CONTENTS:
- LOVING KRISHNA
- WHEN WE TURN TO KRISHNA
- INQUIRIES OF THE SOUL
1. LOVING KRISHNA
Love is never one-sided; it is always is reciprocal – it is a two-way traffic. It is not that only the devotees love Krishna and Krishna doesn’t care for them. No, the devotees love Krishna and Krishna reciprocates that love. He, not only reciprocates. Krishna actually gets into a competition of love with His devotee. There is a competition of love in the spiritual sky or in devotional service. The devotee loves Krishna and Krishna returns that love multiplied. Then, the devotee reciprocates by loving Krishna even more and then Krishna reciprocates by loving the devotee, all the more. This is how there is a continuous loving exchange between the devotees and the Lord. That is why, in the spiritual sky, this transcendental joy – ananda – is constantly increasing.
Anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam
purnamritaswadanam. [Sri Siksastakam, Text 1]
Actually, Krishna loves everybody. It is not that Krishna loves only His devotees and doesn’t love those who are non-devotees or have forgotten Him. Krishna loves everybody, but it is up to the living entities, whether or not they are going to reciprocate that love towards Krishna. And, when the living entity reciprocates, then immediately he becomes situated in a very joyful state of existence and gradually he becomes elevated to the spiritual sky. When the living entity rejects Krishna or becomes oblivious of Him, resultantly he falls into this material nature. The living entity forgets Krishna and becomes completely unaware of Him. Thus, he forgets how Krishna loves him. Although the living entity completely forgets how Krishna loves him, Krishna never forgets the living entity nor does He ever cease to love him. That is why Krishna accompanies the conditioned soul as the Supersoul. When a living entity rejects Krishna, Krishna still goes with him everywhere.
It doesn’t matter whichever condition or body the living entity is in; Krishna always goes with him. That shows how much Krishna loves the living entity. We can consider: there are many people who love us, but if we are in a very degraded and unpleasant condition, then they would leave us. We have seen how material relationships break due to unpleasant situations. But regardless of how abominably, the living entity may be situated – Krishna doesn’t reject him. Krishna goes wherever the living entity goes. Even when the living entity becomes a worm in the stool – we can consider how abominable that condition is – Krishna still goes with him as the Supersoul. As a matter of fact, for Krishna, this entire material nature is a place full of stool. But still Krishna came with us; though we had opted to reject him and fall into this degraded condition of material nature.
2. WHEN WE TURN TO KRISHNA
That is why Krishna has been considered to be suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. [BG. 5.29] There are different kinds of friendships. There is maitri, bandhu, etc. But of all kinds of friendships, the most intimate is su-hṛd. The word su-hṛd comes from hṛdaya; hṛdaya means heart. The one who is very close to our heart is a su-hṛd. And Krishna has been described as a su-hṛd. He is not only a suhṛd – He is actually even more than a su-hṛd. He is not only ‘close’ to our heart; He is actually situated within our heart. He is situated in the heart of every living entity. He is accompanying all the conditioned souls in different conditions in this material nature, because He cares for the living entities and loves everybody. As the Supersoul, He is simply waiting for when the living entity would turn his face towards Him. That is the only reason why Krishna is with us in our hearts as the Supersoul. He is simply waiting for the time when we are going to turn our faces towards Him.
As long as we are averse to Him, and are obsessed with this material nature, developing different desires to enjoy this material nature; as a very loving friend and concerned father, Krishna is fulfilling our desires. “Okay, you want this in the material nature. You want to enjoy this material nature; you want to be the lord and master of the material nature…” Krishna is fulfilling all our desires. It is not that Krishna is punishing anybody as such. When somebody gets a very abominable body and lives in an abominable condition, it is not that Krishna wanted him to be in that abominable condition. It is actually the living entity who wanted to be in that abominable condition and therefore, Krishna fulfilled that desire. “Okay, you wanted to fulfill your desire – rather, you wanted to enjoy this material nature in this way. Okay, I will provide you with all facilities.” This is how Krishna is continuously fulfilling our desires as the Supersoul, as long as we are conditioned.
3. INQUIRIES OF THE SOUL
HH BCS: The question is: it has been explained that the Supersoul accompanies the living entities wherever he goes. Does the Supersoul also accompany the spirit soul when he goes back to the spiritual sky?
Yes, when one develops a loving relationship with Krishna, then the Supersoul does not remain as the inactive four-handed Supersoul anymore. He reciprocates with the devotee and the devotee perceives Him as his iṣṭa-deva – as his worshipable Lord in the heart. Say, in our movement, we are devotees of Krishna, so when a devotee develops the transcendental loving relationship with Krishna then he will see Krishna in his heart. Krishna will always be there with him, until he goes back to the spiritual sky. Actually, there is no difference: a pure devotee’s heart and Goloka Vrindavana are non-different. Krishna performs His pastimes in the heart of a pure devotee. A pure devotee means a devotee who is constantly absorbed in Krishna consciousness. He is always thinking of Krishna.
What happens? When we become free from our material contamination and we become pure, we constantly see Krishna’s pastimes. Therefore, then we do not see Him as Supersoul; we see Him as Krishna. Only the yogis see Him as Supersoul, devotees do not.
HH BCS: The question is that it has been mentioned that the loving relationship is reciprocal. But then again in the class, it has been mentioned that when the living entity rejects Krishna, He still loves him and goes with the living entity wherever he goes - despite the fact that the living entity doesn’t love Krishna.
Yes. Here, this love is one-sided. That’s why this love is not complete. Krishna loves out of His affection for the living entities, just like a father loves the son. The son may reject and stop loving the father, but the father can never stop showering his affection. The father can never forget the son. Similarly, our Supreme Father, Krishna, continuously cares for us. But that cannot be considered to be love in its true sense because a loving relationship or love is complete only when the living entity begins to reciprocate. Yes, otherwise it is one-sided and that is why it is incomplete. That is why the living entity is not enjoying or experiencing the bliss. That is why the living entity is suffering, despite Krishna providing him with everything that he needs. But as soon as the living entity begins to love Krishna, then immediately Krishna reciprocates and the living entity becomes submerged in an ocean of joy, ocean of ecstasy.
Could you give us your realization how we could conquer the envy?
HH BCS: Yes. Envy can be conquered by love. Envy develops when love is not there. You see, when we love somebody, then we cannot envy him, right? The definition of envy according to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is to be happy in other’s distress and be distressed in other’s happiness. That is the definition of envy. But love or compassion is being happy in other’s happiness and being distressed in other’s distress. Now, how do we feel like that? When do you become happy when you see that others are happy? It is when you love him. If you love somebody and you see that he became very rich, how will you feel? You will automatically feel happy, because the person you love became happy. Or when you see that someone who you love very much is suffering, how do you feel? You feel very distressed. Therefore, by developing our love for Krishna and Krishna’s devotees, we conquer envy. Hare Krishna.