Raksha Bandhan is the affirmation of love between siblings. Originally observed among martial races of north India, the festival has assumed a pan-Indian character and is now celebrated not only all over the country but also in many other countries. Rakhi is a talisman tied by a sister on the wrist of her brother and has come to symbolize protective bonding of love. Love is said to be the longing of soul for soul. God, full of love, is the ocean of kindness. The human body embodies the essence of God. Sat Chit Anand, accrued from meditation, allows us to glimpse Brahmn which is unparalleled bliss. The love between mother and child, lovers, friends or siblings is a reflection of Divine love. If we go in philosophical root of love, the influential thinkers of the worlds like Freud and Jung, give their views about love. The basic purpose of life is to become one with God, who is love personified. What better way to do this than to first express your love for fellow human beings? And the family is a good place to start. Love, when its scope is enlarged to include the Divine, transports one to Supreme Consciousness. The path of Bhakti or devotion brings us closer to God and enables us to even become one with Him. Unlike jnana or karma margs, the routes taken by intellectuals and men of action, Bhakti is easy to practice. Unconditional love leads to God. The only requirement is to develop longing for Him. God reveals Himself to the bhakta in stages, depending on the intensity of efforts and longing for Him. The lives of saints bear this out. Even the illiterate or those uninitiated by a guru can scale the heights of spiritual glory with unconditional love. No obstacle can deflect the devoted from their chosen ideal. But the path of devotion is not easy. Stories of With inputs from speaking tree and sacred space.

saints bear testimony to this. Krishna intoxicated Meera was harassed and ostracized by her family and friends on grounds that she was neglecting her domestic responsibilities. Kabir’s doubtful parentage stood in the way of his acceptance by others. Vilvamangal suffered till a prostitute’s jibe turned him inward, away from the carnal pleasures that had enslaved him. Jnaneshwar’s parents ended their lives, unable to fend for their children. Chaitanya was censured by the Sultan’s officers for the supposed public nuisance caused by his kirtans. The boundless passion of the gopis for Krishna — often misinterpreted as being libidinous in nature — is nothing but pure Bhakti. Swami Prabhupada explained that the “Love of Krishna or Krishna consciousness is the perfect ional stage of real knowledge in understanding things as they are.. The gopis are the typical example of this perfection stage of knowledge. They are not simple mental speculators. Their minds are always in Krishna... Since the gopis are on the platform of pure transcendental knowledge, their minds are always filled with Krishna consciousness... Unless the so-called man of knowledge comes to the platform of Bhakti, his knowledge is certainly impure and imperfect”. The Gopis teach us how to be perfect devotees. Their route to godhead is one of unconditional love and utter devotion. Raksha Bandhan glorifies filial bonding of love that can be extrapolated to include everything in the universe. Ultimately, love is God.