The world today manifests violence, hatred, cruelty, greed and hatred, and that is because there is lack of love. Property, land, money, position and power cannot give us peace, and love is the only thing which provides us peace and joy. Real love is to love all of God’s creations, whether violent, cruel-hearted, hateful or envious.

Love is when you choose to be at your best even when the other person is not at his or her best. Love is when what you want is not important but what the other person needs and wants is paramount. That may be difficult to put into practice, but this is the true definition of love. Our spirit, the part we use to receive God is deep within us. That is where God resides.

According to the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that the only way you can conquer me is through love. Banish emotions like hate, anger, vengeance and such angry feelings. Instead, win people over to our side by spreading love. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna speaks about love in purushottama consciousness.

The Gita preaches about the uniformity of everything in the universe including God, living beings and non-living things. This ultimately teaches us that we should respect and love everything around us as we ultimately reflect that love on ourselves. True love is the unconditional love you show to your children in which you do not expect anything from them. Such true love is what one should have for God. That is the essence of the Gita.

Dr Sanjay Teotia

According to Lord Krishna and Lord Rama, love comes from the heart and not from a physical or sexual relationship. Love is treating someone the way you want to be treated and not differentiating between any human being. Realise that at the end, we all are atma. Love has tremendous power and is what connects our soul with God and with each other. If the soul is covered by lust, greed, pride, illusion and anger, then the soul is not going to be attracted to God.

Osho says that there are as many loves as there are people. Love is a hierarchy, beginning from the lowest rung to the highest, literally from sex to super consciousness. He says that there are many, many layers, and many planes of love. It all depends on you. If you are existing on the lowest rung, you will have a totally different idea of love than the person who is on the highest rung.

Love also leads to creation; the progeny of every species is because of love. The Sun of knowledge, God, is within all of us but yet we remain in darkness because we are completely oblivious to his presence. It is our duty, and the reason why we take birth in human form is to purify our own hearts. Eventually, when our hearts are pure like the sun, love radiates in all directions for everyone to experience.

The pure heart shines love all around in the same way as the sun. The Vedas say that if you serve your family, you love them. Similarly, if you serve the entire world, you will love all creation. The Vedas says Dhanena Tyage nyke which means that sacrifice of money proves real love, as does service.

Just as God cannot be defined, love too cannot be defined. God is an experience, and all attempts at defining or understanding God are incomplete. Similarly, love can only be experienced, and cannot really be fully understood. It is love that runs the universe. As Brahma split the Purusha into two, the entire universe split into two; the sky separated from earth, and light emerged out of darkness; life separated from death and male from female.

Ever since, the two halves have been passionately trying to re-unite. This never-ending passionate urge of reuniting with one another gave birth to different kinds of love, togetherness and lust. Was that how love took birth?

We will never really know, but with lust, true love began to lose its meaning without any consideration for love or more sublime feelings. However, we can once again turn to the scriptures and rekindle true love on earth.

Dr Sanjay Teotia is a senior consultant eye surgeon