Exquisite Love: Reflections on the Spiritual Life Based on Narada's Bhakti Sutra

The Bhakti Sūtra attributed to Nārada is a collection of 84 aphoristic statements in Sanskrit dating to the tenth to eleventh centuries in India on the nature of love for Divinity which the text describes as the highest most exquisite form of love. Translating explaining and interpreting 21 of those statements William K. Mahony brings these teachings into our contemporary world through his thoughtful and articulate extended reflections on the qualities of this love and on the contours of a life oriented toward strengthening refining and elevating it. The book also includes Mahonys translation of Nāradas Bhakti Sūtra in its entirety. Basing his reflections on the understanding that God is absolute Love Mahony speaks of a divine Heart present in our own human sentiments and expressions of love in all its modes directions and degrees of intensity. He offers readers guidance into ways a Heart-centered spiritual life can open them ever more fully to the reality of Love itself.