Today’s world is characterised by speed and nuclear families. Even young children seem to be in a hurry. The extended families of the past are like a dream today. We live in a world that believes, “Money is everything. Without money, life is a big zero.” People everywhere are rushing to make money. This mania for money-making is the reason behind the disappearance of extended families, and the love and unity that were integral to such families. Without doubt, money is necessary, but it shouldn’t become the central point of life.
Today, the lives of most people revolve around money. This is dangerous, and this situation must change. Love must always remain the central point of life. This change is especially necessary in today’s harried world.
In the old days, there used to be joint families in which 10-12 families lived together. There would be 50 or even more members in such families. If something bad happened to any one of them, all the others would help, without thinking about whether the person was one’s younger brother, brother-in-law, sister-in-law or aunt. This solidarity was their strength. Each member of such families had, not one heart, two eyes and two hands.
The hearts of all members would beat for each member of the family. The eyes of all would see and shed tears for everyone. The ears of each would listen to everyone.
And the hands of each person would labour for all. And today? Due to lack of love, human beings are no longer able to open their hearts to cry or laugh. One has become isolated even in one’s own home.
You asked if expansive love is practical. One would have to concede that this is not possible for everyone. Never mind expansive love. Let us first learn to regard with our own parents, relatives and friends, the beggar who comes for alms to our doorstep, and our own country and it’s samskara (cultural values). If we can do so sincerely, expansiveness will arise of its own accord.
People go abroad to carry out research. Science is advancing by the day. Information technology has made possible what was once undreamt of. Does it then make any sense to ask if expansiveness and love, which are of utmost relevance to life, are practical? People are born and live for love, and yet, the greatest poverty today is of love. Love unites all beings on a single thread. Without love, there is no life.
The writer is a world-renowned spiritual leader