This was long before there was a separation between body, mind and heart, that happened during the Bhakti movement

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

Love is missing in the Veda. Vedic gods did not care much for it. Neither did Vedic sages. They spoke of fertility ie, sex for children, but rarely about sex to express affection or experience pleasure.

About 2,000 years ago, songs from the Tamil region were composed by women and men in the Kaveri river basin. Love was the inner affectionate realm of the household. We notice there is hardly any difference between love and lust. This was long before there was a separation between body, mind and heart, that happened during the Bhakti movement.

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Here the body is desired, the mind is loved........

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