We are all looking for love. Be it through your husband, wife, friends, pets or career. We are all waiting to find that one thing which we can serve with all our body, mind and soul, which will, in turn, serve us just as. This is an impossible feat in the material world. Govinda Dasa Kaviraja says:
'biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana capala sukha-laba lāgi' re' For a fraction of flickering happiness I have uselessly served wicked and miserly men.
As eternal spirit souls, we are looking for permanent bliss, but the nature of matter is that it is temporary and exhaustible, so any feelings of love we can squeeze out from this plane of existence can never satiate our desire for eternal affection. Here are some quotes from our dear spiritual master, illuminating the path to that love which is real and everlasting.
"And if you don't love Kṛiṣhṇa, then you see "Here is my American brother, and the cow is my food." Because you do not love the cow. The cow is American and my brother is American. My brother is good, and the cow is food. This is my universal love. Why? But a Kṛiṣhṇa conscious person, he sees, "Oh, here is a cow. Here is a dog. He's a part and parcel of Kṛiṣhṇa. By someway or other he has got a different body than me. That does not mean he's not my brother. So how can I kill my brother?" That is Kṛiṣhṇa's love, due to Kṛiṣhṇa's love."
"We have got practical experience. Suppose if I love somebody and if I don't give him something, don't eat something or give him something eatable, then what kind of love it is? That is not love. Love means bhajanti, render service. That is love. That is the beginning of love. So even there is no love, if you, under the prescribed rules and regulation if you simply render service, then you will develop love."
"Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa. Nimeṣa means a moment. "My dear Govinda, Kṛiṣhṇa, a moment is appearing to Me as long as twelve years." Yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam: "And My tears pouring water just like torrents of rain." That means He's crying, "Hā Kṛiṣhṇa, I could not see You." Yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitaṁ śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvam: "Oh, I see the whole world void and vacant." You see. He does not see anything. He sees everything void. Just like if you have lost anything beloved, you don't see anything; you see everything is gone. So śūnyāyitaṁ ja... How? Why? Govinda-viraheṇa me. Viraha means separation. "On account of separation." So this should be the only cause, that you cannot tolerate the separation of Govinda. That is love."
"Love means if I love you, I don't want any return. Still, I love you. You may ill treat me. You may badly treat me. You neglect me. Still, I love you. There is no question of return from you. That is real love. That you cannot find in this material world. Because it is based on sense gratification, therefore there is love between a boy and girl, and as soon as there is little discrepancy, there is divorce. They are separated. Because the whole principle was on the basis of lust. So there is no love."
ashlishya va pada-ratam pinashtu mam
adarshanan marma-hatam karotu va
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato
mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah
I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally.
Lord Caitanya's Sri Siksastakam
Our relationship with Krishna is reciprocal. In Bhagavad Gita 4.11, Krishna says: As you surrender unto me, I shall reward you accordingly. So if you want to find that love, which is complete and unending, then please, engage your every sense and every second in serving Anandsagar, the Ocean of Transcendental Bliss.
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