By Ketevan Chigogidze┃Posted: November 19, 2018
What is Love?
In Western countries, we excitedly celebrate love on Valentine’s Day and other special holidays dedicated to the important people in our lives. When we think of romantic love, we often think of perfect couples walking hand in hand, sharing a meal, or laughing together. Those of us who are single and not “in love” are urgently seeking it by swiping left and right or hitting the trendy spots around town in hopes of finding our soulmates.
Why do we seek love so desperately? The reality is that we don’t want to miss out on one of life’s greatest promises of happiness. But often, when we do find love, that love goes sour or even turns into hate in a short period of time. Some of us have had to face the sharp pain of betrayal, while others have experienced a less dramatic but equally disappointing disintegration of the romantic fantasy into an unpalatable reality. The disenchantment that love can bring often leaves us wondering where we went wrong.
But love, real love, isn’t just about external expressions of elevated emotions; it’s also about recognizing the source of love within. “Love is the basis of all existence. If there is one substance by which everything is held together and you want to give it a name, you can call it love. Love is not just an emotion, it is your very existence,” says Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
We may intellectually understand that the source of love is within us, but how do we experience this truth in our daily life? Ancient practices like breathwork and meditation hold the key to the internal realization of this ultimate truth. These practices, combined with timeless wisdom from the world’s greatest masters, can help us gain access to the unbounded depths of our own being.
The chakra connection
According to the ancient science of chakras, emotions like love and hate are simply different manifestations of the same energy. As this energy flows upward or downward through the 7 main chakras or energy centers, we experience a variety of sensations in specific regions of the body.
When energy moves to the 4th chakra, in the heart region, it is expressed in one of three forms -- fear, love, or hatred. At any point in time, only one of the three emotions is predominant, while the other two are in the background.
This is why we feel love and hate in the heart region (heartbreak, anyone?) and why one emotion can turn into the other so quickly. When we learn to observe the intense emotions and sensations that disturb us, negative feelings dissolve.
5 signs that you are experiencing Divine Love:
So, how can you recognize whether your efforts in breathwork and meditation are leading you closer to experiencing the source of Love within you? In his writings about love, the famous Vedic sage Rishi Narada describes the 5 symptoms of being in Divine Love, the highest or most elevated form of love that we can experience.
1) You no longer have any selfish desires. If we observe the nature of desire, we see that the moment a desire is fulfilled, it gives rise to 10 other desires, preventing us from being content. Understanding this phenomenon brings us closer to Divine Love.
2) You do not grieve for anything. Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar explains that desire brings grief and grief brings hatred. If you look at what you really hate, it’s often something that you once loved or desired. When you want things to be a certain way and they don’t turn out according to your preference, great frustration can arise. One who has attained Divine Love moves beyond grief.
3) You do not hate anything or anybody. There is one level of love, which keeps the door to hatred open, but there is another, deeper level of love that has no opposite-- and that is Divine Love. If you hate someone, you have no freedom from them. Whether it’s greed, jealousy, anger, hatred, or frustration, all these negative emotions can be transformed through yogic practices and wisdom. Once our negative emotions are dropped, we can experience the Divine Love that was there all along.
4) You do not get lost or carried away by events and happenings. Regardless of the events or circumstances that are happening around you, one who is soaked in Divine Love remains steady and established in the Self.
5) You do not become over-excited by anything. It’s easy to lose balance and make poor decisions in a state of over-excitement. Being rooted in the knowledge of our true nature helps settle down the feverish fervour that we sometimes experience.
Experience the Love that you are at an Art of Living Happiness Program near you
If all this talk about love has triggered some curiosity and longing in you to break free from the heartbreak and pain that an incomplete understanding of love can cause, and if you’re ready to experience the Love that you are, I invite you to join a Happiness Program near you. You’ll meet other sincere seekers who are embarking on an inner journey, and together you will explore ancient tools for tapping into a Love that never dies.
Ketevan Chigogidze is a research chemist and an Art of Living instructor from Canada. She is devoted to continuously spreading the knowledge of inner peace and happiness.
