Inner Truth: What is Love?

Someone asked me once, “What is love?”

My reply was, “You will know when you become love!”

I believe in the strength and sustaining power of love: not love that demands, expects, negotiates for something in exchange—but unconditional love that offers itself in understanding, sympathy, and compassion. Any other kind of love can only be what the English call ‘cupboard love’; which may be a transaction, a bargain, but not the real thing. Love is the most powerful healing force we have. My regret is that we do not use it enough.

Many of us have a shallow and superficial conception of love. We look upon love as something romantic. We regard it as something intangible, ephemeral. Native American Indians look upon love as a kind of wisdom. The famous writer Carlyle echoed the same idea when he wrote, “A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.”

Today, people talk of hard skills, soft skills, communication skills, and technical skills. May I tell you, life skills are more important than professional skills! Love is far more essential to a successful life than vocational degrees. For love purifies your life and makes it sweet and meaningful.

It is difficult to define love or to describe it in words. And yet you can know it when you feel it. 

The author, head of Sadhu Vaswani Mission, is a spiritual master. www.sadhuvaswani.org

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