MYTHOLOGY|LIFE LESSONS|RELATIONSHIPS

Test For The Best Selection Through Perspectives Of Love

Devotion supersedes love for the right selection. Lessons from mythology and other perspectives.

Love has many perspectives.

It can be affection for someone.

It can be conditional or unconditional love

Devotion or love?

Devotion is love personified.

Usually, people are devoted to a Deity or a leader.

Love is between family members or friends

We love many people. It is usually affection and love can be conditional or unconditional but devotion is always unconditional.

I read four stories about love and I am writing their perspectives.

I believe in love too but is there something beyond love too? I am intrigued to find out.

The story of Valmiki and Hanuman in Hindu mythology amply explains the difference between love and devotion and I will narrate it too as it explains something about life and love.

Hanuman and Valmiki had one thing in common. They both wrote the holy book that is an epic. It is called ‘Ramayan’.

The original version was in Sanskrit and was later translated into Hindi.

Perspectives Of Love

This morning I read a story by Annelise Lords on perfect or imperfect love and she wrote that there is no perfectionism in love. According to her when we look for perfection we will find problems and failures.

In her words “When love is in the middle, perfection has no place to stay because love in itself can be both perfect and imperfect. They each take turns.”

Then I read a story by Esther George in which she says

“Can there be too much I love you’s? I love you is a statement of power. I say it because I mean it from within the depths of my heart”.

Then I read a story by Sumera Rizwan and she said that trust and care are important for love and a good relationship. In her words,

“if they don’t trust you or care about your feelings they are not for you. and in case of lack of it we should decide to move on.”

The next story I read was by Noorain Hassan, BMS. She wrote that there were many interpretations of love.

According to Noorain

“ Love a four-letter word that means so many things. But for philosophers like us, love can bend in any form. For parents, couples, and friends, we all have different meanings to love. Some good and some bad”.

I had been thinking of writing about love and devotion so here is my story.

The Story Of Hanuman And Valmiki’s Ramayan: Perspective From Mythology

My friend was an industrialist with a lot of assets like industry, property, cash. He read the story of Valmiki and Hanuman. He shared it with me.

He had studied various perspectives of love and he wanted to select someone like Hanuman.

He said that Hanuman inspired him when he saw the Ramayan on the television screen. Hanuman had a lot of courage. He was humble and he was also very strong.

While reading about the Ramayan he found out that both Hanuman and Valmiki had written the original Ramayan.

Narada was a pious saint who was revered and had many followers. He had read both the Ramayan that was written by Hanuman and Valmiki and proclaimed that Hanuman’s version of Ramayan was better than Valmiki’s.

Valmiki went to the forest in search of Hanuman and wanted to read the Ramayan written by him. Hanuman leads him to the seven banana leaves on which he had written the epic.

Valmiki read the Ramayan and started crying. Hanuman was shocked. He asked him if there was anything wrong with the Ramayan.

Valmiki said that the Ramayan was perfect. He said that it was so perfect that no one would be tempted to read Valmiki’s Ramayan if they read Hanuman’s version.

Hanuman brought the leaves on which he wrote the Ramayan and tore them up.

Valmiki asked him why he tore such a marvellous piece of work?

Hanuman said to Valmiki , that he had love and affection for Rama and was devoted to him. It is that love that made him write the Ramayan. He knew that Valmiki also had love and affection for Rama but he also had the ambition of writing the Ramayan to become famous.

Selection Of The Best

My friend was deeply influenced by the love of Hanuman because it was more than love and affection.

It was DEVOTION

He had four children. All of them loved him. He also loved them. How to find the one who loved him most? He decided to test who was most devoted to him without letting them know about it.

He called them all and he called me as a witness. The names of the children are not real. Two daughters Sonu and Monu and the two boys were Tony and Bonny.

He handed over a planter to each one of them for their office and told them that he would visit their office with me as a witness after six months and see how best they had decorated it.

Sonu just kept it in her office and forgot about it.

Monu decorated the corner and kept the planter. She got a designer to make the corner and gave orders that the plant should not be disturbed.

Bonny was not very fond of the planter but because of his father’s wish looked after it. He watered it himself, cared for it and let it grow.

Tony’s plant did not survive so he changed it and put a new plant but did not tell anyone. The new plant flourished and gave beautiful flowers.

After six months we went to each of their offices. Which one of the four children do you think was selected?

The father was very fond of Tony and he should have been his natural choice because it was the most beautiful. The flowers made the office look cheerful. Bonny told him how much he had tended the planter and it made the office look so pleasant.

The father next went to Bonny’s office and was pleased with him too.

He invited all the children home for lunch and had a big feast for them. He told them he was delighted that they had all kept the planters in their office. Now he wanted to select the best and which one did they think was the best?

Each thought they had done their duty. The father told them all the planters were good but he selected Bonny.

Do you know why?

Tony did not tell him the truth of changing the plant and the father knew that this was not the plant that had been given to him.

Bonny was the only one who looked after the planter because his father wanted him to do so. He loved him and was completely devoted to him. He carried out his wish without asking him any questions.

Last words

There is no perfection in love. It is powerful, meant from the heart, consists of trust and cares for someone and it is a beautiful feeling with many perspectives.

When love turns to devotion it becomes unconditional affection to give full respect to the other person. To find love like that is difficult but not impossibel. Devotion is love personified.

To choose the best look for the person who is most devoted to you.

Devotion is beyond love.

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2021. All rights are reserved by the author.