During the course of the programme, attendees along with twelve different facilitators explored not only the concept but also the practicalities of Love itself. The Mother says that “To be conscious of the Divine Love, all other love must be abandoned”. With this aim, the programme delved deep into how the state of Love can be realised; what are the obstacles that need to be overcome on the way and the prize that awaits those who reach the tabernacles of Divine Love.
The programme commenced with Dr Alok Pandey’s talk titled, ‘The Path of Love’, where he highlighted that love is the power that rescues creation out of the dull morass into which it has gone. The journey of love is from dense consciousness of matter where it operates in material creation to bring out the Ananda, beatitude and harmony in everything. Then it enters human consciousness where it emerges from the heart, seeking itself. From the heart love takes the path to its true source to arrive at love of God.
Ramachandra Roddam, in the next session titled, ‘Chaitya Purusha: Immanent Seer’, brought forth the idea that humanity survives despite all its shortcomings because of the power of Love. The Chaitya Purusha (the psychic being) can affect possibility on impossibility because of the power of Love that it holds within itself – the aspiration it has towards the Divine and the Divine alone.
Dr Yogesh Mohan’s session explored the deep connection between, ‘Love, Yoga and Healing’. He highlighted that a true experience of love essentially opens up different parts of our being to the Divine. A true experience of love is a spiritual experience. Whenever a spiritual experience happens in any part of our being – at any level – physical, mental, vital or psychic, its impact is always healing in nature.
The fourth session with Dr. Monica Gulati explored, ‘The Purifying Power of Love’. Our encounters with human love and the resulting disappointment and suffering have this purifying element, that they show to us our clinging want for permanence. They make us realise that this clinging need is the real cause of our pain and suffering and hence true freedom lies in our growing out of clinging into acceptance. This is our journey of purification and transformation.
‘The Alchemy of Love’, Dr. Soumitra Basu’s session, elaborated on the idea that when manifestation happened, the primal unity got manifested into multiplicity with each integer of the multiplicity becoming unique and independent resulting in amnesia of the experience of Oneness. The journey of creation is for manifestation to experience the joy of Sat- Chit- Anand. For this to happen, matter had to be animated with life-energy and experience Love, as it is through Love that we get a glimpse of the Oneness of the primal union and its joy.
Dr. Debabrata Sahani, in his talk titled ‘Love and Ananda’ emphasised that love is the relationship of inclusion of the other in our own being. He delved into the practical aspect of love and how it can be transformed into the experience of Ananda. He asserted that relationships of love are opportunities for us to learn detachment.
Divyanshi Chugh in her session, ‘From Falling in Love to Rising in Love’ highlighted that if forgetting oneself is the secret of Love, the secret to forgetting oneself is remembrance of the Divine. It is the force of Love that makes one transition from the ego centric sadhana to the true path of Sadhana – following the will of the Divine.
‘The Tapasya of Love’, Jishnu Guha’s session, talked about non-acceptance as being the biggest cause of suffering. It is only when one realises that what is happening is exactly what was supposed to happen for our growth and progress, the suffering ends. The Mother says that tapasya of love is for the liberation of the mind from suffering. Love is the ultimate organising Force in creation. It is the uniting Force. If consciousness is the Creatrix of the universe, love is its saviour.
Manoj Pavithran in his talk, ‘Love and Sacrifice’, pondered on the idea that a deep connection and faith give us the courage to offer ourselves to the shaping hands of the Divine. The One who is shaping is all around reaching us through all forms. Our lives have meaning only in this context. We are just an empty shell without the Being in whom we exist. The Divine love acting from behind the veil is extremely quiet and engages with us very personally and intimately. Connection with this love deepens our bhakti and adoration into something so sacred with the deep embrace of the Presence allowing for our complete self-giving. Love and sacrifice come together as a single movement where self-giving is the most joyous experience of gratitude to be given an opportunity to serve the Being in whom we exist.
James Anderson’s experiential session highlighted that the first step in ‘Synchronising Truth and Love’ is to recognise, find and infuse with the psychic presence within. This enables us to use the power of this presence as the torchlight in our practice. Practice in Integral Yoga, works on every detail of our being leading it towards transformation. When consciousness works with the power of the psychic being anything is possible – all transformation are possible with all resistance, all negativity and all falsehood dissolving away.
‘Love: the Conqueror of Death’, Gitanjali’s talk put forth the idea that love is essential in our pursuit of immortality. Love is the most powerful anchor which makes one choose to stay on earth even after achieving the blissful Cosmic Consciousness and work for immortalising the body. Gitanjali highlighted that for this to happen, the spark of Love put in us by the Transcendent which has evolved into the psychic being has to be perfected and become the leader in our journey. The psychic being represents the individual love for the Divine and is supported by the Divine Love (Ananda) from the above. This double soul in man – the psychic (the inner soul – the individual love for the Divine) and the Atman (the love from the Divine – Divine Ananda) are the pre-requisites for the manifestation of the Supramental on earth leading to immortality of the body. Thus, only Love can conquer death.
Dr Ramesh Bijlani in the final session of the series talked of, ‘Love is the Antidote to Ego’. Division is a reality, but it is a superficial reality which veils the deeper reality of Union. All suffering is because of our ignorance – our belief in the illusion of this division. This ignorance leads to ego, which leads to likes and dislikes, clinging to life and fear of death. It is Love that leads us from the suffering of division to the bliss of perfect union - union with the One who is perfect – the Divine. However, it is long journey from division to Union and here too it is love that ensures that we pursue the path as it infuses our journey with joy of pursuit and anticipation.
The sessions were beautifully received by over 30 attendees, who participated enthusiastically sharing their insights and seeking answers to their various queries.
Feedback:
“Beautiful perspectives about love.”
“Speakers were speaking from the heart… their divine love was palpable!”
“In the last month, I was privileged to participate in a two week course with the NAMAH, the Journal of Integral Health, following the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It was on 'The Yoga of Love' and I enjoyed all twelve speakers immensely, despite getting up at 6am every morning. With each speaker, I found myself with 1 or 2 takeaways, but I think the one that got me the most was that there is a consciousness BEYOND the nothingness that we all aspire to. And that is a whole level of Divine Love, of bringing that into our bodies at first for moments and ultimately with every breath as we live our lives. It prompted me to think of a friend who believes her connection to the Void is the ultimate, but I do not see love, beauty, magic and joy in her daily life. The mastery of this practice of Love, leads to immortality while in the physical body.” — Participant from Canada
