Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-March19

Love all People Selflessly

Love is a fundamental instinct common to all beings, including man. Indeed, life devoid of love will be unendurable. On the other hand, pure love can conquer the whole world. The giving of love involves no effort, costs no money. And yet, we do not find love universal; pure, selfless love, in fact, is rarely to be found in human dealings. The reason lies in differences between individual likes, dislikes and nature, and in mutual relationships inherited from past births.
It is understandable that people take kindly to persons of agreeable nature and similar ways of thinking and living. Dissimilarity in these respects may, correspondingly, cause apathy; but the antipathy or hatred which people often feel is unjustifiable. It should be borne in mind that the reason for which we entertain hatred may similarly suffice for the other person to hate us. The adage 'Many men, many minds' should never be lost sight of. People are bound to have divergent views and different likes and dislikes. We should always make an allowance for variety in these respects, and treat people with the same tolerance that we expect from them, and not hate them. Rather, we should try to see what common and agreeable factors we can find in others, and therewith establish mutual concord and love. Make a beginning with your own family, gradually extending the circle of love to include other relatives, friends, and acquaintances, and ultimately to embrace in it all humanity. This feeling of love should be pure, devoid of all selfishness and guile. It should become a part of our nature, and should be reflected in all our actions, speech, and even look. At home, there should be mutual regard and loving consideration. Mutual relations in a family should be of love, not of awe. We should suggest but never insist. Never say 'this shall be done,' 'this shall not be done'. What happens should be accepted gracefully, as His will.
We should cultivate a natural love for God, like what exists between mother and child. We would then be able to view the world and all happenings with a sense of detachment, amusement, admiration. Love for the Lord and His creation is the very soul of spirituality; we should constantly pray to Him for the gift of such love, and live in ceaseless awareness of divine love and dispensation.
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