Maq Masi Blog

What does it mean to love — not merely to be stirred by another, but to be wholly transformed by something that dissolves the self? In India’s vast spiritual and literary inheritance, love appears in many guises: as tender devotion, mischievous play, fearless surrender, or a secret alchemy meant to strip away ego. From Krishna’s moonlit dances and Mirabai’s aching hymns, to Kabir’s radical simplicity, Mahavira’s quiet compassion, Buddha’s boundless kindness, and the daring experiments of tantra, love was never a small, private affair. It was a passage to the deepest truths.

Krishna’s playful love: the sweet paradox

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa describes Krishna adorned in gold, dancing with the gopis under the night sky. Each girl believes he belongs to her alone, yet he dances with them all — a delicate paradox at the heart of divine love.

Tāḥ kāñcanaṅgaḥ kāñcī kaṭiṭaṭa paṭṭaś ca kāñcanaṅgaḥ

Kūrmo ’pi kāntaḥ śrīmat karatala kamalaḥ kamala pāṅgaḥ

(Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.33.6)

“Clad in golden ornaments, his waist bound by a jewelled belt,

hands like lotuses, glances soft as blooms — Krishna played among them all.”

In this love, individuality is not erased but cherished, even as it melts into a larger unity. Each soul feels uniquely held, yet is part of a dance that transcends all ownership.

Mirabai’s fierce surrender: love over lineage

Mirabai, a Rajput princess turned mystic, left behind family honour to wander barefoot, singing to Krishna. Her devotion was raw, unembarrassed, heedless of caste or gender roles.

Main to sāmīñ ke rang rāṅgī,

maile chītar dūjā nahīñ.

“I am dyed in my Lord’s colour;

no other stain can touch me.”

For Mira, love was total absorption. It washed away every other allegiance. In her, we see love as liberation — refusing to bow to inherited hierarchies, proclaiming that spiritual longing matters more than earthly status.

Kabir’s path of love: narrow as a razor’s edge

Kabir, the weaver of Kashi, startled both Hindus and Muslims by saying that love alone was the true scripture. All else, he warned, was clutter.

Prem galī ati sānkarī, tāme do na samāī

Jab main thā tab Hari nahī, ab Hari hai main nāhī.

“The path of love is so narrow, two cannot walk it side by side.

When I was, God was not. Now God is, and I am no more.”

His couplets show love as an obliteration of the self — a radical undoing of ego that makes space for something vast and tender.

Mahavira’s non-violent love: compassion beyond attachment

Mahavira, the Jain Tirthankara, saw love not as fiery devotion but as ahiṃsā — a deep reverence for all life, free of violence or possessiveness.

Na hi verena verāni, sammantīdha kudācanaṃ

Averena ca sammanti, esa dhammo sanantano

(Ācārāṅga Sūtra, echoing a timeless principle)

“Hatred never ends through hatred; it ends through non-hatred alone.

This is the eternal law.”

Here love is gentle, ethical, refusing harm in thought, word, or deed. It recognises every soul as equally precious, dissolving hierarchies not through ecstatic surrender but through quiet respect.

Buddha’s universal love: loving-kindness without borders

The Buddha taught mettā, a love that flows outward without clinging, wishing happiness and peace for all beings.

Mettāṃ ca sabba-lokasmi, manasā bhāvaye aparimāṇaṃ

Uddhaṃ adho ca tiriyaṃ, asamādānaṃ averaṃ asapattaṃ

(Metta Sutta, Sutta Nipāta 1.8)

“With a boundless mind, let one cultivate loving-kindness for all the world,

above, below, across, without obstruction, free from hatred or rivalry.”

This is love unbound by personal desire — an embrace of all existence, echoing the Upanishadic sense of a shared essence.

The Upanishads: love as luminous seeing

In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, love takes yet another form: a still, contemplative knowing that behind our many masks lies a single self.

Ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ śrotavyo mantavyo nididhyāsitavyaḥ

“The Self must be seen, heard, reflected upon, and deeply meditated on.”

This is love not as passion but as profound recognition, an insight that sees no division between ‘I’ and ‘you.’

Tantra: love as sacred alchemy

Tantra, meanwhile, startled many by turning love — even sexual love — into a means of transcendence. In its boldest forms, it treated union as a rite to break free from the ordinary mind.

Śivāya gurave namaḥ,

Śaktaye gurave namaḥ,

Advaitāya gurave namaḥ

“Salutations to the Guru who is Śiva,

salutations to the Guru who is Śakti,

salutations to the Guru who is non-dual.”

Here, the interplay of Śiva (consciousness) and Śakti (energy) becomes a living metaphor. Tantra challenges us to see love not as base desire, but as a sacred power that can dissolve the illusion of separateness.

The Kāma Sūtra: love as life’s art

Even the much-misunderstood Kāma Sūtra treated love with seriousness, seeing it as one of life’s four pillars alongside duty, prosperity, and liberation. Here, love was not mystical or ethical, but a graceful art that, when rightly lived, brought balance and joy.

So why does love matter across all these traditions?

Because love — whether through Krishna’s playful dance, Mirabai’s fearless songs, Kabir’s stark renunciation, Mahavira’s gentle respect, Buddha’s boundless goodwill, or tantra’s audacious merging — always undoes us. It refuses to let us stand apart. It asks us to shed ego, pride, and small certainties, to stand vulnerable and open. In doing so, love becomes life’s most profound lesson: that only by letting ourselves be touched by another — by God, by a fellow soul, by all living beings — do we glimpse what is truly infinite.

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Short philosophical close

Prem yahan sirf bhavna nahi —

yeh ek kala hai apne aap ko mitane ki.

Chaahe pyaas ho, milan ho, daya ho ya karuna —

sirf khud ko dekar hi insaan anant ko chhoo paata hai.

Love here was never just feeling —

it was a subtle art of dissolving the self.

Whether through longing, union, compassion or quiet kindness,

only by giving ourselves away

do we touch what is truly infinite.

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