As a psychotherapist, I once marveled at the fact that people would marry multiple times, even after many failed marriages. Then I realized that as a species we are incapable of giving up on love. We are made for the experience of love, and we thrive only to the extent we are in the flow of love. No wonder Jesus defines true spirituality as living a life of love. What is love? Yogananda gave us the simple but profound answer “God is love.”
To state that God is love is to acknowledge that love is the preeminent force within creation. Love is the divine energy that gives and sustains life, that gives birth to all that is true, beautiful, and good; love directs our lives toward our highest and most evolutionary fulfillment. Still further, love is the force that unites people in bonds of joy, creativity, and cooperation. Love is the impulse that heals what is broken and restores to us our God-given dignity. We are human only to the extent that we love.
Growing our capacity for love is not always easy, but it is simple. Yogananda tells us, “Desire the good.“ In any and all circumstances, we must look for the good, acknowledge it, and seek to serve it. In times and situations where goodness appears to be absent, we must prayerfully infuse our imagination, resolve, and actions with visions of goodness. Never doubt that when we are in communion with God, our capacity to beget goodness is unlimited. Goodness always serves the highest good of individuals, families, and the world, and authentic love will always bear the fruit of goodness.
Still deeper, Yogananda gives us the ultimate secret to being an instrument of God’s love: “Always seek in meditation the sweet nectar of the presence of God.” God is the very essence of bliss because love is God, and the bliss of love is what we are seeking in all of our desires. When we surrender our hearts to God and guru, the infinite ocean of God’s love overflows into our hearts. Then, serving the highest good of others becomes an effortless way of life, as natural as breathing.
Divine Mother,
In all circumstances,
Help me to look for the good,
Acknowledge it, and seek to serve it.
Especially when I look into
The eyes of my brothers and sisters.
