I really appreciate the varied response from all those who have posted their comments on the paragrapgh from Nietzche. The idea itself being so diametrically opposite to what I have been writing....somehow gave an inkling that I might get extreme responses from some of you....and I was not disappointed. I enjoyed reading all of them. Instead of replying back on the posts....I will respond to each one here, on the main page itself, as per the sequence of their posts.

DIVA :

Though I am with you on some of your comments but on others I differ, which I would be enunciating in this post later as well as in replies to others.

Your comments are also a bag of contradictions in itself. You negate as well as support Nietzche's statement when you state that the irony lies in the fact that though the sanctity lies in the origin of love....but it is a self perpetuating beast !

Also you end your post implying what an old saying states 'Man looks at love as a means to sex, while the woman looks at sex as a means to love !' Personally I don't believe in this statement. Sex, though a bilogical need, is referred to as 'making love' when it becomes one of the components of Love....By the way, a person like you who loves to base her statements on hard facts...this myth would be broken if you read the article 'Gender Myths' with stats in the October 26, 2008 issue of The Week.

COMMONMAN :

Purity and sanctity of love...though I believe in....but how long are we able to sustain the same ??? Being human has its fallacies....Doesn't our love get clouded with our other emotions and wants ??!!! Infact, I have raised this issue in one of my couplets (posted on May 12, 2008 as Love - II) where I explore my weakness as a human being....where my love is being influenced by my desire for the person I love....and end the couplet by asking myself 'whether I will be able to achieve my perfect love' ?

I would be commenting on the rest at the end of the post collectively.

ABYSS:

Now thats what I call a very craftily drafted cynical, subtly implicating comment ! And I like it !!!!!

As I have said earlier, one of the reasons why I put this translation was to see for myself how varied the reactions would be ! Your subtle insinuation takes the cherry !

First and foremost, I have just copied this statement from a translation and its not my own translation ! At the very outset, I have stated :

QUOTE

I came across a short note on Love by him, which gives a totally, diametrically opposite view on love than what I have been penning down.

Somehow, I found the very thinking process interesting.

UNQUOTE

I have made it very clear that his thinking is diamterically opposite to what I have been writing and what I believe in (except a very few). So me taking the ownership does not arise....even if you indirectly imply I think on same lines (not similar). No I don't agree on most of what he has written except a few....but even in those instances, I don't hold his views as I don't equate love to some states which people usually do refer to ! Would elaborate more on this later in this post.

Its not just about a man.....each human being is a victim of his own fragile sensibilties and insecurities ! This beast raises its ugle head in the most unwarranted and unexpected places even in the most divine relationships such as that of a mother and child or a devotee and God !!

I strongly believe that Love is all-encompassing and self-effacing ! In such a state there is no such word as 'Sacrifice' !! This word 'Sacrifice' brings out sympathy and not empathy. Love is not Sympathy (pity) ! Love is more of participating / living with and in other person's feelings (empathy) and vice-versa. This, the 'sacrifice'-aspect, is the only thing I agree with him....BUT not the way he states or makes it look like !

Love is a union or a relationship of two aspects of human characters / characteristics (am discussing the human aspect for sake of simplicity, though love can be between any two forms but the same holds good for any form of love) - father/mother and child; lovers; siblings; friends; etc. etc. Love takes its own form and evolves. The sanctity at the origin is unable to sustain itself due to the frailty of sensibilities....which arise due to one's own individuality ! 'Love' that starts as self-effacing....becomes self-consuming ! A downward spiral. The word 'SACRIFICE' starts this downward spiral. This word 'sacrifice' itself signifies a vested interest - noble or otherwise. The best example for this would be love for a child by the mother. When the child is born....the mother forgets her own very existence and lives to nurture (which includes protecting) the new born ! Self-effacing and all encompassing !! But when the child grows up....the individual in the mother starts to assert itself somewhere down the line and states 'I have to accomodate my life according to my children, their likes and their schedules', 'sacrifice this interest for their well being', etc. etc. Self-effacing graduates subtly (in some cases overtly) to self-consuming !

Similarly between lovers - it will start in a manner where the love is the only thing worth its while.....one would do anything to have those specials moments with the love of your life....it slowly gradually becomes 'I manage it sometimes....you should try to accomodate things according to me too!'; 'I did this for you, what have you done for me in a similar situation ?'; etc. etc.

In both the relationships.....when the individual self starts to exert itself the fraility of sensibilities comes to the fore....and the self-effacing and all-encompassing love becomes self-consuming !

The same holds good for all forms of Love.

Blessed are those who are able to hold on to the Sanctity of Love that existed when thier Love blossomed for each other.....in whatever form and proportion.....over a period of time !!!!!