Beloved Kṛṣṇa - The Supreme Object of Love
The search for love is the driving force behind all activities in the material and spiritual worlds. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that true satisfaction is only achieved when the soul redirects its affectionate propensity away from temporary material forms and reposes it entirely upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Supreme Object of Affection
Every living entity is naturally inclined to love. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate viṣaya—the supreme object of love—and any affection we feel for objects or persons in the material world is actually just a misdirected expression of our original, dormant love for Him.
- Actually, our most Beloved Object is Krishna. Our love reposed on anything within our experience is due to our ultimate love for Krishna.
- Everyone is seeing God according to his capacity; the only difference is that the theist sees God as the Supreme Personality, the most beloved, Krsna, and the atheist sees the Absolute Truth as ultimate death.
- Instead of trying to make this material world as beloved, you have to make Krsna as beloved. That is Krsna consciousness. The everything is there. You get everything in return, as here, you are trying to enjoy, but without any inebriety.
- Visaya and asraya are two very significant words relating to the reciprocation between Krsna and His devotee. The devotee is called the asraya, and his beloved, Krsna, is the visaya.
- Success in life means accepting a spiritual master who knows Krsna as the only supreme beloved personality. One should worship such a confidential devotee of the Lord.
Pure Love of Vṛndāvana
In the highest stages of spiritual realization, awe and veneration are completely replaced by spontaneous intimacy. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that the residents of Vṛndāvana are so absorbed in pure love that they do not even care to know whether their beloved Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Godhead or not.
- In Vrndavana the devotees, they practically do not know that Krsna is God. "He is our very beloved friend." That's all. They doesn't care to know whether He is God or not.
- If one cherishes pure loving devotion to Me, thinking of Me as his son, his friend or his beloved, regarding himself as great and considering Me his equal or inferior, I become subordinate to him.
- Pariksit Maharaja asked Sukadeva Gosvami why Krsna was so beloved by the residents of Vrndavana, who loved Him even more than their own offspring or life itself.
- Mandalibhadra said, "My dear friends, our beloved Krsna is now very tired from working with the cows in the pasturing grounds and from traveling all over the forests."
- All the cows, bulls and small calves became overwhelmed with grief, and they began to look at Him with great anxiety. Out of fear they could only cry in agony and stand erect on the bank, unable to help their beloved Krsna.
The Beloved Child
The parental affection (vātsalya-rasa) exhibited by Nanda Mahārāja and Mother Yaśodā represents an incredibly elevated platform of devotion. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that their love is so pure and intense that they view the all-powerful Lord of the universes simply as their dependent, helpless, and beloved child.
- Bhagavan has personally descended to become her beloved child. Therefore there is no comparison to mother Yasoda's good fortune.
- She (mother Yasoda) has come to the platform of loving Krsna as her beloved child, and therefore she is accepted to be on the highest stage of spiritual realization.
- Although Krsna was acting so wonderfully, Maharaja Nanda and mother Yasoda could not think of Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Instead, they always accepted Him as their beloved child.
- Mother Yasoda, of course, did not want to chastise her beloved child very much, and therefore she immediately threw her stick away and simply rebuked Krsna.
- Nanda Maharaja was surprised that Yasoda, Krsna's mother, could have bound her beloved child in such a way. Krsna was exchanging love with her. How then could she have been so cruel as to bind Him to the wooden mortar.
The Supreme Mellow of the Gopīs
The highest echelon of spiritual love is conjugal affection (mādhurya-rasa), perfectly exhibited by the milkmaids of Vṛndāvana. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the gopīs have absolutely no desire for their own selfish enjoyment; their only ambition is to completely satisfy their supreme beloved, Kṛṣṇa.
- There are many relationships with Krsna - master and servant, friend and friend, parent and son, and lover and beloved. Out of all these rasas, the parakiya-rasa is considered to be the topmost.
- The gopis are the predominated lovers, and Sri Krsna is the predominator, the beloved. The love of the predominated nourishes the love of the predominator. The gopis had no desire for selfish enjoyment.
- For this contradiction (the gopis have no inclination for their own enjoyment, and yet their joy increases) I (Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami) see only one solution: the joy of the gopis lies in the joy of their beloved Krsna.
- The gopis know Krsna's desires, and they know how to render perfect loving service for His enjoyment. They perform their service expertly for the satisfaction of their beloved.
- Having gotten their most beloved Lord, the gopis began to please Him by moving their eyebrows and smiling and also by suppressing their anger. Some of them took His lotus feet in their laps and massaged them.
The Fire of Separation
True love is profoundly tested and deepened during times of physical absence. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights that the intense, agonizing feelings of separation experienced by the gopīs and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu represent the absolute zenith of ecstatic love for the beloved Lord.
- In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, (3.2.84) sneha (affection) is described as follows: The symptom of such affection is that the lover cannot for a moment remain without the association of the beloved.
- They (Gopis) could not tolerate a moment's blinking of the eyes, for it kept them from seeing their beloved Lord Krsna. So what to speak of others, who are naturally very critical of every action of a responsible man.
- O My Lord! O dearest one! O only friend of the universe! O Krsna, O restless one, O only ocean of mercy! O My Lord, O My enjoyer, O beloved to My eyes! Alas, when will You again be visible to Me.
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in particular felt separation from Krsna very deeply, exactly like a lover who is dejected in separation from the beloved.
- If you love somebody and he's not there, you find everything vacant. So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu felt this way about Krsna - lover and beloved.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda beautifully maps out the science of transcendental affection, proving that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, is the only true object of love. Every soul is desperately seeking the perfect beloved, but because they search within the temporary material world, they meet only with frustration and death. However, when that identical loving propensity is directed toward Kṛṣṇa, the soul experiences boundless, eternal bliss. In Vṛndāvana, this love reaches such a staggering intensity that the devotees completely forget Kṛṣṇa's majestic divinity, treating Him instead with the profound intimacy of a beloved friend, a helpless child, or a supreme lover. By studying the selfless dedication of the gopīs and the intense mood of separation exhibited by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, a sincere practitioner learns that the ultimate perfection of human life is simply to transform the heart into a fit receptacle for the supreme beloved, Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Beloved Krsna. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience the teachings in their direct, verbatim form.