Is there any inherent contradiction in the concept of Adyashanti that in order to set love free of all boundaries one should let one's view get so vast that one's identity disappears? Bill Miller finds this Eastern metaphysics truly puzzling that love can be thought of when self is dissolved. Somik, however, attempts to deal with the issue from a practical perspective, allegorically from the higher dimension of a mother vis-a-vis that of a child, rather than from metaphysical perspective.
While on Miller's reference to puzzling Eastern metaphysics on love, it may be pertinent to narrate an anecdote from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, a well known ancient philosophical text of India. This concerns Yagnavalkya, one of the most learned and realized sages of his time (Mahabharata era), imparting the lesson of immortality and love to his wife Moitreyee.
The sage explained the mystery of love thus: the husband loves his wife & vice versa or parents love their children not because they find something likeable in them, but because they connect them with self. In other words, love for them emanates from love for self. When we connect others to self with a sense of belonging, attachment or gratification, we love them. The sage then instructed his wife to connect her self or soul to the whole of the universe in order to create universal love within her. When the self is expanded beyond the physical boundary so as to connect with every living entity, love transcends its self-centric physical limits.
The above phenomenon finds elucidation in the Bhagavadgita (6.32 and 13.28) where Krishna says: "That yogi (one who connects self with the supramental) is the greatest who identifies himself with all others in their happiness and sorrow." and "One who sees God everywhere cannot injure the Self by the Self." By way of a logical corollary, such a person would love every living being as he/she finds self in every living being. Thus, when we talk of universal love, we do not think of dissolution of self, but expansion of self beyond limits. Here zero becomes 'everything' (Purna in Indian philosophy) and not 'nothing' (Sunya), as Bill rightly points out. Besides, the Eastern concept of finding self in every living being is somewhat analogous to the Western concept of empathy.
On Feb 14, 2010 Asish k. Raha wrote :
Is there any inherent contradiction in the concept of Adyashanti that in order to set love free of all boundaries one should let one's view get so vast that one's identity disappears? Bill Miller finds this Eastern metaphysics truly puzzling that love can be thought of when self is dissolved. Somik, however, attempts to deal with the issue from a practical perspective, allegorically from the higher dimension of a mother vis-a-vis that of a child, rather than from metaphysical perspective.
While on Miller's reference to puzzling Eastern metaphysics on love, it may be pertinent to narrate an anecdote from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, a well known ancient philosophical text of India. This concerns Yagnavalkya, one of the most learned and realized sages of his time (Mahabharata era), imparting the lesson of immortality and love to his wife Moitreyee.
The sage explained the mystery of love thus: the husband loves his wife & vice versa or parents love their children not because they find something likeable in them, but because they connect them with self. In other words, love for them emanates from love for self. When we connect others to self with a sense of belonging, attachment or gratification, we love them. The sage then instructed his wife to connect her self or soul to the whole of the universe in order to create universal love within her. When the self is expanded beyond the physical boundary so as to connect with every living entity, love transcends its self-centric physical limits.
The above phenomenon finds elucidation in the Bhagavadgita (6.32 and 13.28) where Krishna says: "That yogi (one who connects self with the supramental) is the greatest who identifies himself with all others in their happiness and sorrow." and "One who sees God everywhere cannot injure the Self by the Self." By way of a logical corollary, such a person would love every living being as he/she finds self in every living being. Thus, when we talk of universal love, we do not think of dissolution of self, but expansion of self beyond limits. Here zero becomes 'everything' (Purna in Indian philosophy) and not 'nothing' (Sunya), as Bill rightly points out. Besides, the Eastern concept of finding self in every living being is somewhat analogous to the Western concept of empathy.