How to Unfold Love from Within
A teaching offered by Ananda based on "The Magnetic Power of Love (Bhakti Yoga)" by Swami Premananda from Darshan
Dear Feel Love Now Community,
Below is a teaching offered by Ananda based on "The Magnetic Power of Love (Bhakti Yoga)" by Swami Premananda that was originally published in Awake Yoga Meditation’s quarterly print publication called Darshan, which was last published in 2022.
Past issues of Darshan are available here in PDF form. We are republishing articles on Substack with love to facilitate ease and grace in accessing these beautiful teachings.
In loving service,
The Karma Yoga Team at AYM
P.S. If you are interested in joining the Karma Yoga Team at Awake Yoga Meditation to expand your practice of selfless service, love in action, please click here.
All possess love
Among Swami Premananda’s many publications is a 77-page booklet that explores the philosophy and power of love and the ideal of devotion as expressed through Bhakti yoga, the religion of love.
Premananda begins by stating, “In every man are hidden three divine qualities, intelligence, will, and feeling. The ideal of this life is to unfold these qualities to their absolute perfection. Intelligence attains its perfection in wisdom; will, in immortality; and feeling, in love.”
He connects the first two qualities to Jnana and Karma yoga and says the great blessing in Bhakti yoga is the immediate realization of God. The Bhakti devotee, or Bhakta, does not seek God but sees God everywhere. Everyone is born a devotee because all possess love, just as everyone is born divine.
Among the many aspects of love he describes are:
“Love reveals God...”
“Love completes life...”
“Love is eternally within us...”
“Love cannot be understood by intellect...”
“Love is an eternal tie...”
“Love unites in freedom...”
“Love sweetens life...”
“Love is a quality of soul...”
“Love in itself is pure, infinite, and perfect...”
“Love permeates all.”
Two things are necessary
Premananda also explains the differences between molecular attraction, animal passion, human affection, and divine love. The latter is the ultimate goal of a devotee of Bhakti yoga.
In order to unfold love from within, Premananda says two things are necessary.
Absolute trust in a God who is loving, merciful, just, eternal, and understanding.
Consciously living in these qualities by realizing and manifesting them.
He describes the Bhakta as one receiving God’s love in the heart, perfecting it within oneself, and offering it to all as a benediction of joy. This corresponds with my favorite definition of love:
“The joyous realization of oneness in soul.”
Devotion is a quality of soul, based on pure reason, perfect understanding, and vigilant consciousness.
“Pure love is protected by reason, and universalized by action.”
In his conclusion, Premananda says “To make life worthwhile, man must think, work, and love. True love is not without reason and action, or application. Pure love is protected by reason, and universalized by action.”
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