Peace is Possible Only Through Love (Alternative Translation)

27 July 1996, Prasanthi Nilayam

Published English.

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Only in supreme love do you attain supreme happiness, Love endows you with the virtues of truth, the spirit of sacrifice, peace, and forbearance, Without love, there can be no well-being, Listen to this, oh valiant sons of ! (Telugu poem)

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There is none in this world who does not know the word love. The entire universe is contained in love. Only love equals love. There is no language to describe love. Howsoever one may try, it cannot be expressed in words. Love is beyond mind and speech, just like .

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The declare: Whence the words along with the mind rebound in futility without comprehending ().

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Sage described love as: That which cannot be defined in words ().

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People in this world consider worldly love as true love. But it is not love; it cannot be called love. Love between parents and children, wife and husband is nothing more than attachment (); it is not true love. In fact, worldly love is only physical attachment; it is not related to the Self. It can be called a sort of delusion ().

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A person’s love keeps changing constantly. During childhood, one considers the lap of the mother as the very heaven itself. As one grows up and acquires worldly education, one even forgets the love of one’s mother. One considers education as everything and devotes full attention to it. After facing many types of hardships and problems, one completes education and acquires a job. When one gets married and enters the householder stage (), the focus is shifted from education to family life. After having children, one turns attention to the accumulation of wealth. Then, wealth becomes the only goal of life.

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Divine love is changeless, whereas worldly love is ever changing and full of delusion (). So far as persists, one can never experience (the Supreme Being). Only when you keep your heart steady and sacred can you attain true and eternal love.

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All that is seen is bound to perish (). All that is visible to the naked eye is bound to disappear sooner or later.

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Spiritual practices purify the heart Whatever teachings you hear and read, you should imbibe them in your heart. Once, a called his disciples and said to them, “My dear ones! I am giving all of you a sweet. See to it that it is not spoilt by ants, flies, mosquitoes, cats, or rats.” Most of the students tried to preserve it in many ways. But only one student ate it, digested it, and derived strength from it.

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What is the inner meaning of this? It is not enough to preserve the divine teachings in books; you should imbibe those nectarine teachings in your heart, digest them, and experience them. Only then can you derive strength and happiness ( and ).

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The cowherd maidens () constantly prayed to thus:

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Oh , play Your sweet flute and sow the seeds of love in the desert of loveless hearts. Let the rain of love fall on earth and make the rivers of love flow. (Telugu Poem) Due to the absence of love, people’s hearts have become barren like a wasteland. Rainwater gets absorbed in sand, but it becomes sweet when it falls on clay. However, when it falls in an oyster, it becomes a pearl and shines brilliantly. Similarly, devotion shines in a person depending on their deservedness. (Telugu Poem)

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How long will this body last? It is temporary. Love that is related to this ephemeral body is also momentary and transient. Only the principle of , , or (the heart) is true and eternal. It is the foremost duty of man to recognise this true and eternal principle of love.

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Pure love is nothing but Today, the world appears to be like a sick person suffering from some incurable disease. Wherever you look, you find unrest and agitation. Wherever you go, you find injustice, betrayal, unrighteousness, and evil practices. All these are contrary to the principle of love.

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What is ? It has no form. It manifests in the form of bliss. In fact, love that is sacred, pure, selfless, attributeless, egoless, and formless is nothing but . Such love can only be experienced.

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Attain peace through love There are four types of love (): , , , and .

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can be compared to an electric bulb in the room. Its light is limited only to that room; it can’t give light outside the room.

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can be compared to moonlight, which is present everywhere but it is not so bright.

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But is like sunlight, which is very bright. However, it is not permanent because when there is sunset, we cannot see the sun and think that it is not there. In reality, the sun neither rises nor sets.

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In the same manner, it is wrong to say God incarnates on earth only when righteousness () disappears from the face of the earth. never disappears.

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Oh ! Whenever there is a decline in and rise in , I incarnate on earth.

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. (Sanskrit Verse)

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Here, decline in means not its disappearance but decline in its practice.

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What is the meaning of ? It means that is not visible. But it does not mean that it ceases to exist. When the sun sets, we think sun is not there. The fact is that it does exist, but it is not visible to us; it is visible in another part of the world. Similarly, as becomes invisible, people think it has ceased to exist.

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The fourth type of love is . It is present within and without at all places, at all times, and under all circumstances. This is what the describe by: That all-pervasive God is present within and without ().

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You need not go in search of this love. You cannot receive it as a gift from others, nor can it be purchased anywhere. It is very much present in you and all over. This is described as: With hands, feet, eyes, head, mouth, and ears pervading everything, He permeates the entire universe ().

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There is a prayer describing Lord :

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Lord , having a lotus emerging from His navel, reclines peacefully on ... ...

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Where does Lord dwell? He dwells in the heart of everyone. So, there should be no place for desires in the heart.

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The mind appears to be all-pervasive. That is why the said: The mind is the basis of the entire world (). The mind is subservient to the world, whereas the world is subservient to love. When you follow the master, i.e. the path of love, you can conquer the entire world.

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Worldly relations are only bondages devised many plans to conquer . His minister was not an ordinary one. He was one of great intelligence. He used all his intelligence and enquired how they could conquer . He understood that in order to win over , they had to make friendship with someone who was more powerful than . There was no point in befriending someone who was inferior to in power.

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That is why subjected to a test in order to determine whether He was superior to in power. Since proved that he had much superior power than , at once made friendship with . He firmly believed that he could easily conquer with the help of .

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Once, went to to invite him for a duel. At that time, was doing prayers during dawn and dusk (). So that these prayers would not be disturbed,

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he put under his armpit and continued his ritual. Such was the power of , who could keep the mighty under his arm and subdue his ego.

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underwent much suffering and hardship for the love of . His love for endowed him with great strength.

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During the war between and , and killed most of the demon () warriors, including and the valorous sons of .

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When they thought only remained to be conquered, a mighty demon came to the battlefield. said to , “If you can subjugate him, you can easily win over . He is much more powerful than himself.” waged a fierce battle with him for a long time but could not conquer him. He was tired. Noticing this, counseled from behind. “, this is not the time to relax. If You delay further, it will be impossible to conquer him. I am telling You all this out of my love for You.” Enthused by the counsel of , continued the fight and ultimately killed the demon. When the mighty demon fell to the ground, fainted at the same time.

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Some time after this, he got up, chanting the Name of . He repented and said, “, this is my weakness. Fie on me. Having filled my heart with Your love, it was not proper on my part to display this weakness.” asked, “Well, why did you faint? What is the reason?” said, “, that mighty warrior was my son. Due to grief arising out of physical attachment, I displayed my weakness.” As you can see, was prepared to sacrifice the life of his own son for the victory of .

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asked, “, why did you do this? Is it not a mistake on your part? You should have told me in the beginning that he was your son.” replied, “, whoever he was, he had come to wage a war against You. In a war, there is no scope for entertaining thoughts of physical relationship and attachment.” Relationships like mother, father, brother, sister, and friend are not real.

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, . (Sanskrit Verse)

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“All worldly relationships are momentary, like water bubbles. They are bound to perish in a moment. Your love alone is true and eternal.” With such deep love for , tried hard for His victory.

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Materials like iron, copper, and gold may have some value, but bondage has no value. There should be no bondage, even if it is a pure (sathwic) one. One should aspire only for the love of , which is pure and unsullied.

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propagated this divine principle of love, setting his own example. He was the pure (sathwic) friend of , whereas was His passionate (rajasic) friend and was his dull-ignorant (thamasic) friend.

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Though belonged to the demon clan, he surrendered to with pure (sathwic) feelings. You find the radiance of love only in such pure feelings. Such sacred love cannot be measured; it cannot be described. No language can express it.

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Attain the priceless gem of love Love has no birth and no death. It is everpresent. It shines in the heart when all worldly feelings are driven away from it. This is the main teaching of the . It is not possible to describe this love.

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used many adjectives to describe love, but he could not give full description of it. He said: Having attained that, man gets total satisfaction, fulfillment, ecstasy, and bliss ().

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sang: I have found the jewel of the divine Name ().

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This gem of love is available only with God, who is the embodiment of love. It is available only in the of love and in the shop of love. God is the sole owner of this love. It is possible to get it only from Him.

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Having attained the proximity of , do not fritter away this golden opportunity, but make best use of it.

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If you lose this chance to serve the Lotus Feet of the Lord of , you will never get it again.

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( concluded His Discourse with the , “...”.)