“I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion – I have shudder’d at it – I shudder no more. I could be martyr’d for my religion – Love is my religion – I could die for that.” These lines by John Keats, English romantic poet, assume far greater profundity in our age of religious fanaticism when dying for one’s faith is seen as something very exalted and worth emulating. Love is the true and only religion worth dying for.
The idea of Keatsian love is like that of Jalaluddin Rumi, “My love is like the morning glow that suffuses and subsumes the whole sky and leaves no corner darkened.” In these turbulent times, we want the overwhelming power and reach of love that can touch and change every individual. Keatsian universal love can uplift and sublimate all souls because love is non-discriminatory, nondenominational and non-categorical.
Elsewhere, Keats says, “I love for the sake of love.” We need to develop this sublime idea of love for the sake of love. That’ll demolish and diminish all the barriers and walls of hatred. When love exists for an object, person, or idea, it becomes selfish. But when love encompasses all in its ambit, it becomes universal. In other words, love cannot be objectified. Nor can it be confined to a mere emotion. It is the very kernel of human existence and the essence of humanity. ‘Pyaar har rang mein logon ko sada deta hai/Pyaar ke parde mein hum sabka Khuda rahta hai.’ – Love calls you in all its hues/Behind the curtain of love, resides our god. Keats could realise, rather envisage, that sooner or later, love would have the last laugh. “To feel for every soul and relate to every drop/My love continues to move, it cannot stop.” This is the quality of love. It continues forever and evolves every second. “Once love begins, it ends with the world,” opined Latin poet Ovid.
Keats’ idea of love had a humanitarian appeal; it was universal in nature. It was devoid of selfish elements of a young and starry-eyed romantic. Keats was a part of the famed Romantic Trio comprising his coevals PB Shelley and Byron. They all professed love and believed that love would finally have its way and become the zeitgeist.
An extremely sensitive soul with the most tender and gossamer sentiments, Keats could never reconcile with the violent streaks in humans. Man was born to love and die for it was his lifelong dictum. This belief in humans and human nature that violence is alien to them and love is their real nature will remain Keats’ legacy. It also consolidates our belief that we are inherently good and loving and are actually incapable of hating. That lofty perception seems to have got obscured at the moment. We need to revive and restart the flow of love that can cleanse every heart and every soul.
Twentysix-year-old Keats visualised a world sans all religions but wanted the crux of religions to survive. And what was the gist of all faiths, according to Keats? It was love. Shouldn’t we try to prove him vindicated?
October 31 is John Keats’ birth anniversary
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