love & renunciation

"only one who has renounced can truly love. to the degree you have renounced, to that degree will you have the ability to love. often people think whose who renounce cannot love, and those who love cannot renounce. this is because renunciates do not seem to be in love, and so-called lovers are possessive and greedy.

true love is not possessive; it brings freedom, and renunciation is nothing but freedom. only in freedom can love blossom fully. when you are in love you say, "i want nothing; i just want this." renunciation is, "i do not want anything. i am free." in love there are no other needs. renunciation is having no needs. love and renunciation, although appearing to be opposites, are two sides of the same coin.

only renunciation can sustain love and joy. without renunciation love turns into misery, possessiveness, jealousy and anger. renunciation brings contentment and contentment sustains love. without renunciation one gets discontented, frustrated, sad, fearful, suspicious, analytical. and the whole soap opera begins.

so-called renunciates have run away from life frustrated and disappointed. real renunciation is born out of knowledge and wisdom - knowledge of life in the background of time and space and in the context of this magnanaimous universe."

- sri sri ravi shankar