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BHAKTI-YOGA.
152
of the Lord-when the attachment of the faithful servant to the master is his ideal.
The next type of love is sakhya (), or friendship. "Thou art our beloved friend"* -exclaims one, who takes up this ideal. Just as a man opens his heart to his friend, and knows that the friend will never chide him for his faults, but will always try to help him just as there exists in his mind, the idea of equality between him and his friend, so the same kind of love flows out from the heart of the worshipper towards his Godwhen this type of love is his ideal. Thus God becomes our friend-the friend who is near, the friend to whom we may freely tell all the tales of our lives-and the innermost secrets of our hearts we place before Him with the greatest assurance of safety and. support. He is thus the friend Whom we here accept as our equal-as our play-mate.
त्वमेव वन्धुच सखा त्वमेव ।
(Pándava Gita).
