(From an exchange in internet)
My position, as I wrote to S.: We are love and the product of love, no? Traditional Advaita Vedanta talks of desire as the root cause of existence, but, in the end, it is the same thing: the happiness that we are and think we lack, or have lost. I take Love to be the same as Beauty … and reality: sat-chit-ananda. The Infinite loves Itself in us and through us, as God loves the creature unconditionally.
‘God is beautiful and He loves beauty’. This is from the Koran
Sometime ago I wrote:
‘Beauty is not separable, cannot be abstracted, from Being or from Truth. The true poet aims at that splendor, that reality, and that love which unites the two. That is why poetry is a divine art, a gift from the gods’… Also, ‘Three aspects give unity to a piece of poetry: Satyam (truth), Sundaram (beauty), and Sivam (goodness or auspiciousness)’ – R. may correct me here.
On the other hand – and I find no fault with it –
‘Love of God has never taken any prominent place in the Upanishadic method of practice, although a few mentions occasionally come in spite of the statement that “it is not for the sake of the husband, my beloved, that the husband is dear, but for the sake of the Self (or, one’s own sake –different trans.). It is not for the sake of the wife, my beloved, that the wife is dear, but for the sake of the Self. It is not for the sake of children…(etc.). The Self, my dear Maitreyi, is to be realized, heard about, reflected upon, and meditated upon. By knowing the Self, my beloved, through hearing, reflection, and meditation, one comes to know all things”. (Brihadaryanika Upanishad, 4.5.6). Love of Brahman or God has never been a pushing factor in the advancement of the aspirant in the way of the goal. Advice has been given to “listen, contemplate, and meditate” (ibid). Knowledge, rather than love, has been proclaimed as the means of liberation. The true knowledge followed by realization of one’s own self is the only way to freedom.’ See below.
(I just got this book: ‘Mysticism and the Upanishads’, by Dr. Indulata Dass). Regards,
Unanimous Tradition / Tradición Unánime 