Always Love
Short story about loving without asking for anything in return.
Every day at exactly four o'clock, Maya arrived at the nursing home carrying two cups of tea.
One for herself, and one for her father.
For almost a year now, he had not recognized her.
Sometimes he called her by his sister's name. Sometimes he asked when his daughter was coming. And on the difficult days, he even asked her to leave because he was "waiting for someone."
Still, every day, she came.
One afternoon, a nurse asked her:
"Why do you keep coming every day? He doesn't even know you're here."
Maya was quiet for a moment.
"I know."
The nurse smiled sadly.
"Doesn't that break your heart?"
"At first, it did."
"What changed?"
Maya looked at her father. He was sitting by the window, holding the cup she had brought him in both hands, watching the rain.
"All my life, I thought I came because he's my father. Because he loves me, because he knows me, because I matter to him."
She paused.
"Now all of those things have been taken away."
"So what's left?"
Maya smiled.
"Love."
At that moment, her father turned toward her.
"I'm sorry," he said politely. "Do we know each other?"
Maya felt the familiar ache in her heart.
But this time, she didn't try to remind him.
She simply moved his tea a little closer and said:
"We don't have to."
He looked at her and smiled.
"Then why did you come?"
Maya took a sip of her tea.
"To love you."
And suddenly she realized that perhaps this was the first time she had ever loved him without asking for anything in return.
Perhaps love becomes prayer the moment it stops asking what will come back to us.
Inspired by Bhakti Yoga
An original Ohananda story inspired by Bhakti Yoga. Maya, her father, and the nurse are fictional; this is not a traditional account.
Inspired by Bhakti Yoga — the path of love and devotion. In the Bhakti tradition, the deepest love is not a transaction and does not depend on reward; love and devotion themselves become the path.
What love in your life might ask for nothing in return?
