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On Love

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar describes three kinds of love in his book Celebrating Silence:

There are three kinds of love: the love that comes out of charm, the love that comes out of comfort, and Divine love.

The love that comes out of charm does not last long. It comes out of unfamiliarity or out of attraction. In this love, you lose attraction quickly, and boredom sets in, like most love marriages. This love may diminish and bring along with it fear, uncertainty, insecurity and sadness.

The love that comes out of comfort and familiarity grows. You are more comfortable with an old friend who is a familiar person, rather than with a new person. But this love has no thrill, no enthusiasm, no joy or fire in it.

Divine love supersedes all other love. Divine love is always new and the closer you get, the more charm and depth you experience. Divine love brings comfort, familiarity and enthusiasm. There is never boredom, and it keeps you alert and aware.

I have been told more than once that my expectations from marriage and relationships are quite unrealistic and likely to do me more harm than good in the long run. It seems that I have been seeking (and failing to find) the third kind of love. It describes exactly what I have never experienced. I am familiar with the feelings of fear, uncertainty, insecurity, sadness, lack of thrill and enthusiasm while in "love" which appears to come with the territory of mortal love. Sometimes, words of wisdom don't help you come any closer to the answer.

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Anonymous said…
whatever anyone says is going to sound like preaching - actually it is in a way.

Would like to understand the meaning of marriage from your perspective - is it two people living the life of one (including compromise / sacrifice by one or the other all the time), living togather because they have to?

take care.
5:20 AM
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