DIVINE LOVE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dayawanti D'Sa
Date: Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 1:54 PM
Subject: *HarmonyofHarmonies* Raising Your Spiritual Consciousness - II
To: HarmonyofHarmonies@yahoogroups.com






http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/HarmonyofHarmonies/message/17247

Raising Your Spiritual Consciousness - II
Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

(cont'd)

Love

Anyone who has experienced spiritual consciousness has spoken of coming in
contact with divine love. The scriptures of various religions speak repeatedly
about God as love. God is love, our soul being of the same essence as that of
God is love, and the way back to God is through love. It is hard for us at our
level to understand this, because we as human beings think of love in a limited
and narrow sense. We think of love as a feeling between two people. At lower
levels of understanding, people often confuse it with feelings of romance or
physical love. But that love is but a dim reflection of a reflection of a
reflection of a much higher love, a divine love. God is divine love. God is the
power of love itself. It is an all-embracing, fulfilling, satisfying, and
intoxicating love that pulls close to its heart all that exists. We are all
swimming in God's love but do not know it. The ocean of spiritual consciousness
is an ocean of love.

Returning to the imagery of the ocean, picture yourself taking a dip in the
ocean. The waters surround us completely. We are enveloped in its cool,
refreshing waters. It does not matter who we are-whether we are man or woman,
American or Chinese, dark-skinned or light-skinned, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or
Jew, the water embraces us equally. Each of us receives the refreshing embrace
of the water and we come out feeling soothed. Similarly, the ocean of God is
around us all the time, just as the ocean is around all who enter it. God's love
embraces each of us equally. It is an unconditional love that does not see our
outer differences. In fact, it is so loving, it embraces us whether we are
saints or sinners. God's love is there for all, no matter what we have done.
Unconditional love accepts everyone.

When we bathe in the ocean of spiritual consciousness, we are tapping into the
state of divine love. We will experience what it is like to be loved wholly and
completely for who we are. We will feel the oneness with the power of love and
it will intoxicate and permeate our very being. Living in such a state means
that we no longer feel a lack of love in our outer life. All the people in the
world on whom we pin our hopes and desires may leave us, but it will not cause
us to feel unloved. Instead, we feel the love of God within us at all times and
it is more fulfilling than any outer love. We may lose the love of everyone in
the world, but we are sustained by a much higher and more permanent love-the
divine love of God embracing us from within.

We not only experience love ourselves, but we will expand in our own capacity to
love others. Whereas now the list of people we love may be short, including only
our spouse, partner, family members, and close friends, the list will grow to
encompass every person in creation and even every living thing in creation. We
will tap into our innate ability to love all.

If we look at the people humanity has traditionally honored through the ages, it
has been people who had the ability to show love to all. We find that Christ who
began with twelve disciples, now, two thousand years later, has millions of
people who follow his teachings. The ability to love all, saints and sinners
alike, and to embrace all-even those on whom others would throw stones, has left
such a compelling impact on people, that he is still revered. Buddha was called
the compassionate one, and also embraced saints and sinners alike. He was the
champion of even the smallest creature, advocating that we do not harm any
living creature.

We have a beautiful story in which Buddha was out in the forest with his cousin.
His cousin shot down a bird. Buddha rushed to the bird to comfort it and help it
heal. The cousin demanded that Buddha give him the bird, but Buddha refused. The
cousin felt that the bird was rightfully his since he shot it down. The dispute
became so heated that the cousin wanted to take the case to be judged. In the
hearing in front of the judge, the judge asked the cousin why he felt the bird
was his. "Because I was the one who shot it," replied the cousin. When Buddha
was asked why he should own the bird, he replied, "Because I was the one who
took care of it and gave it back its life." The judge ruled that Buddha had the
right understanding. Such was Buddha's love for all living creatures that he
could not bear any pain being inflicted on even the younger brothers or sisters
of God. Buddha's teachings of love were so noteworthy, that two thousand five
hundred years after he lived, there are millions of people who follow and revere
Lord Buddha.

We have many other examples of saints who were so full of love and compassion
that we honor and revere them. There is St. Francis of Assisi, Rabia Basri, and
even in modern times, we see how Mother Teresa was honored for her love and care
for the lepers, the homeless, the sick, and the downtrodden people.

When we attain spiritual consciousness, we too will be imbued with a divine love
that not only nourishes us but also fills us so completely that it overflows
from us to touch the lives of all we meet.

(cont'd)