Talk:Love is a Basic Emotion
By Vishal Agarwal
The first reason is that Bhakti is an emotion – that of love, submission, and service to the Divine. Human beings are, by nature, emotional. Bhakti and Bhakti Yog simply direct us to refine our emotions and direct them towards the Lord. As a contemporary Hindu teacher explains, emotion can be a very powerful force that can accomplish what even rationality, logic, persuasion, and force cannot accomplish-
“Most of us are emotional by nature and we are swayed more by love than by any other emotion. We love ourselves; we love our kith and kin; we love our heart and home. We love our community, our nation, our race. We love wealth, power, and possession. We are ridden by sex land over. Our love for all these determines most of our activities and shapes our conduct. Moreover, it gives us joy and makes life interesting. It throws a sort of charm on the whole world. Without it, life becomes intolerable. No doubt, love is a basic and universal emotion and, as such, a very potent factor in our lives. Every other emotion appears to be stirred up by this basic one. Our fear of death, for instance, arises from our love for life. Hatred springs from excessive love for self-interest. Indeed, the noblest as well as the vilest deeds owe their origin to this ruling passion. Selfless love for others is the prime mover of all pious souls. The inspiration for our bravest acts often comes from this source. The mother faces the lion to rescue her beloved child. The soldier dares death for the love of his country. On the other hand, it is love for one’s interests more than anything else that moves the assassin, the tyrant, and the exploiter to their dirty jobs. The gangster is goaded to acts of dare-devilry by his love for the near and dear ones. This is the crowning social virtues as also the darkest antisocial crimes may be prompted equally by love[1].”
But, Bhakti is not just any raw emotion. It is a deep emotion that is powered not by selfishness or mundane attachments but selfless love towards the Divine, and easy to cultivate in one’s heart -
“Love is like the lamp that may be made to illumine an altar as well as to set a house on fire. It all depends on the way we use this mighty emotion. Bhakti-yog suggests the best possible use that may be made of this emotion. We may utilize it to reach the goal of life – liberation (mukti). All that we have to do is to love God intensely, just as we love any other thing on earth. We all know how to love a person or a thing dearly; we are required only to shift the focus away from worldly objects to God. Through this process, our emotional nature gets its full play. So, we never have to feel out of our element. Moreover, as love for God develops, attachment to other things gradually melts away. So, renunciation becomes easy and natural. Besides, love for God is accompanied by pure joy from the very beginning. This is why Bhakti-yog, that is, the Path of Love, appeals to the majority of mankind. It is, perhaps, the easiest approach and suited to the taste and capacity of most of us[2].”