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“So often we talk about love these days, perhaps without even knowing what it really is or it’s true nature. All of us love three things only.  We love that which we see as a means for happiness or getting to God. We love a ‘God’ which we see as a means for getting something else. Lastly, we love our own highest Self and all others as God. These three energies of love are from weakest to strongest. I will go into detail below…”

First, we love the goal. The objective that you want to achieve. If you didn’t love it you would not pursue it, would you?  We have many goals in life and we want them. So we love these goals dearly, be it a person or a thing. It makes us happy.Why is the goal lovable? You love the goal because it satisfies you. The purpose of any goal is that it satisfies you and you feel happy. So more important than the Goal is myself.  I love myself the most in this universe. So once the goal has achieved the purpose of satisfying you, you may even drop the goal.  It happens in every divorce or separation, does it not? If the person doesn’t continue to satisfy you, you can drop it.  Be it a lover, a parent, a son, friends and of course things. The person I love most is myself. The intensity is the highest also. 

Many people love God – Jesus, Allah, Shiva, Vishnu or any god of your choice. This love we call Bhakti. So you can love god as a means to get something else. We go begging for something, but once we get it we forget god. This is what the majority of us do. This is a lower love.  Then there are others who love God as a goal with a form and name. He is the cause of everything. The omnipotent, all loving, all giving entity. This more advanced state of love is to see god not just as creator but also as the cause of everything. So you move from one form to all forms. All humans, animals, plants, etc. You begin to see god as everything. This is a higher form of love.

The last, of course, is when you begin to see your own self (Atman) as God as the all pervading substratum of you and everything here.  The love of the Self is the highest.  So love is of different intensities – know this to be the Truth and reflect on it.”