Friday, December 22, 2017

TARA 
Goddess of Unconditional Love

Tara, born of Buddha’s tear for humanity’s suffering, answers our pleas for assistance. She reaches for, embraces, and then imparts a profound sense of love and peace to all




Hold a gemstone up to the light, perhaps a precious stone in a ring or locket. Notice how the light dances and sparkles as you move it about. Now, imagine that light is love. Send that ‘light’ into the world, to someone special, or to someone you want to understand better. Those "generous feelings" are needed in the world today but would that be considered unconditional love?

It's not a coincidence that gem stones hold such a fascination for humans the world over.  We are drawn to light that bounces from objects and the more brilliant the light, the larger the fascination.  We seem to instinctively know we are born of light, made from star dust, and created to sparkle and shine. It's a form of enlightenment that some people in the world today seem to share.

But is enlightenment unconditional love? Is unconditional love an intention?  Is it something one just "sets their mind to" in the same way forgiveness is achieved; something one must be willing to experience? Is unconditional love a willingness to see things differently, a willingness to simply open the mind to explore other possibilities and all other egotistical burdens are simply erased, for good?  Can it be that simple?  We just agree to needing nothing in return and regardless the facts, just impart our love to others?  If this is the case I would think by now we would have mastered our feelings of jealousy and envy and greed in the world today.  I know of no place on earth today where feelings of ego are not creating division and strife within even primitive societies.  So unconditional love can not be as simple as deciding it while maintaining life as usual in a stressful and busy daily routine.  I mean, I'm not talking Eat Pray Love mastery of the ego by monks or gurus.

Being happy is an intention, as well. But what about those people who seem to come alive in the face of defeat or failure?  Even in situations most people abandon for hopeless at first sight, that intention to remain hopeful and positive is there in some people. It's the perpetual cheery of Little Orphan Annie, or never-quit spitfire of Unsinkable Molly Brown.  Where does this unquenchable spirit of Can Do come from in people given to being described as unstoppable?  You see it more in times of crisis.  You see it bubble up from the depths of despair following a natural disaster.  Do some people require the test of a mass shooting, or Category 5 hurricane to put their pessimism and bigotry aside to embrace humankind without condition and impart a profound love to those on the brink of destruction? Is it during times of struggle for survival that we recognize a universal need all humans share; inclusive love and nurturing.  But this is not unconditional love.  It's a brotherly love that, thankfully, arises in times of great crisis.  We saw this after 9/11.  An unbridled desire to serve, to embrace, and to love, sight unseen.

Light represents love.  Light speaks of hope.  Light reminds us there is a reward for hanging on.  That precious gem on the finger of the woman loved and adored by the one who provided that symbol of a promise made is binding between the two sharing a journey together.  That gemstone represents loyalty, devotion, and unconditional love.  To betray that promise by either party is to remove the shine from that gemstone.  It will never shine again in the face of betrayal.  That gemstone has not changed physically but it now forever represents bitter loss once betrayal has entered the relationship.  So enlightenment must be protected, cultivated, nurtured, and respected.  But this kind of love is NOT unconditional.  This love is dependent on mutual or reciprocal love.  




The unconditional love Tara brings is not based on what one person deserves, or earns, or returns.  It remains in the face of betrayal, or scorn, or rejection.  It has the ability to do what is best for another, even if it means allowing another to leave us.  The love stays.  Tara seeks to meet you on very difficult terms in order to tend to the emotional or mental pain that being broken wide open has rendered you.

When you have been broken open you are exposed to the world.  You have no fight left in you.  Your grief oozes from you like a open wound.  You submit to the tears and regret and sorrow you have fought for too long to hide.  This is what is sometimes referred to as "praying through".  It is lonely.  It is painful.  It feels endless. It is at this most vulnerable time that Tara whispers to you that she understands and knows exactly how you feel and what you need. Christianity calls this the Holy Spirit. The Comforter comes to the Jew prostrate in grief.  Muslims call on the created Messenger called Jibrayil.

For those who have been broken open and felt the comfort and care of a spirit that imparted not only a feeling of healing but also an unconditional love that says nothing we can do will ever separate us from that Original love, they are left changed for the rest of their lives. That level of acceptance and comfort felt during a time of great despair and need never leaves.  It makes it possible to relate or empathize with others on a level they couldn't have known before.  People who have experienced this kind of spiritual intervention aren't guaranteed a life without pain or struggle ever again, but they fully understand they aren't alone in this world.  They are connected to a Higher Love that has been with them all their life and will go with them into death.

Unconditional love is love originating from God or agape love.  Parental love understands unconditional love.  There is nothing a child can do to separate a parent from that love for their child. Not unspeakable rejection of the parent, not unspeakable behavior of the child toward another person, not addictions to things that make that child unrecognizable from the child placed in the arms of those parents at birth. The same is true of God.  There is nothing we can do to separate God's love for us from Him.  It doesn't have to be accepted to be true.  It's not dependent on our belief or devotion to God.  It just is.  To know love and peace on such a profound level is to have been touched by agape love.....unconditional love.  


No comments:

Post a Comment