The kind of love that is awakened by the grace of the Master is a rare privilege. The mother who is willing to sacrifice all and to die for her child, and the martyr who is prepared to give up his very life for his country are indeed supremely noble; but Pure love very rare they have not necessarily tasted this pure love born through the grace of the Master. Even the great yogis who sit in caves and on mountain tops and are completely absorbed in deep samadhi (meditative trance) do not necessarily have this precious love.
Pure love awakened through the grace of the Master is more valuable than any other stimulus that may be utilized by the aspirant.
Such love not only combines in itself the merits of all the disciplines but excels them all in its efficacy to lead the aspirant to the goal. When this love is born, the aspirant has only one desire-and that is to be united with the divine Beloved. Such withdrawal of consciousness from all other desires leads to infinite purity; therefore nothing purifies the aspirant more completely than this love. The aspirant is always willing to offer everything for the divine Beloved, and no sacrifice is too difficult for him. All his thoughts are turned away from the self and come to be exclusively centered on the divine Beloved. Through the intensity of this ever-growing love, he eventually breaks through the shackles of the self and becomes united with the Beloved. This is the consummation of love. When love has thus found its fruition, it has become divine.
-Discourses 7th Ed., p114