in identity. Its painstaking pilgrimage may often seem to go unrewarded. Eons may pass before Love finds the right space to fully descend. True Love is something which our narrow consciousness finds still impossible to bear. It has to be squashed to fit inside our narrow human frame. This is why, in the world, Love has deformed into so many masks and disguises.
It is the heart which channels love and turns it into an emotion. The receptivity of this vehicle is critical as the radiance of the emotion depends largely upon the purity of the heart. However, as soon as this process takes place, the vibration becomes susceptible to the influences of the remaining vital nature. Only rarely is it offered immediately at the altar of the soul. How many people live entirely in the soul? This has to be learnt. So without a constant remembrance it will always sink.
What is usually taken by society as love is not just an emanation of the heart. It is much more complex than that as there are so many other parts of the vital nature which shape this vibration. As soon as it channels through the heart, it begins to lose touch with its own source. Such is the gravitational force exerted upon it by the rest of the vital that it cannot be sustained. So the essence of Love disintegrates and deforms through this uniquely human process. We need to be very attentive and awake to nurture this feeling of emerging love otherwise the effect on our well-being can become dire indeed. Sometimes though, in extreme circumstances, the tiniest fragment of this true essence will protect us from cascading down into disaster. There is a Force that holds man back from committing the most bestial of atrocities. This is the power of Love.
So the emotion appears in many gradations. No part of our nature can truly look after it. Only the Psychic Being can insulate it from contamination. So many mixed ingredients seep into its content. Once harassed by the interplay of our vital nature, it comes out as something very complicated and dispersed. It loses the simple single-pointedness, which is such an important aspect of true Love. The true vibration needs to be understood. Love visits us only when the mind and vital are still. It shies away from all agitation; any ‘pulling’ will simply not work. Sometimes I find it appearing like an unexpected guest! Then it transforms my day. A simple gesture may be enough to trigger it: an act of kindness or a glance into divine eyes. Everything depends on our state of consciousness at the time. We may stare intently at a photograph of the Mother one day and feel nothing but be transfixed into ecstasy the next day at the sight of the same picture! It all depends on the resonance, our state of receptivity. Love’s appearance is always spontaneous; there is no premeditation. One is simply ready….
Alignment to the Truth
The being is ready because it is aligned to the Truth. For Love to radiate it needs to be grounded in the Truth. Love always follows the Truth. We walk a dangerous path if we ignore this simple fact. Love and Truth form a unique combination. Their work is different but essentially the same. Love will never appear without the Truth. That is why it is such a rare commodity. This relationship determines everything at both individual and cosmic levels.
One foundation of the Truth is Oneness. A state of oneness implies complete well-being. Nothing else can touch it. In the microcosm, on the individual level, our whole nature has to be harmonised around the soul, which is the individual embodiment of this Oneness. It is as simple as that. Through harmonisation lies oneness, oneness through multiplicity, a oneness that reigns over all differences. More specifically, it is the Psychic Being’s way of making our nature one. This oneness is essential because nature is something that thrives on diversity. In our individual lives, this diversity descends into inner conflict and dispersion because the nature easily loses touch with the soul. Our being will subside into atrophy unless the soul is constantly invited into our lives.
This is the greatest aim that we can possibly have because everything else is but a consequence of this simple movement. Really, there is nothing else. It is the most natural movement we make in our lifetime but so often friction is encountered and any change is painstaking because our entire conditioning stands in the way and needs to be purged. We are bombarded by ignorance from birth: its shadow is all around! So without true mastery, what persists outside will eventually seep inside. We have to empty ourselves in order to be filled again. Layer upon layer of patterns and influences need to be stripped bare. This is the Mother’s Work. Our own well-being and inner health depend also upon this labour. Only out of this emptiness can Truth and Love step forward.
Through practice, we might develop a methodology to achieve this aim. I myself find it truly helps. However methods can easily be discarded in the commerce of daily life. A sense of discipline is mandatory. The most essential thing though is, this process has to be entirely lived. “Truth cannot be formulated in words, but it can be lived provided one is pure and plastic enough (3).” And the Truth must be lived. For this, we need to attend to our inner movements always because only then can they change. We need to see what is always going on inside. For complete change, we have to view ourselves through the mirror of transformation, which is our consciousness. Above all, this work has to become the dharma and aim of our existence. We need to commit ourselves totally to this objective because we will find the process requires continual repetition and reinforcement. Only then can the soul master and make nature one.
The forum for this work is always our own nature but the individual work has immense bearings on the whole. If the work is done for our own narrow ends there is no work at all. How can Love emerge out of the shadows of selfishness and ego? Our motive and example has to transcend such petty ends. So as we work the process starts reverberating on the world around us. The fusion leaves an indelible imprint on everything it touches. As we walk towards this goal, slowly the Truth takes over our being and vibrates around us.
As the Truth moves forward in our life, signs of Love start following in its steps. Tiny drops are sprinkled upon us along the way. These distilled drops are pure because they have gone through the furnace of the Truth. The path will take us through many highs and lows of experience. We have to pass many examinations in this schooling. Outside forces will inevitably intervene and try to reverse our tracks. So courage and persistence are necessary virtues on this path. The aim must always be held before our eyes. If so, unexpected visitations will occur. I find that the tiniest glimmer of Love has a way of dispelling any of that greyness that had previously engulfed me. These kinds of experiences act as a beacon and give me strength for the road ahead.
Practice
The Truth can be installed in the being. Just emptying oneself and invoking the Truth may be all that is required. We just discard whatever we don’t want. Once the Truth is installed, one just invites Love to take over. The key to all effective practice is connection. My connection is to the Mother. The process needs to be repeated continuously because one cannot expect falsehood to leave our stable overnight.
I find working through the body gives very profound results. I use it when I intend to go deeper. It is a paradox that the most surface consciousness can trigger such inner change, but it is true. The body is such a beautiful channel. When the body consciousness is sufficiently developed it provides an open window to all our inner states. Every blemish and stain will appear there if one is capable of just disinterestedly observing. There should be no judgment… one just witnesses what is there. This is consciousness, not just awareness, because consciousness alone has the necessary dynamism to implement change. Everything that rises to the surface should be observed. The consciousness has the capacity to turn pain into something quite sublime. With consciousness comes knowledge, knowledge of the truth behind every single deformation.
This knowledge alone has the capacity to turn every wrong movement into right. Everywhere it goes, the consciousness leaves behind its imprint of the Truth. Wherever it goes it leaves a dynamic peace in its wake. This is the mark and signature of the Truth. There is a descent. A majestic Force comes down to course through the body. So the work involves eliminating anything that stands in its way. We watch the Truth being installed into our being through the portal of our body. From top to bottom the Consciousness works, executing with its unique divine Force. Sometimes tiny shafts of Ānanda may sparkle in our being .The advent of Love is being prepared! It is a beautiful work. Love and Truth really should be a living part of our lives; only then can transformation unfold. With a living aspiration for divine Love and Truth, it is sure to happen.
References
1. The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 14. Cent ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust; 1980, p. 128.
2. Sri Aurobindo. Birth Centenary Library, Volume 23. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust; 1970, p. 772.
3. The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 14; p. 211.
James Anderson is a member of SAIIIHR and coordinating editor of NAMAH.
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