By His Holiness Sri Sri Ranva
Love is the most sought-after but least expressed mystery of life. We try to express love in so many ways, still it remains a mystery. And it rarely happens that love is expressed in its fullness, in its totality.
Jesus once said, “If you call God in my name, whatever you ask shall be given. For God is love.” You find such a complete expression of love in Jesus. Whatever little glimpses you may get here and there indicates that fullness, that ultimate expression of the inexpressible that life is striving to express all the time.
Love makes you weak, but brings you the kingdom of heaven. However strong you are, you are the weakest when you are in love. Yet love is the strongest force on this universe. Since love makes you weak, it also is scary. Among thousands, just a few followed Jesus. Many heard, but just a few came. Even after performing many miracles, only handful of people could recognise him.
Jesus said, “I have come to put man against man, father against son, daughter against mother.” Very few people have really understood what it means. Whom you think is your friend is really not a friend because he or she makes your faith on the matter strong, and spirit weak. “I have come to put one against each other, I have come to put fire, not make peace.” Jesus said this because he knew the depth of slumber. When you talk something nice, peaceful, everybody will go to sleep and when there is something sensational, people wake up and listen.
This is how the human mind operates. And Jesus made all efforts for one to cross the mind and get into the soul, the spirit, the source of life, the Self. You break through the limited identities and recognise the Divinity within you. You are much more than just a human; you are part of the Divine. And you inherit the kingdom. And that kingdom is right here, right within you.
Love makes you weak, but brings you the kingdom of heaven. However strong you are, you are the weakest when you are in love. Yet love is the strongest force on this universe. Since love makes you weak, it also is scary. Among thousands, just a few followed Jesus. Many heard, but just a few came. Even after performing many miracles, only handful of people could recognise him.
Jesus said, “I have come to put man against man, father against son, daughter against mother.” Very few people have really understood what it means. Whom you think is your friend is really not a friend because he or she makes your faith on the matter strong, and spirit weak. “I have come to put one against each other, I have come to put fire, not make peace.” Jesus said this because he knew the depth of slumber. When you talk something nice, peaceful, everybody will go to sleep and when there is something sensational, people wake up and listen.
This is how the human mind operates. And Jesus made all efforts for one to cross the mind and get into the soul, the spirit, the source of life, the Self. You break through the limited identities and recognise the Divinity within you. You are much more than just a human; you are part of the Divine. And you inherit the kingdom. And that kingdom is right here, right within you.
Every form is full of love and every name represents love. And that is how Jesus is One with the Father. Father is One with his creation. In India, the creation and creator are compared to the dance and the dancer. You cannot have a dance without a dancer. Dancer is in every move of the dance. The creator is in every spec of the creation. That is what is omnipresent, omnipotent. If God is omnipresent, he is present everywhere, isn’t it? The creator, if he is different from the creation, then he is not present in his creation.
Then he is not omnipresent. The whole definition of God is gone. Jesus said, “Love each other as much as I love you.” What more do you need to see that embodiment of love?
Then he is not omnipresent. The whole definition of God is gone. Jesus said, “Love each other as much as I love you.” What more do you need to see that embodiment of love?
Jesus, the embodiment of love:
Jesus and love are synonymous. If you say love, then you need not say Jesus if you say Jesus means love. Jesus said once: If you call God in my name, if you ask God in my name whatever that you ask shall be given, for God is love. Such a complete expression of love you can find in Jesus. Whatever little glimpses that you may get here and there indicate the fullness; The ultimate expression of the inexpressible. That life is striving to express throughout the time.
Love goes with courage and look at the courage of Jesus. He completely overthrows the common concept that the strong will inherit the earth. He turns it around the meek shall inherit the earth, the meek shall inherit the heaven for love makes you weak. However strong you are, when you are in love you are the weakest. Yet love is the strongest force on this universe and it makes you weak. Even a macho man will cry when he is in love; he will be like a mouse behind someone whom he loves very much. Love makes you weak but brings you the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus says love each other as much as I love you. It was impossible for someone not to recognize the love that Jesus was, since love makes you weak, it is also scary. Among thousands, few followed him. Many heard but just a few came
When Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is within you, they would not understand they said, Which side of God will we be sitting right or left. Once you go inside, there is no right or left, there is no front or back. They were not very intelligent people; they were more innocent and simple people. He had to tell parables in many ways and had to repeat it and make them understand a little more. That much of patience and compassion can only come out of love.
I have come to put man against man, father against son, daughter against mother, he has said these words very few have really understood what it means. Whom you think is your friend is really not your friend they make your faith in the matter strong and spirit less. I have come to put one against each other I have come to put fire and not to make peace. If he had to say this, he has seen the depth of slumber.
Do you know, when you talk something nice, peaceful, everybody will go to sleep. If there is something sensational, people wake up and hear. Newspapers are filled with such stories. This is the human mind and Jesus had made all efforts for one to cross the mind and get into the soul, the spirit, the source of life, the Self.
You break through the limited relations you yourself with something or somebody or identities and recognize the divinity within you that you are more than just human, you are part of the divine and you inherit the kingdom and that is right here, right within you.
An extract from Jesus the embodiment of love by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
