Love - The Yogis Perspective

The creative minds from the East have blessed us with the depiction of Śhiva and Pārvatī as a single entity: Ardhanārīśvara, which is half man, half woman. This image might seem unusual at first glance, particularly because Śhiva is often viewed as a symbol of supreme masculinity.

(above - The murti of Ardhanārīśvara in the main studio. Symbolising "Union" of Shiva and Parvati)

To better understand Ardhanārīśvara, consider this analogy: if you bring two lamps into a dark room, the lamps remain separate, but their light blends together into a singular brightness. It's impossible to distinguish between the lights of each lamp; similarly, the spirit is akin to light, with the body serving as the lamp. In the same way, Śhiva and Pārvatī, though distinct in form, merge into a seamless union of energy and consciousness, embodying the principle that divine love transcends duality.

In yogic philosophy, especially as described in the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, the dissolution of duality is key to experiencing the divine. The text teaches us that the mind, like love, must dissolve into unity—into oneness beyond form and separation. The union of Śhiva and Pārvatī symbolizes not just the merging of masculine and feminine but the merging of all opposites—light and dark, passive and active, form and formlessness. This profound balance of energies mirrors the cosmic dance of existence, urging us to go beyond the confines of the body and ego, experiencing love as a bridge to divine consciousness.

Love opens one of the doors to the divine or higher states of consciousness, representing a challenging yet profoundly rewarding journey. As Swami Vivekananda put it, "All knowledge, yoga, and meditation are but dust compared with love." This unity, if achieved even momentarily with a partner, can serve as a gateway to divine experiences, offering a state of bliss beyond our understanding. Yogi Jaggi Vasudev highlighted the transformative nature of love, suggesting that falling in love requires a part of oneself to be surrendered or lost, which is essential for love to truly exist. This echoes the teachings of the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, which emphasizes the surrender of the self to experience a greater truth: "Lose yourself in the experience of love, and you shall find the entire universe within it."

In the West, there's often confusion between love and sexual desire, leading to misunderstandings about Tantra, which is much more about emotional and spiritual connections than merely physical interactions. The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra teaches us that love is the fundamental means to understand tantric wisdom, emphasizing that love, not logic, guides us to deeper truths. Tantra is not about indulgence but about transcending desire through love, transforming our ordinary experiences into the extraordinary. It’s about using love as a tool for awakening.

True love involves giving freely without expecting anything in return. As Khalil Gibran eloquently states, "Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself." This view is echoed by the yogic belief that love should not be sought as a possession but should be allowed to come freely, enriching the soul. According to the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, love is an inner unfolding, a process where the heart expands beyond attachment to self and others, and in that expansion, the divine becomes apparent. The moment love becomes possessive, it is no longer pure, and the path to the divine becomes blocked.

The personal experience of love is seen as a prerequisite for understanding divine love. Iyengar talks of love in Light on Life: "There is a natural progression in marriage whereby the importance of passion becomes less important—not unimportant, but less important—and its place is filled evermore by love and friendliness. The gateway to divine love, I believe, as I have experienced it, is through personal love—the love of one other incarnate soul. Just as you cannot find illumination by jumping from one guru to another, according to your whims, you will not easily find the greater love of God if you keep on finding imperfections in particular creations. The Love that transcends the particularity of individual attraction and perceives the soul within the other is the great pathway to God." This view is supported by Rumi's notion that "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

The yogis have been telling us of pure love for centuries. It is we, the readers, who have misinterpreted them so poorly. All the "gods" with all their powers and splendour are always with a consort, always present with a goddess. This beautiful woman beside them is far from the passive householder; they are literally the other half of the "god." Without Pārvatī, Śhiva is inert and incapable. He is "Shava" (dead/corpse). She breathes life into him. Rāma is only the perfect man when his beloved Sītā returns in the Rāmāyaṇam. Without Sītā, Rāma is lost and devoid of life.

Reflecting further on this, the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra speaks directly to the symbiosis between the masculine and feminine, particularly in the relationship between Śhiva and Śakti (Pārvatī). Without Śakti, Śhiva remains unmanifest, potential energy with no form, no action. It is through the activation of Śakti, the feminine force, that the universe comes into being. This reinforces the idea that divine love is not a passive state but an active, co-creative process that gives life and form to the cosmos.

In reflecting on these teachings, it's clear that love transcends the physical realm, touching the core of our spiritual existence. The pursuit of love, with its challenges and joys, is a testament to its indispensable role in our lives, guiding us toward a greater understanding of the divine and the essence of our being. Love, in its purest form, is not just an emotion but a state of being that connects us to the vastness of life and the universe.

Zahir Akram - Eternal Seeker

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