Love--this word love we hear from everybody. But what is love? God is love, our soul is the same essence as that of God. We are also love personified. Love is innate in our soul. It radiates and should come in contact with the Overself, called God or Paramatma. Instead of contacting our soul with God, we have contacted it with ensouled bodies, and this is called attachment. Love is that which overflows within and you forget yourself. This is a criterion to differentiate love from attachment. This love is spoken of in scriptures. So as a rule, our soul should love God. God resides in every heart. He is the Controlling Power within us. If our soul is liberated from mind, matter and outgoing faculties, it will go up to the very source from which it emanated. If you light a candle, the flame will go up. If you turn the candle upside down even then the flame will go up. So the love of the soul should go up to the Overself. If it remains attached to the body and outgoing faculties, that is no love, that is attachment. This is the difference between the two.

    To love God, whom you have not seen, is not possible unless you go up to His level. So if while remaining in the body, you would like to love God, then what do you have to do? You must rise above body consciousness or come into contact with somebody in whom that God Power is manifest, whose soul overflows with love and intoxication. You should always look into the eyes of the Master. Eyes are the windows of the soul. In whatever color a soul is imbued, that very radiation will affect us. If a soul is imbued with the love and intoxication of God, you will become receptive to that soul through the eyes. Then you will have a boost, you will forget your body. If love keeps you in the body, attached to the body, that is no love, but is called attachment. This is the very fine difference between the two.

    The soul is of the same essence as that of God, a drop of the Ocean of all Consciousness. We are all brothers and sisters in God. That very Controlling Power resides in every heart. If you look from that level, then there is no attachment. I was just relating a story of one instance when God met Moses and told him, "Well look here, I was very much down with fever, I was very sick, lying in bed, and you did not care for me." Moses asked, "God, how can you be sick?" "Yes, I was sick. That man who loved me, you never went to inquire about his needs. Had you loved me, you would have served him. Love knows service and sacrifice and I would have been served." God resides in every heart, you see. What we now call love is no love but is attachment, and is due to having selfish motives, or to the outgoing faculties which drag you to outer things and keep you in the body.

    When you love God, you can have a boost by coming in contact with the soul of somebody who is imbued with the love of God. That love will drag you up. You will forget your body and environments. The Masters say, "Whenever I see the Master, I forget all about the intellect, the body and its environments". Any love which you call love but which keeps you in the body is no love but is attachment. When you look into the eyes of somebody who drags you up and helps you to forget your body, that is a criterion of what love is. That is why I always advise, "Don't look into the eyes of others except the Master's". This is the way in which lust attacks us. We are attacked by lust through the eyes. If you look into the eyes of others who are imbued with lust or other lower things, you will have the same effect by radiation. Look only into the eyes of a God manifested man and you will be benefited. I remember an incident in the Ramayana in which Sita was abducted by Ravana. So while she was being carried away, her ornaments fell down to the ground. When Rama went in search of his wife and found her ornaments, Rama asked his younger brother Laxman (who was also with him), if he recognized them as belonging to his sister-in-law. Laxman replied that he could recognize those ornaments only which were worn on her feet, not on her head. Just see the highest criterion of morality! He could recognize only the ornaments which the wife of Rama wore on her feet. From this we can draw some lesson. Always look to the feet of others and you will never be attacked by lower impulses. If at all you have to look into somebody's eyes, look into the eyes of the Master, which are imbued with the love of God, otherwise you will go down. If you look into His eyes and forget everything else, that is love. If you are attached to the body, there is a danger of falling down. I am giving you a very fine difference, which is not given in the books.

    So love is within you and when it is concentrated, it overflows. When it comes in contact with the Overself or God, It overflows still further. Just like a pipe in which there are so many holes, the water flowing through will ooze out drop by drop. If you close all the holes except one, then the water will shoot forth. Our soul is now under the control of mind and our love is distributed in so many ways. In our bodies, to our children, to our money, to name and fame. If you withdraw your attention from all outside things and direct it to the one way out, which is at the door lying at the back of the eyes, called the Tenth Door, or come in contact by concentration with the soul of somebody imbued with the love of God, you will have a boost. This is love and you can always use this criterion to find out where you stand. Love of God, who resides in every heart, is what is needed. His essence is there already and He is the Controlling Power with love for all humanity. If you do everything for the sake of that love, there will be no attachment. When you look into the faces of others you will go up, forget the world. Now when you look at them, you become attached. That is no love. Love does not come as a result of eating and drinking, it is already innate in your soul. If you concentrate yourself, that love will overflow. These are very delicate points, which are not touched upon in detail in the books. So always avoid looking into the eyes of others. If at all you have to look into somebody's eyes, look only into the eyes of the Master. That will save you from any hazards.

    You come to the Satsang for the sake of the Master, not for others. This is a practical school, I tell you, in which you can have these things. They can only be had when you come in contact direct with the soul through which they emanate. His soul is imbued with the love of God and, naturally, you will get colored with that love. You will have that intoxication. So love is love, by having which, you forget your body and outward enjoyments. Just like the flame of a candle, your soul when contacting the soul of those imbued with the love of God, will get a boost. Emerson said that when I look at people, I see God shining through their eyes. You should see from that level, not from the level of the outgoing faculties or the body. Through love only can we know God. Those who do not know love, cannot know God. This is what is meant by love, but we take attachment for love. Attachment is no love, it is a misfit love. The love of a conscious entity should come in contact with an all conscious God. If you have such a love, even in your outward penances or methods of worship, then you are saved. Otherwise, you are stuck fast.

    So love God and as God resides in every heart, love all for the sake of the soul and the Controlling Power that keeps the soul in the body, not the body itself. Then you are saved. If you serve others from the same level, then that is the service of God. All Masters say this. The Tenth Guru said "Understand ye all, whether you belong to one religion or the other, those who have true love, they alone can know God". God is love, and through love alone can you know God. This is a very delicate point and though it is touched upon in the books it is not given in detail. Now you can judge daily from your own level, whether you really have love. Such love will give you love for all, but not attachment. This love overflows when you come in contact with some soul who is inebriated, I would say, with the love of God. This love won't lead you into attachment of the body, but will make you forget the body.