Updated 3/6/15
Srila Prabhupada wrote. "There is no love in this material world. That is false propaganda. What they call love here is lust only, or desire for personal sense gratification... So-called love here means that "you gratify my senses, I'll gratify your senses," and as soon as that gratification stops, immediately there is divorce, separation, quarrel, and hatred. So many things are going on under this false conception of love. Actual love means love of God, Krsna." -SSR7
What is genuine love takes time to understand. That is why we are advised not to jump suddenly into the pastimes between the Lord and His beloved gopis. One first must hear from bona fide authority to understand such pure loving exchanges. Here's some observations in this regard:
LOVE MEANS TWO
Love is a relationship; it requires two. Therefore, God must be a person. There is a continuous reciprocation.
“Love does not mean that you come once a week to my house. Love means you come to my house every day, give me some present, and take something from me....Love means there is some exchange.” --conversation 6/28/76, Vrndavana
“Little things....Krishna, I have brought You. I could not bring any very costly thing, but I’ve collected these patram puspam phalam toyam. Krishna is pleased..because he has brought it, Krishna is not beggar. Krishna can create millions of fruits and flowers. He’s ätmäräma, He’s fully satisfied in Himself. He’s so opulent. But He wants that you should also love Krishna and give Him something. That He wants. Therefore He comes, paritränäya sädhünäm. Therefore He comes.” Bg 4.9 lecture.
LOVE IS A DECISION
We may think we have a choice, whether to love Krishna or not, but Krishna holds all the cards until "I give up, Lord. You win. I belong to You." Yes, love is a decision, but at first it is more about surrender than simply choosing. That's because we are in a spiritually diseased condition, but as our health returns, then our original love resurfaces and the choice becomes most meaningful.
"That is love. We should think, 'God may do whatever He likes, yet I will still love Him. I don’t want anything in exchange.' That is the sort of love Krishna wants. That is why He is so fond of the gopis. In the gopis’ love there is no question of business ex-changes—'Give me this, then I will love You.' Their love was pure, unalloyed, without any impediment. If you try to love God in this way, nothing in the whole world can check you. You only have to develop your eagerness—'Krishna! I want You.' That’s all. Then there is no question of being stopped. In any condition your love will increase. If you attain that state, you will feel fully satisfied. It is not that God wants you to love Him for His benefit. It is for your benefit." -LON1
LOVE IS A SERVANT
It isn't just lip service, but loving action. Love runs to fetch a drink of water to soothe the little child, to do the dishes without being reminded, to greet the husband or guest.....all for the Lord. Being in the service mood, love looks out for the other rather than expecting the other to look out for them.
"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." BG 9.27-29 lecture
Love and devotional service to Krishna are, therefore, in essence one and the same.
"Devotional service to Lord Krishna is always rendered with prema, pure love. It is composed of prema in essence." -Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta
LOVE IS FOREVER
Loving service is the constitutional position of the eternal soul. That means there is no break. Love never slackens; it never tires. Rather, it is ever increasing, thinking how to serve the Lord better and better each day. Love is fixed, steady, unconditional. When situated in the spiritual position, one realizes it is the essence of the eternal soul.
In married and family life we learn something about true love. We might care about everyone on the whole planet, but do we have to live with them? It is not so easy and most people today just quit when the going gets tough. But Srila Prabhupada explains that lust is material and love is spiritual. Spiritual means eternal. Eternal means something that always exists. Something that never quits. So that's real love.
LOVE IS FOR KRISHNA
Love is meant for Krishna alone. We belong to Him. Everyone has an eternal loving relationship with Him.
"The devotee loves God, and God loves devotee. This is the only relationship. That’s all. God is after devotee, and devotee after God." Bg4.1-6 lecture, LA
Yet, that love for Krishna naturally overflows to all living beings. Prabhupada stated:
"If you love your child and your child is away, you think of him when you see his shoes. You think, 'Oh, this is my dear child's shoe.' It is not that you love the shoe, but the child. The shoe, however, evokes that love. Similarly, as soon as we see Krishna's energy manifested in a living entity, we love that entity because we love Krishna. Therefore, if we love Krishna, universal love is accounted for." Bg 6.30-34 lecture
LOVE IS THE ONLY MEANS TO ATTRACT KRISHNA
NOD19:
“With these material senses, blunt senses, imperfect senses, we cannot understand God. That is not possible. But if we can please God by your service, by our love, He reveals Himself, revelation. That is the process.”- lecture 9/7/73, Stockholm
“My dear friends, O sons of the demons, you cannot please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by becoming perfect brähmanas, demigods or great saints or by becoming perfectly good in etiquette or vast learning. None of these qualifications can awaken the pleasure of the Lord. Nor by charity, austerity, sacrifice, cleanliness or vows can one satisfy the Lord. The Lord is pleased only if one has unflinching, unalloyed devotion to Him. Without sincere devotional service, everything is simply a show.” SB 7.7.52
" One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God." - Bg 18.55
LOVE IS ALL WE NEED
The fortunate person who reawakens his love for Krishna, even a glimpse of it, finds not only Krishna is attracted by love, but all living beings are. An intimate relationship cannot thrive without it. The husband and wife who love Krishna foremost, feel natural affection for each other due to their relationship with Krishna, and when the going gets tough, love doesn't quit, doesn't give up on the other.
Love for Krishna is all we need.