Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
How to simplify your life with love
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Greetings Reader - In a recent media interview, the Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance, used what he called "a very Christian concept" to justify the expulsion of immigrants and the retraction of foreign aid: ". . . you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then, after that, you prioritize the rest of the world." As if an injection of sectarian religion into U.S. policy-making isn't bad enough, Vance’s interpretation of the concept contradicted the fundamental message of the very gospel he claims to abide by, namely, that everyone is to be loved, especially those who are different, foreign, or "other" than us, and those who love of God take priority over members of our biological families. The concept Vance referenced is called ordo amoris, a Latin phrase that means “order of love,” and understanding its original intention can help us simplify our lives. Here's how Augustine of Hippo, one of early Christianity’s most influential thinkers, described the idea: “All men are to be loved equally. But since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.” In other words, if two people are drowning and you can only save one at a time and one person is a stranger and the other is your spouse, it would be morally right as well as perfectly natural to save your spouse first. This is Augustine’s concession to a pragmatic limitation. And it has a corollary in the Bhagavad-gita, where Krishna also balances the tension between egalitarian love and favoritism based on proximity: “I am equally disposed toward all living beings. I hate no one nor do I favor anyone. Even so, I hold those who honor me with offerings of love within me. Indeed, I am within them as well.” – Bg 9.29 How can Krishna be "equally disposed" to everyone? It's not just a matter of divine benevolence or moral obligation; it's a natural result of the existential relationship between Krishna and all beings: devotional yoga wisdom proposes that the source of all beings is also the sum and substance of all beings; the complete whole of which we are all a part: “The living beings in this world of conditioned life are eternal fragments of my very Self.” – Bg 15.7 Therefore, to love the whole is to automatically love all the parts. The pre-eminent bhakti-yoga theologian, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, explains it this way: “Just like if you love a tree, the leaves, the flowers, the branches, the trunks, the twigs, everything, you simply pour water on the root, then your loving affairs for the tree will automatically serve.” This “ordering of love” allows us to safely open our hearts to all beings while feeling protected by the one Being through whom our love for everyone flows. And acknowledging the pragmatic limitation of ordo amoris an help us overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed by the enormity of the world's problems. Rather than allowing ourselves to be shocked and awed into inaction, we can ask ourselves, “Who is the one person I can help? Which is the one community I can serve? Where is the one place I can push back?” Once we have our answers, we can let love be our motivation for doing whatever way we can for whoever we can while remembering that all of our small contributions add up to making a big difference in the world. Love globally, love locally. Simple. Wishing you all good fortune, - Hari-k P.S.: You still have time to enroll in my small group mentorship program for yoga teachers! There are just a couple of spots left for the first cohort of 2025, so if you’re a yoga teacher who want to:
then my small group mentorship program is for you. CLICK HERE to learn more about the program. P.P.S: For details about how Vance got it wrong, see Luke 10:25-37 and Matthew 12:46-50. |
Hari-kirtana das
Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
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