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Therefore, love is the purified form of attachment. Where non-purified attachment becomes a cause of spiritual downfall, love raises it to new spiritual heights. Attachment is always with gross physical objects whereas love is with the spiritual qualities of a living being. Attachment establishes a relationship with inert objects and produces inertia where as love is about consciousness and it develops one's consciousness. Love ends in detachment, which finally results in completely detached condition of the soul. Service or acts of benevolence are the practical aspects of detachment. What is meant here is that with respect to development of consciousness service and affection are important from the beginning to the end.
There is a great deal of difference between délusory attachment and affection. In delusory attachment the aim is to obtain pleasure from others while in affection the desire is to mitigate the pains and to give pleasure to others. Here, there is no desire even to get pleasure in return for the affection bestowed on others. It is purely selfless. In delusory attachment there is the desire of reciprocal favour or pleasure whereas in affection there is a desire to give away even the available means of pleasure to others and it helps the affectionate one to overcome the shackles of sensory pleasures. In delusory attachment there is always a selfish interest while in affection there is no selfishness but only generosity. When we treat someone with affection and generosity we pass on the feeling to the recipient also and the resultant rise of affection in him helps him also to develop his self.
There is an inverse relationship between affection and attachment Wider the field of affection leaner will be the attachment. As a rubber balloon is inflated bigger and bigger its rubber walls become thinner and thinner and when it is inflated to its critical limit it bursts. Similarly. as the area of affection of a person becomes larger and larger his attachment becomes thinner and thinner. His feeling of affection expands from the family to the neighbourhood, from neighbourhood to the society, from the society to the entire humanity and from entire humanity to the animals, birds, fishes, insects, etc., to the entire living
Positive Non-Violence
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