Eastern Equivalent for Love

No. The of course, there are words for love like prem or sneha. But what is very important actually, first of all, in both of these teachings, also Christian teachings, as well as the Indian teachings, that it is much more important that I am loved by Krishna or by Christ. Than that I love Christ or or Krishna. Simply because when I say I love Christ or I love Krishna, I strictly speaking don't really know what Christ is.

And it is almost definitely driven by, oh, sure. If I love Christ, maybe I'll get to heaven. So very strong emphasis, especially emphasized in the gospel of John, and on the one side and the other side in the bag with Gita, Christ repeatedly actually said, if you love me, you will obey my commandments, then I will love you. As the father loves me. And he rarely actually said that I love god.

Only one possible exception, but even there, it is in the context of obeying god. He always actually refers to I obey god. And so very strong emphasis by Christ, similarly in a slightly different phraseology by by Krishna, that if you claim to love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will love you. And Christ actually says, then I will come and dwell in you as the father dwells in me.

This is a direct quote from gospel of John. So the notion of love now specifically coming back to the indian tradition here is really again and again when they describe, for example, I should take a slight footnote here. In the first letter of John in the Bible, I'm quoting this remark. God is love, which is quite different from saying God is loving. It's the very structure of god is love.

So in that context, if Christ is one with god, which is therefore naturally means that his one with love, love is naturally exuding out of him. Whereas, generally speaking, in the Indian tradition, whenever any description is given of brahma, after having said many times that it can't be described. But then the description usually means Satjet Ananda, truth, consciousness, delight. And therefore, the emphasis is slightly differently expressed. For example, Riabindo, who was one of our great modern stages in India, makes this remark, which I am very much drawn to personally. That's why I'm mentioning it now.

It says, delight created the universe for delight. So, therefore, the sense there in the Indian context is not so much emphasis on love as unconsciousness. Or truth or joy. Another word that is used is Ananda, as I just mentioned here. So in a way, because of the whole cultural background, different emphasis gets placed.

And love from the perspective of the Indian tradition ends up being one to one individuality, which is ultimately the one they wish to be free of. So Whereas in the, of course, in the western context or in the Abrahammic contact, individuality is the main focus. Therefore, there is no need to be free of that.