God’s Love in Upanishad Philosophies (A Rare Book)

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About the Book

God’ love for man has been considered so natural and self-evident that even to state it does not appear necessary. Yet there are significant differences in its detail among the philosophies that arose from the Upanishads and they are indicated in this work. The lives and works of six modern saints, Kabir, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sant Tulsidas, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo and Maharshi Ramana and their testimony of the experience of His love are also stated. Furthermore an analysis of His love in collaboration with rational knowledge is attempted which displays vividly the hypothesis of Love Equality: God’s love for man and man’s love for God are qualitatively similar. It corresponds to the Upanishad Identity, “That art Thou” and suggests a philosophy of God’s Love.

About the Author

Pritam Sen, born in 1915 at Dehra Dun received Ph. D degree in Theoretical physics under Professor H.A. Bethe at Cornell University, Ithaca, in 1942 and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, Under Professor J.R. Oppenheimer in 1950-51. He has worked at several Universities and he began to study philosophy after retirement. He came to Pondicherry in 1992 and now feels that his works on philosophy, the earlier “Axiomatic Philosophy”, the present one and “Man’s Love for God” which is under preparation, can be presented for an examination of its significance.

Introduction

God's love pervades religions and religious philosophies, it is the basis on which their structures are founded and it is accepted universally with so much faith as self-evident that an analysis of its precise significance has appeared unnecessary. It is accepted as the sun and stars, as rivers, fields and flowers, as life itself even though He remains unseen, unheard, unfelt. The union promised by Him, a face to face encounter, is certain and corroborated by the testimony of saints who have rejoiced in it. He bestows His grace to them to enable them to participate in the ecstasy of His love, they become unconscious of it and when the senses reawaken they do not remember it. Now in peace forever they return to their normal lives and rejoice in the expectation of another love encounter.

Love is well known, it is the dominant activity of the world, without its combination with sex in physical love there would be no life on earth and plants, animals and men practise it in all possible modes. Physical love, its passion, devoted care and egoism are necessary for the procreation and survival of new born life, to protect and nurture it until it obtains sufficient strength to support itself. His love is of course not physical love, it is pure and untainted with passion or egoism, it is akin to man's love for Him, like the yearning of separated lovers, but it is infinite unlike the limited human emotions, its splendour is that of thousand suns and its joy becomes bearable only by His grace.

In these philosophies it is rather the man's love for Him that is emphasized, the devotees sing and dance His praise with the full abandon of their love, they rejoice in the world and its million facets as manifestations of His love and they embrace their fellow-beings with joy that cannot be contained. They hear His flute call at all hours, abandon their homes and, without shelter, they surrender themselves to Him completely. They wander without direction in search of Him, see Him everywhere simultaneously or see Him standing in the dark shadows playing hide and seek with them. They yearn for Him unceasingly until the yearning itself becomes ecstasy of union in the vision that He bestows them. They see His irresistible beauty decked with His Sudarshan, Panchjanya, Kaustubha, Vatjanti and Srivatsa and fall unconscious at His blue lotus feet resting on red lotuses. Their unique activity is to love- Him, they are untiring in their effort and there is no respite from it for them.

His own love is accepted as self-evident, it is evident that out of His love He has created, maintains and will dissolve the world process to merge it into Himself, that He has rejoiced in human love with Radha and Seeta in His incarnations on earth, that the devotees obtain His support when they are in distress, that He is their permanent shelter, that a detailed description of His love is not possible because He is unseen, unheard, unfelt by the limited human senses and therefore its modes of expression become mysteryful to them yet He is ever present, loveful, compassionate and graceful, offers them His shelter Himself, has never denied it and rejoices in their love for Him. When, by His grace, the limitations of the world are undone, when their vision becomes illuminated, then they also will sense His irresistible beauty, be flooded by His love and participate in the ecstasy of His love.

In these philosophies, which describe Him, each in its own way, in accordance with their postulates His love also obtains different statements of detail even if the general affirmations remain the same. They are like gems strung on the string of His love, each with its own lustre and colour, they are/like diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds of a necklace threaded together on the luminous string of His love to adorn Him besides His Vaijanti garland of wild flowers and His Kaustubha pendant on his ample sky blue breast. Every gem reflects the light of His love, its colours scintillate pure white, red, azure and green and it is a marvel of beauty. The devotee dances joyful illuminated by their rainbow hues, he gazes at them with loveful ardour, holds them in light to admire full their cuts and colours. Then with love's darmghe places it, his most precious gift, around His neck in loveful homage and falls unconscious at His feet. All the temple bells are ringing, all the lamps are lighted, the million devotees are dancing and shouting in the frenzy of love and the loveful Lord is smiling at the spectacle that His devotees have prepared for Him.

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