Love is an
emotion of a strong
affection and personal
attachment.
[1] Love is also a
virtue representing all of human
kindness,
compassion, and affection —"the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another".
[2]
Love may also be described as actions towards others or oneself based
on compassion, or as actions towards others based on affection.
[3]
In English, love refers to a variety of different feelings, states,
and attitudes, ranging from pleasure ("I loved that meal") to
interpersonal attraction ("I love my partner"). "Love" may refer specifically to the passionate desire and intimacy of
romantic love, to the sexual love of
eros, to the emotional closeness of
familial love, to the
platonic love that defines
friendship,
[4] or to the profound
oneness or devotion of
religious love.
[5]
This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of
the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently
define, compared to other emotional states.
Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of
interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the
creative arts.
[6]
Love may be understood as part of the survival instinct, a function
to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the
continuation of the species.
[7]
Definitions
The word "love" can have a variety of related but distinct meanings
in different contexts. Often, other languages use multiple words to
express some of the different concepts that English relies mainly on
"love" to encapsulate; one example is the plurality of
Greek words for "love." Cultural differences in conceptualizing love thus make it doubly difficult to establish any universal definition.
[8]
Although the nature or
essence of love is a subject of frequent debate, different aspects of the word can be clarified by determining what
isn't love. As a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of
like), love is commonly contrasted with
hate (or neutral
apathy); as a less sexual and more emotionally intimate form of romantic attachment, love is commonly contrasted with
lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is sometimes contrasted with
friendship, although the word
love is often applied to close friendships.
When discussed in the abstract,
love usually refers to
interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person.
Love often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing
(cf. vulnerability and care theory of love), including oneself (cf.
narcissism).
In addition to cross-cultural differences in understanding love, ideas
about love have also changed greatly over time. Some historians date
modern conceptions of romantic love to courtly Europe during or after
the Middle Ages, although the prior existence of romantic attachments is attested by ancient love poetry.
[9]
Because of the complex and abstract nature of love, discourse on love is commonly reduced to a
thought-terminating cliché, and there are a number of common
proverbs regarding love, from
Virgil's "
Love conquers all" to
The Beatles' "
All You Need Is Love".
St. Thomas Aquinas, following
Aristotle, defines love as "to will the good of another."
[10] Bertrand Russell describes love as a condition of "absolute value," as opposed to
relative value. Philosopher
Gottfried Leibniz said that love is "to be delighted by the happiness of another."
[11]
Love is sometimes referred to as being the "international language", overriding cultural and linguistic divisions.
Impersonal love
A person can be said to love an object, principle, or goal if they
value it greatly and are deeply committed to it. Similarly,
compassionate outreach and volunteer workers' "love" of their cause may
sometimes be born not of interpersonal love, but impersonal love coupled
with
altruism and strong spiritual or political convictions.
[12]
People can also "love" material objects, animals, or activities if they
invest themselves in bonding or otherwise identifying with those
things. If sexual passion is also involved, this condition is called
paraphilia.
[13]
Interpersonal love
Interpersonal love refers to love between human beings. It is a more potent sentiment than a simple
liking for another.
Unrequited love refers to those feelings of love that are not reciprocated. Interpersonal love is most closely associated with
interpersonal relationships.
[12]
Such love might exist between family members, friends, and couples.
There are also a number of psychological disorders related to love, such
as
erotomania.
Throughout history,
philosophy and
religion have done the most speculation on the phenomenon of love. In the last century, the science of
psychology has written a great deal on the subject. In recent years, the sciences of
psychology,
anthropology,
neuroscience, and
biology have added to the understanding of the nature and function of love.
People with
histrionic personality disorder,
narcissism and
bipolar disorder may have a limited or minimal capability of experiencing love.
[14][15][16][17][18][19]
Biological basis
Biological models of sex tend to view love as a
mammalian drive, much like
hunger or
thirst.
[20] Helen Fisher,
a leading expert in the topic of love, divides the experience of love
into three partly overlapping stages: lust, attraction, and attachment.
Lust is the feeling of sexual desire; romantic attraction determines
what partners mates find attractive and pursue, conserving time and
energy by choosing; and attachment involves sharing a home, parental
duties, mutual defense, and in humans involves feelings of safety and
security.
[21]
Three distinct neural circuitries, including neurotransmitters, and
also three behavioral patterns, are associated with these three romantic
styles.
[21]
Lust is the initial passionate sexual desire that promotes
mating, and involves the increased release of chemicals such as
testosterone and
estrogen. These effects rarely last more than a few weeks or months.
Attraction
is the more individualized and romantic desire for a specific candidate
for mating, which develops out of lust as commitment to an individual
mate forms. Recent studies in
neuroscience have indicated that as people fall in love, the brain consistently releases a certain set of chemicals, including
pheromones,
dopamine,
norepinephrine, and
serotonin, which act in a manner similar to
amphetamines, stimulating the brain's
pleasure center and leading to side effects such as increased
heart rate,
loss of appetite
and sleep, and an intense feeling of excitement. Research has indicated
that this stage generally lasts from one and a half to three years.
[22]
Since the lust and attraction stages are both considered temporary, a
third stage is needed to account for long-term relationships.
Attachment is the
bonding that promotes relationships lasting for many years and even decades. Attachment is generally based on commitments such as
marriage and
children, or on mutual friendship based on things like shared interests. It has been linked to higher levels of the chemicals
oxytocin and
vasopressin to a greater degree than short-term relationships have.
[22] Enzo Emanuele and coworkers reported the protein molecule known as the
nerve growth factor (NGF) has high levels when people first fall in love, but these return to previous levels after one year.
[23]
Psychological basis
Psychology depicts love as a cognitive and social phenomenon.
Psychologist Robert Sternberg formulated a
triangular theory of love
and argued that love has three different components: intimacy,
commitment, and passion. Intimacy is a form in which two people share
confidences and various details of their personal lives, and is usually
shown in friendships and romantic love affairs. Commitment, on the other
hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent. The last
and most common form of love is sexual attraction and passion.
Passionate love is shown in infatuation as well as romantic love. All
forms of love are viewed as varying combinations of these three
components. Non-love does not include any of these components. Liking
only includes intimacy. Infatuated love only includes passion. Empty
love only includes commitment. Romantic love includes both intimacy and
passion. Companionate love includes intimacy and commitment. Fatuous
love includes passion and commitment. lastly, consummate love includes
all three.
[24]American psychologist
Zick Rubin sought to define
love by
psychometrics in the 1970s. His work states that three factors constitute love: attachment, caring, and intimacy.
[25] [26]
Following developments in electrical theories such as
Coulomb's law,
which showed that positive and negative charges attract, analogs in
human life were developed, such as "opposites attract." Over the last
century, research on the nature of human mating has generally found this
not to be true when it comes to character and personality—people tend
to like people similar to themselves. However, in a few unusual and
specific domains, such as
immune systems,
it seems that humans prefer others who are unlike themselves (e.g.,
with an orthogonal immune system), since this will lead to a baby that
has the best of both worlds.
[27] In recent years, various
human bonding
theories have been developed, described in terms of attachments, ties,
bonds, and affinities. Some Western authorities disaggregate into two
main components, the altruistic and the narcissistic. This view is
represented in the works of
Scott Peck, whose work in the field of
applied psychology
explored the definitions of love and evil. Peck maintains that love is a
combination of the "concern for the spiritual growth of another," and
simple narcissism.
[28] In combination, love is an
activity, not simply a feeling.
Psychologist
Erich Fromm maintained in his book "
The art of loving"
that love is not merely a feeling but is also actions, and that in
fact, the "feeling" of love is superficial in comparison to ones
commitment to love via a series of loving actions over time.
[12]
In this sense, Fromm held that love is ultimately not a feeling at all,
but rather is a commitment to, and adherence to, loving actions towards
another, ones self, or many others, over a sustained duration.
[12]
Fromm also described Love as a conscious choice that in its early
stages might originate as an involuntary feeling, but which then later
no longer depends on those feelings, but rather depends only on
conscious commitment.
[12]
Evolutionary basis
Evolutionary psychology
has attempted to provide various reasons for love as a survival tool.
Humans are dependent on parental help for a large portion of their
lifespans comparative to other mammals. Love has therefore been seen as a
mechanism to promote parental support of children for this extended
time period. Another factor may be that
sexually transmitted diseases can cause, among other effects, permanently reduced
fertility, injury to the fetus, and increase complications during
childbirth. This would favor monogamous relationships over polygamy.
[29]
Comparison of scientific models
Biological models of love tend to see it as a mammalian drive, similar to
hunger or
thirst.
[20]
Psychology sees love as more of a social and cultural phenomenon. There
are probably elements of truth in both views. Certainly love is
influenced by
hormones (such as
oxytocin),
neurotrophins (such as
NGF), and
pheromones, and how people think and behave in love is influenced by their conceptions of love. The conventional view in
biology is that there are two major drives in love:
sexual attraction and
attachment.
Attachment between adults is presumed to work on the same principles
that lead an infant to become attached to its mother. The traditional
psychological view sees love as being a combination of
companionate love and passionate love. Passionate love is intense longing, and is often accompanied by
physiological arousal
(shortness of breath, rapid heart rate); companionate love is affection
and a feeling of intimacy not accompanied by physiological arousal.
Cultural views
Ancient Greek
Greek distinguishes
several different senses in which the word "love" is used. For example, Ancient Greek has the words
philia,
eros,
agape,
storge, and
xenia.
However, with Greek (as with many other languages), it has been
historically difficult to separate the meanings of these words totally.
At the same time, the Ancient Greek text of the
Bible has examples of the
verb agapo having the same meaning as
phileo.
Agape (
ἀγάπη agápē) means
love in modern-day Greek. The term
s'agapo means
I love you in Greek. The word
agapo is the verb
I love. It generally refers to a "pure,"
ideal type of love, rather than the physical attraction suggested by
eros. However, there are some examples of
agape used to mean the same as
eros. It has also been translated as "love of the soul."
Eros (
ἔρως érōs) (from the Greek deity
Eros) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Greek word
erota means
in love.
Plato
refined his own definition. Although eros is initially felt for a
person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty
within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. Eros
helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty and contributes to an
understanding of spiritual truth. Lovers and philosophers are all
inspired to seek truth by eros. Some translations list it as "love of
the body."
Philia (
φιλία philía), a dispassionate virtuous love, was a concept addressed and developed by
Aristotle.
[citation needed]
It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires
virtue, equality, and familiarity. Philia is motivated by practical
reasons; one or both of the parties benefit from the relationship. It
can also mean "love of the mind."
Storge (
στοργή storgē) is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring.
Xenia (ξενία
xenía), hospitality, was an extremely important practice in
Ancient Greece.
It was an almost ritualized friendship formed between a host and his
guest, who could previously have been strangers. The host fed and
provided quarters for the guest, who was expected to repay only with
gratitude. The importance of this can be seen throughout
Greek mythology—in particular,
Homer's Iliad and
Odyssey.
Ancient Roman (Latin)
The
Latin language has several different verbs corresponding to the English word "love."
amō is the basic verb meaning
I love, with the infinitive
amare (“to love”) as it still is in
Italian today. The Romans used it both in an affectionate sense as well as in a romantic or sexual sense. From this verb come
amans—a lover, amator, "professional lover," often with the accessory notion of lechery—and
amica, "girlfriend" in the English sense, often as well being applied euphemistically to a prostitute. The corresponding noun is
amor (the significance of this term for the Romans is well illustrated in the fact, that the name of the City,
Rome—in Latin:
Roma—can be viewed as an
anagram for
amor, which was used as the secret name of the City in wide circles in ancient times),
[30] which is also used in the plural form to indicate love affairs or sexual adventures. This same root also produces
amicus—"friend"—and
amicitia,
"friendship" (often based to mutual advantage, and corresponding
sometimes more closely to "indebtedness" or "influence"). Cicero wrote a
treatise called
On Friendship (
de Amicitia), which discusses the notion at some length. Ovid wrote a guide to dating called
Ars Amatoria (
The Art of Love), which addresses, in depth, everything from
extramarital affairs to overprotective parents.
Chinese and other Sinic cultures
"Ai," the traditional
Chinese character for love (愛) consists of a
heart
(middle) inside of "accept," "feel," or "perceive," which shows a
graceful emotion. It can also be interpreted as a hand offering ones
heart to another hand.
Two philosophical underpinnings of love exist in the Chinese tradition, one from
Confucianism which emphasized actions and duty while the other came from
Mohism which championed a universal love. A core concept to Confucianism is
Ren
("benevolent love", 仁), which focuses on duty, action and attitude in a
relationship rather than love itself. In Confucianism, one displays
benevolent love by performing actions such as filial piety from
children, kindness from parent, loyalty to the king and so forth.
The concept of
Ai (愛) was developed by the Chinese philosopher
Mozi
in the 4th century BC in reaction to Confucianism's benevolent love.
Mozi tried to replace what he considered to be the long-entrenched
Chinese over-attachment to family and clan structures with the concept
of "universal love" (
jiān'ài, 兼愛). In this, he argued directly
against Confucians who believed that it was natural and correct for
people to care about different people in different degrees. Mozi, by
contrast, believed people in principle should care for all people
equally. Mohism stressed that rather than adopting different attitudes
towards different people, love should be unconditional and offered to
everyone without regard to reciprocation, not just to friends, family
and other Confucian relations. Later in
Chinese Buddhism, the term
Ai (愛) was adopted to refer to a passionate caring love and was considered a fundamental desire. In Buddhism,
Ai was seen as capable of being either selfish or selfless, the latter being a key element towards enlightenment.
In contemporary Chinese,
Ai (愛) is often used as the equivalent of the Western concept of love.
Ai is used as both a verb (e.g.
wo ai ni 我愛你, or "I love you") and a noun (such as
aiqing 愛情, or "romantic love"). However, due to the influence of Confucian
Ren,
the phrase ‘Wo ai ni’ (I love you) carries with it a very specific
sense of responsibility, commitment and loyalty. Instead of frequently
saying "I love you" as in some Western societies, the Chinese are more
likely to express feelings of affection in a more casual way.
Consequently, "I like you" (
Wo xihuan ni, 我喜欢你) is a more common way of expressing affection in Chinese; it is more playful and less serious.
[31] This is also true in Japanese (
suki da,
好きだ). The Chinese are also more likely to say "I love you" in English
or other foreign languages than they would in their mother tongue.
Persian
Rumi,
Hafiz and
Sa'di are icons of the passion and love that the
Persian culture and language present. The Persian word for love is
eshgh[citation needed], derived from the Arabic
ishq,
however is considered by most to be too stalwart a term for
interpersonal love and is more commonly substituted for 'doost dashtan'
('liking')
[citation needed].
In the Persian culture, everything is encompassed by love and all is
for love, starting from loving friends and family, husbands and wives,
and eventually reaching the divine love that is the ultimate goal in
life. Over seven centuries ago, Sa'di wrote:
-
-
-
- The children of Adam are limbs of one body
- Having been created of one essence.
- When the calamity of time afflicts one limb
- The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
- If you have no sympathy for the troubles of others
- You are not worthy to be called by the name of "man."
Japanese
In
Japanese Buddhism,
ai
(愛) is passionate caring love, and a fundamental desire. It can develop
towards either selfishness or selflessness and enlightenment.
Amae (甘え), a Japanese word meaning "indulgent dependence," is part of the child-rearing
culture of Japan.
Japanese mothers are expected to hug and indulge their children, and
children are expected to reward their mothers by clinging and serving.
Some
sociologists have suggested that Japanese social interactions in later life are modeled on the mother-child amae.
Turkish (Shaman and Islamic)
In
Turkish,
the word "love" comes up with several meanings. A person can love a
god, a person, parents, or family. But that person can "love" just one
special person, which they call the word "aşk."
Aşk is a feeling for
to love,
or being "in love" (Aşık), as it still is in Turkish today. The Turks
used this word just for their loves in a romantic or sexual sense. If a
Turk says that he is in love (Aşık) with somebody, it is not a love that
a person can feel for his or her parents; it is just for one person,
and it indicates a huge infatuation. The word is also common for
Turkic languages, such as
Azerbaijani (eşq) and
Kazakh (ғашық).
Complicating the picture somewhat, Latin sometimes uses
amāre where English would simply say
to like. This notion, however, is much more generally expressed in Latin by
placere or
delectāre, which are used more colloquially, the latter used frequently in the love poetry of
Catullus.
Diligere
often has the notion "to be affectionate for," "to esteem," and rarely
if ever is used for romantic love. This word would be appropriate to
describe the friendship of two men. The corresponding noun
diligentia, however, has the meaning of "diligence" or "carefulness," and has little semantic overlap with the verb.
Observare is a synonym for
diligere; despite the cognate with English, this verb and its corresponding noun,
observantia, often denote "esteem" or "affection."
Caritas
is used in Latin translations of the Christian Bible to mean
"charitable love"; this meaning, however, is not found in Classical
pagan
Roman literature. As it arises from a conflation with a Greek word, there is no corresponding verb.
Religious views
Abrahamic religions
Christianity
The Christian understanding is that love comes from God. The love of man and woman—
eros in Greek—and the unselfish love of others (
agape), are often contrasted as "ascending" and "descending" love, respectively, but are ultimately the same thing.
[32]
There are several Greek words for "love" that are regularly referred to in Christian circles.
- Agape: In the New Testament, agapē
is charitable, selfless, altruistic, and unconditional. It is parental
love, seen as creating goodness in the world; it is the way God is seen to love humanity, and it is seen as the kind of love that Christians aspire to have for one another.
- Phileo: Also used in the New Testament, phileo is a human response to something that is found to be delightful. Also known as "brotherly love."
- Two other words for love in the Greek language, eros (sexual love) and storge (child-to-parent love), were never used in the New Testament.
Christians believe that to
Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and
Love your neighbor as yourself are the two most important things in life (the
greatest commandment of the Jewish
Torah, according to
Jesus; cf.
Gospel of Mark chapter 12, verses 28–34).
Saint Augustine summarized this when he wrote "
Love God, and do as thou wilt."
Sacred Love Versus Profane Love (1602–03) by
Giovanni Baglione. Intended as an attack on his hated enemy the artist
Caravaggio,
it shows a boy (hinting at Caravaggio's homosexuality) on one side, a
devil with Caravaggio's face on the other, and between an angel
representing pure, meaning non-erotic, love.
The Apostle Paul glorified love as the most important virtue of all. Describing love in the famous poem in
1 Corinthians,
he wrote, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not
boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is
not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight
in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, and always perseveres." (
1 Cor. 13:4–7,
NIV)
The Apostle John wrote,
"For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him." (
John 3:16–17, NIV) John also wrote,
"Dear
friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who
loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not
know God, because God is love." (
1 John 4:7–8, NIV)
Saint Augustine says that one must be able to decipher the difference
between love and lust. Lust, according to Saint Augustine, is an
overindulgence, but to love and be loved is what he has sought for his
entire life. He even says,
“I was in love with love.” Finally, he
does fall in love and is loved back, by God. Saint Augustine says the
only one who can love you truly and fully is God, because love with a
human only allows for flaws such as
“jealousy, suspicion, fear, anger, and contention.” According to Saint Augustine, to love God is
“to attain the peace which is yours.” (Saint Augustine's Confessions)
Christian
theologians
see God as the source of love, which is mirrored in humans and their
own loving relationships. Influential Christian theologian
C.S. Lewis wrote a book called
The Four Loves.
Benedict XVI wrote his first
encyclical on "
God is love".
He said that a human being, created in the image of God, who is love,
is able to practice love; to give himself to God and others (
agape)
and by receiving and experiencing God's love in contemplation (eros).
This life of love, according to him, is the life of the saints such as
Teresa of Calcutta and the
Blessed Virgin Mary and is the direction Christians take when they believe that God loves them.
[32]
In Christianity the practical definition of love is best summarised by
St. Thomas Aquinas, who defined love as "to will the good of another," or to desire for another to succeed.
[10]
This is the explanation of the Christian need to love others, including
their enemies. As Thomas Aquinas explains, Christian love is motivated
by the need to see others succeed in life, to be good people.
Judaism
In
Hebrew,
Ahava is the most commonly used term for both interpersonal love and love between God and God's creations.
Chesed, often translated as
loving-kindness, is used to describe many forms of love between human beings.
The commandment to love other people is given in the
Torah, which states, "Love your neighbor like yourself" (
Leviticus 19:18). The Torah's commandment to love
God "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might" (
Deuteronomy 6:5) is taken by the
Mishnah (a central text of the Jewish
oral law)
to refer to good deeds, willingness to sacrifice one's life rather than
commit certain serious transgressions, willingness to sacrifice all of
one's possessions, and being grateful to the Lord despite adversity
(tractate Berachoth 9:5).
Rabbinic literature
differs as to how this love can be developed, e.g., by contemplating
divine deeds or witnessing the marvels of nature. As for love between
marital partners, this is deemed an essential ingredient to life: "See
life with the wife you love" (
Ecclesiastes 9:9). The biblical book
Song of Solomon is considered a romantically phrased metaphor of love between
God and his people, but in its plain reading, reads like a love song. The 20th-century
Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler is frequently quoted as defining love from the Jewish point of view as "giving without expecting to take" (from his
Michtav me-Eliyahu, Vol. 1).
Islam
Love encompasses the Islamic view of life as universal brotherhood
that applies to all who hold faith. Amongst the 99 names of God (
Allah), there is the name
Al-Wadud, or "the Loving One," which is found in Surah
[Quran 11:90] as well as Surah
[Quran 85:14]. God is also referenced at the beginning of every chapter in the Qur'an as
Ar-Rahman and
Ar-Rahim,
or the "Most Compassionate" and the "Most Merciful", indicating that
nobody is more loving, compassionate and benevolent than God. The Qur'an
refers to God as being "full of loving kindness."
The Qur'an exhorts Muslim believers to treat all people, those who have not persecuted them, with
birr or "deep kindness" as stated in Surah
[Quran 6:8-9].
Birr is also used by the Qur'an in describing the love and kindness that children must show to their parents.
Ishq, or divine love, is the emphasis of
Sufism
in the Islamic tradition. Practitioners of Sufism believe that love is a
projection of the essence of God to the universe. God desires to
recognize beauty, and as if one looks at a mirror to see oneself, God
"looks" at himself within the dynamics of nature. Since everything is a
reflection of God, the school of Sufism practices to see the beauty
inside the apparently ugly. Sufism is often referred to as the religion
of love.
[citation needed]
God in Sufism is referred to in three main terms, which are the Lover,
Loved, and Beloved, with the last of these terms being often seen in
Sufi poetry. A common viewpoint of Sufism is that through love,
humankind can get back to its inherent purity and grace. The saints of
Sufism are infamous for being "drunk" due to their love of God; hence,
the constant reference to wine in Sufi poetry and music.
[33]
Eastern religions
Buddhism
In
Buddhism,
Kāma is sensuous, sexual love. It is an obstacle on the path to
enlightenment, since it is selfish.
Karuṇā
is compassion and mercy, which reduces the suffering of others. It is
complementary to wisdom and is necessary for enlightenment.
Adveṣa and
mettā
are benevolent love. This love is unconditional and requires
considerable self-acceptance. This is quite different from ordinary
love, which is usually about attachment and sex and which rarely occurs
without self-interest. Instead, in Buddhism it refers to detachment and
unselfish interest in others' welfare.
The
Bodhisattva
ideal in Mahayana Buddhism involves the complete renunciation of
oneself in order to take on the burden of a suffering world. The
strongest motivation one has in order to take the path of the
Bodhisattva is the idea of salvation within unselfish, altruistic love
for all sentient beings.
Hinduism
In
Hinduism,
kāma is pleasurable, sexual love, personified by the god
Kamadeva. For many Hindu schools, it is the third end (
Kama) in life. Kamadeva is often pictured holding a bow of
sugar cane and an arrow of flowers; he may ride upon a great parrot. He is usually accompanied by his consort
Rati
and his companion Vasanta, lord of the spring season. Stone images of
Kamadeva and Rati can be seen on the door of the Chennakeshava temple at
Belur, in
Karnataka,
India.
Maara is another name for
kāma.
In contrast to
kāma,
prema – or
prem – refers to elevated love.
Karuna is compassion and mercy, which impels one to help reduce the suffering of others.
Bhakti is a
Sanskrit term, meaning "loving devotion to the supreme God." A person who practices
bhakti is called a
bhakta. Hindu writers, theologians, and philosophers have distinguished nine forms of
bhakti, which can be found in the
Bhagavata Purana and works by
Tulsidas. The philosophical work
Narada Bhakti Sutras, written by an unknown author (presumed to be
Narada), distinguishes eleven forms of love.
In certain Vaishnava sects within Hinduism, attaining unaldulterated,
unconditional and incessant love for Godhead is considered the foremost
goal of life. Gaudiya Vaishnavas who worship Krishna as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead and the cause of all causes consider Love for
Godhead (Prema) to act in two ways: sambhoga and vipralambha (union and
separation) — two opposites .
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In the condition of separation, there is an acute yearning for being
with the beloved and in the condition of union there is supreme
happiness and nectarean. Gaudiya Vaishnavas consider that Krishna-prema
(Love for Godhead) is not fire but that it still burns away one's
material desires. They consider that Kṛṣṇa-prema is not a weapon, but it
still pierces the heart. It is not water, but it washes away everything
— one's pride, religious rules, and one's shyness. Krishna-prema is
considered to make one drown in the ocean of transcendental ecstasy and
pleasure. The love of Radha, a cowherd girl, for Krishna is often cited
as the supreme example of love for Godhead by Gaudiya Vaishnavas. Radha
is considered to be the internal potency of Krishna, and is the supreme
lover of Godhead. Her example of love is considered to be beyond the
understanding of material realm as it surpasses any form of selfish love
or lust that is visibile in the material world. The reciprocal love
between Radha (the supreme lover) and Krishna (God as the Supremely
Loved) is the subject of many poetic compositions in India such as the
Gita Govinda and Hari Bhakti Shuddhodhaya.
In the Bhakti tradition within Hinduism, it is believed that
execution of devotional service to God leads to the development of Love
for God (taiche bhakti-phale krsne prema upajaya), and as love for God
increases in the heart, the more one becomes free from material
contamination (krishna-prema asvada haile, bhava nasa paya). Being
perfectly in love with God or Krishna makes one perfectly free from
material contamination. and this is the ultimate way of salvation or
liberation. In this tradition, salvation or liberation is considered
inferior to love, and just an incidental by-product. Being absorbed in
Love for God is considered to be the perfection of life.
[35]
WIKIPEDIA
References
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- ^ Merriam Webster Dictionary
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- ^ a b Winston, Robert (2004). Human. Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-03-093780-9.
- ^ Emanuele, E.; Polliti, P.; Bianchi, M.; Minoretti, P.; Bertona, M.; & Geroldi, D (2005). "Raised plasma nerve growth factor levels associated with early-stage romantic love". Psychoneuroendocrinology Sept. 05.
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- ^ Peck, Scott (1978). The Road Less Traveled. Simon & Schuster. p. 169. ISBN 0-671-25067-1.
- ^ The
Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, edited by David M. Buss, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005. Chapter 14, Commitment, Love, and Mate
Retention by Lorne Campbell and Bruce J. Ellis.
- ^ Thomas Köves-Zulauf, Reden und Schweigen, Munich, 1972.
- ^ JFK Miller, "Why the Chinese Don't Say I Love You"
- ^ a b Pope Benedict XVI. "papal encyclical, Deus Caritas Est.".
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