715. Love at First Sight – II

The love of Romeo and Juliet was consummated in death, but as far as their souls were concerned, each had its fill. In the wider scheme of life, it is possible that someone whose flame arises from such depths mistakenly bestows it on another who is not of that caste, but is mundane. Then it becomes a tragedy, but as far as the one in love is concerned, it is alive, though incapable of fulfilment. Dante wrote ‘The Divine Comedy' in Italian because he lost Beatrice whom he thus loved. His love might not have been consummated, but ‘The Divine Comedy' became immortal literature. It also happens when the other person is not capable of equally great intensity of aspiration. Sometimes the tragedy is institutionalised by their marriage - one consumed by the flame of love, the other oblivious of it and lost in the affluence of the household. Whether there is a remedy for such tragedies is a valid question in modern times. Such a remedy can be suggested in a full-length book or a long article that describes its various aspects.

There is a spiritual principle that nothing occurs without the sanction of Jivatma and Paramatma. In two people meeting for a split second and falling in love with each other such a sanction is there. As the sanction of Jivatma is there, it rises from the very depths. The sanction of Paramatma comes to him as another person of similar aspiration. Therefore, it completes itself. Shakespeare wrote his masterpieces in tragedy because life four centuries ago was dark, cruel and evil. Pure Love could still find its purest expression in two people and be fulfilled after a fashion. It is so because Love is ever-present. As the days were dark, it could not live longer. That was one reason why his Hamlet had to be a tragedy.

Men who are ardently in love are pleased to tell themselves that their love is divine. Sri Aurobindo says divine love is the love for the Divine, not directed to a human being. Of course, one's love springing from the depths of the divinity in him can be directed to the divine in the other. In that case, it becomes an impersonal love, as our respect for law. An impersonal love, exalted though it is, can acquire a personal definition and survive between two persons.  Should it be there, it makes heaven on earth. It is theoretically possible and its earthly possibility is endorsed by the heights of yogic intensity. Life spreads out through rural and urban living, insists on its presence in industrial production, longs to express itself in military exploits, loves to seek various versions in campus life. In all these places, it endeavours to flower as Love. (contd.)