Foundations are influenced greatly by our start in life. An impoverished individual, with poor upbringing and meagre financial resources, may aspire to a perfect life that is more comfortable and materially secure. A privileged individual, on the other hand, who begins life with many financial assets, may see perfection in settling down one day, to enjoy his earnings. Either way, it seems we hope to live the life we would truly love to have.
In the broader sense, I feel love is the essence – love makes life worth living. Love opens a domain of bliss in all aspects, be it within ourselves or alongside others. Devoid of love, however, life seems cold, difficult, isolated and detached. Such a predicament leads us to deny the presence of any loving hand in creation, for all seems dark and bleak. With love however, the world lights up and expands beyond the ego to a dimension that is larger than life! In fact, love acts as a bridge between us and all existence.
HH Mata Sudiksha Ji, on 30th March 2022 in Rajnandgoan, Chhattisgarh, explained in her discourse that desires, right from early childhood up until old age, remain constant in life. A child initially desires toys, and then pencils while attending school. As she grows, there are even more desires – the desire for a bike, home, job and so forth. Desiring continues right until old age. Mata Ji explained that all these desires, spanning our entire life, are not necessarily needed to be able to experience a life of import.
We know that a child could survive without toys albeit this would be a sad situation. But the absence of love and warm human touch profoundly impacts his mental and psychological state. Psychological studies using baby monkeys provide ample evidence – they were observed to move towards fabricated mothers who were wrapped in soft padding and cloth, even if this meant they had less food. It was the physical touch, that gave them a sense of belonging.
There is always the choice of living with our consuming desires or opting for love – a life of meaning and purpose. In choosing love, our experience goes beyond the material. We arrive at a special kind of contentment, irrespective of the circumstances around us. We learn to like what we have, as opposed to just having what we like. It may not necessarily be smooth sailing, but it does create a resilient outlook in life. It gives us a certain focus, path and destination.
Ultimately, we are all looking for love. We may well believe that it is outside of ourselves, found in a better version of ourselves, in a more perfect life, with perfect circumstances, but what we forget is that we, ourselves, are the greatest source of love. We have a beautiful ability to create, give and share love in abundance. Instead of trying to find it, let us work on creating it so that we can share it with the world.
Nirankar, God Almighty, is the greatest source of unconditional love, which fills us to the brim. In taking our inspiration from the qualities of Nirankar, both nirguna and sarguna, we create the solid base of love: the foundation of life. We then become able to navigate a life that may be perfectly flawed, but still worthy and full of meaning.
All we need to do is to find ourselves through the Knowledge of God, for God is Love. We are, in the deepest sense, love personified. When rooted in such awareness, grounded in the foundation of love, our life becomes stable, balanced and perfectly beautiful in every way.
– Harishta Kaur, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
