Love in its first stage may be called affection, a tender feeling towards someone, be it mother or father or child or brother or sister, be it friend or mate. It is in affection that love begins to show itself; and even in that first awakening one will see the phenomenon of selflessness. When an innocent child comes with a sweet to its mother and offers it to her, its delight is to see the mother take it instead of itself. There we begin to see love in its incipient stage, and also selflessness taking the first step on the path of self-abnegation. One sees it in the form of the mother's compassion for her child; the self-sacrifice that she shows, staying up all night, sharing the pain of her child, being anxious every moment when the child is away, rejoicing in its pleasures and sorrowing over its troubles. In this love which is without passion, a love which only desires the child to grow and flourish and prosper while the mother's self is merged in seeing this happen, in this love there is self-abnegation.