Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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love, cannot possibly arise in the heart so long as it remains unconvinced of the special claim of the object of devotion to one's worship. Certainly no one can force himself to love another against his heart. It follows from this that genuine bhakti is not possible where reason is given the go-by before it has pronounced its benediction on the idol to be installed in the sacred temple of the heart. Fanaticism may, no doubt, flourish in the absence of the light of intellect, but, then, fanaticism has no foundation of truth, and the pursuit of untruth is not to be desired. It is not that one cannot be devoted to a false object, for that is a matter of personal belief, but that the worshipping of the false god, or ideal, is like a structure without a solid foundation, and is sure to lead to trouble sooner or later. Thus the first essential on the path of bhakti is the ascertainment of the true object of devotion.
It is also important to know that spiritual love or devotion has little, or nothing, in common with the vehement, unreasoning ardour of a sensualist's passion, and that the men who endeavour to imitate the fullgushing, standard lover of an oriental love-story have no idea whatever of the kind of love implied in devotion to God. Love certainly does not signify unreasonableness, and irrational frenzy may be a characteristic of lunatics and fiends, but not of the worshippers of God. The truth is that the nature of devotion has been entirely misunderstood by the generality of men, who, unable to form a rational conception of the kind of love implied in bhakti, have been led to confound it with the mad impetuosity of sensuality. Some have even
YOGA.