We always become naturally attracted towards that which makes us happy. Something becomes lovable to us, not because we like that particular object, but because of the happiness or
ānanda it gives. This
ānanda, in turn, really is the essential content of our own being or
Ātmā. The object we love also is yet another form in which the same
Ātmā becomes manifest. This is one of the secret aspects of wisdom taught by the great sage Yājñavalka to his disciple and wife Maitreyi, in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (IV: 5: 6)
“Verily, not for the sake of the husband is the husband dear, but for the sake of the self is the husband dear.
Verily, not for the sake of the wife is the wife dear, but for the sake of the self is the wife dear.
Verily not for the sake of the sons are the sons dear, but for the sake of the self are the sons dear...
.... Verily, not for the sake of all is all dear but for the sake of the self is all dear.
Verily the self is to be seen, to be heard, to be reflected on, to be meditated upon; when, verily, the self is seen, heard, reflected on and known, then all is known.”
When we like something, our feeling is that it gives us happiness. But in actuality, that particular object of knowledge is not the giver of real happiness, for happiness is something that wells up from within our own being. It always remains dormant in us as the essential content of our own existence. The object we like becomes only an instrument that helps arouse that latent happiness within us.
Really, as is our being
ānanda (happiness) in essence, so is the object we like also belongs to the same
ānanda content (as there is nothing else exists other than
Sat-Cit-ānanda) , but appearing in a different form.
Ānanda thus is the real content of the being of both the enjoyer and enjoyed, their coming together is only helping its self-unfoldment, or actualization. The origin of happiness, thus, is nowhere else than the self or
Ātmā , the one
Ultimate
Reality both in us and the object we are in love with.
This could be one of the reasons why
Bhakti and
Love always go together.
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