LOVE ONE ANOTHER

I was very much inspired by a story which I read in one of the Kannada weekly. The story goes like this. Once a sage went to heaven. He was very delighted to be in heaven. He had heard and preached many things about heaven and hell. Now he was very curious to know what the Heaven and hell all about. So he requested the Angel who was accompanying him to tell the difference between heaven and hell.

Realizing the curiosity of the sage Angel took him to a huge hall. He was surprised to see a huge round table and thousands of people sitting at the table looking miserable and fighting for a delicious soup which was kept in the center of the table. Each one had a long spoon which could reach the soup container but they could not drink the soup because the spoons were very long. They were fighting with each other to reach the soup container. They were using the spoon to fight with each other. The angel told the sage this is HELL.

The sage was very curious to go to heaven and see the condition there. The angel took him to another hall. As soon as he opened the door he heard loud laughter and people were enjoying there. To his surprised there was a similar set up as it was in hell. Same round table, thousands of people sitting at the table, same delicious soup container in the center of the table, long spoons in the hands of those seated at the table. The only difference he found was that the long spoons were used not for fighting but for feeding each other. The angel told the sage this is HEAVEN.

The sage realized that the hell and heaven are not the reality that we encounter after our death but it is we who can create by our love for each other or through our selfishness.

Mt 22: 36 and the following we see read “which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depends all the law and the prophets.” Jesus summarizes the Ten Commandments with these 2 commandments. When we analyze the 10 commandments we see that first 4 commandments tell us how to deal with God and the 5^th speaks of Parents and remaining 5 deals with our relationship with our neighbor.

It is not only Bible which speaks of love for the neighbor even other religious texts too speak about it. Bhagavat githa 6:32 says “When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his/her own he/she has attained the highest state of spiritual union.” When we vibrate with the joys and sorrows of others we can be another Christ in this world, here and now.

Father of our nation M.K. Gandhi once said “where there is love there is Life, hatred leads to destruction.” This he speaks out of his own experience, where in he realized that Ahimsa is the better way to combat himsa in this world. He had followed the path of Jesus in his freedom struggle.

It is not only Christians but every religion of this universe speaks of this divine aspect of Love.

With love we can achieve many things we can make this earth a Heaven. So let us strive towards this goal of making this earth a heavenly abode.

By Deacon. Rohan D’Almeida S.J.