The Bowl of Saki Commentary
Commentary for:
Love manifests towards those whom we like as love; towards those whom we do not like as forgiveness.
Commentary from Hazrat Murshid SAM (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, Samuel L. Lewis):
The Bowl of Saki Commentary, copyright © 1981, 2012 Sufi Ruhaniat International. All rights reserved.
The love we feel toward friends and relatives and heroes is natural. Although Christ said, "Love ye your enemies," this does not mean to entertain the identical feeling toward them. Why? Because feeling is that which connects parties and unites them. We are united to our dear ones by love. By whatever the feeling we hold to those we do not like, they may not feel friendly toward us.
The proper attitude is therefore selflessness, to refuse to hold the feeling of dislike. The enemy, not appreciating our love, could not see it as love or friendship but could perceive it in the spirit of forgiveness. From our point of view it would be the same in both cases, but the object of love and the connection between ourselves and the other would be different in each instance.