Love The Whole, You Will Love The Parts Too

B Dayita Madhav Maharaj

Pure love or prema is the love of the atma for the Supreme Being. He who is for the Whole is for all parts of the Whole. That which attempts to hinder love for the Supreme Lord is known as violence. This violence acts against my interest as well as yours. To love someone means to not harm him or his parts in even the slightest way. One who loves the Supreme Lord has genuine universal love. He loves all living beings. In contrast, what some understand as “universal love” turns out to be just an extended version of lust or kama. Socalled ‘universal lovers’ have, in fact, simply identified their own selfishness with the whole world. This may be understood as being merely an extended form of self-interest. They are ready to harm the rest of the world for the sake of their own selfish idea of the world. The one who loves Bhagavan, however, cannot nurse hatred for anyone under any circumstance. He has equal love for all, but his outward behaviour towards each person will differ, depending on the degree of manifestation of love for Bhagavan in each of these individuals. Violence and non-violence cannot be judged by external behaviour alone. If the father reprimands the son, it is not reasonable to jump to the conclusion that the father hates the son. It is the love of the parent for the child that makes him enforce discipline. The father has love and affection for all of his children, but he acts differently towards each of them according to their particular needs. Hanuman was a great devotee of Rama. His action of setting fire to Sri Lanka, and thus of taking many lives, may seem to be an act of violence. However, Hanuman’s actions were fuelled by love for Rama, and not hatred for the people of Sri Lanka. Ultimately, Hanuman’s actions led to the welfare of all. “One who has no false ego, whose intellect is not clouded by mundane, material works, may destroy the whole world and yet not cause any actual destruction, or be destroyed”, say scriptures. Such a person has gone beyond the roles of the destroyer and the destroyed. What is achieved from the love of the Whole, or Bhagavan, is conducive to the welfare of the self as well as others. Thus, it is only by means of bhagavadprema — love for God — that genuine nonviolence is possible. Since one jivatama is not the cause of another jivatama, the pleasure of one does not lead to the happiness of the other; nourishing one does not lead to the satisfaction of the other. For example, one spark of light cannot sustain the glow of another, but all sparks can be nourished by stoking the flame of their source lamp. Similarly, all living entities, or sparks of consciousness, have emanated from the One Supreme Consciousness. Without satisfying the Cause of all causes, Sri Hari, nobody can be satisfied or nourished. By ignoring the roots and watering only the branches, leaves and flowers, can a tree stay alive? In like manner, “watering” or nourishing individuals or even groups of living beings will be in vain if Bhagavan Sri Krishna is excluded. This is the essential mantra of Vedic teachings: “The essence of dharma is satisfaction of Sri Hari”. The writer is founder-acharya, All India Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math.