Swami Prakashanand Saraswati reveals the depth of divine love through the Gopis’ unwavering devotion to Krishn. Their longing for Him transcended time and space, demonstrating a love beyond material comprehension.
According to Swami Prakashanand Saraswati:
Once a Gopi said to Uddhao, “Do you know how much feeling of separation I have in my heart for Krishn? You can’t imagine. If I were to take that separation out of my heart, it might burn the whole village. But I keep the separation in my heart.”
For instance, suppose a person met an accident and he’s feeling great pain. He was in that pain for only half an hour, but that half an hour felt like hours and hours. Because in pain, a short time seems very long, and in happiness, even a long time seems short. So, a Gopi said, “How much separation I have…you can imagine one moment of separation from Krishn feels like millions of years have passed.”
With these expressions, they showed how great their inner love was for Krishn, and from these instances, we can guess a little how great that love is. It cannot be compared with anything, even in the Divine world. That is called Divine love.
True love is always selfless and the love which is related to Krishn is called Divine love. You can love Krishn, but there cannot be Divine love to an abstract form of God because an abstract form cannot be loved. Krishn can be loved, so love related to Krishn is Divine love. In this way Krishn IS Divine love and Divine love IS Krishn.
Krishn is the supreme personality of God. His charm, His beauty, His love is beyond material imagination. That is something very high which you cannot fully understand now. But you can start to understand – it is not impossible. Just like when a small child looks to his father reading a big, heavy book in his study and thinks, “When will that time come when I will be able to read that book?” The little boy thinks that if he studies, he can become like his father. But a boy of six years cannot imagine what is in that big book; he can only think, “It must be something very great!” How great? He doesn’t know. What is inside there? He doesn’t know. But at least he understands, “I want to get that thing.”
So, you can understand that the Gopis’ love and Krishn’s love and beauty is something very, very great.
You can also experience that great love. That is all a devotee has to understand, nothing more. This is good enough to start. When you have understood that your goal is to find Divine love, then you have to enter into the devotional state of divine-love-consciousness. Divine-love-consciousness is also the ultimate Divine state of the Gopis. The devotional stage of divine-love-consciousness starts from a subtle feeling of affinity for Krishn and it slowly rises. That feeling of affinity is the beginning of divine-love-consciousness.
It is important to know that this affinity is completely separate from all kinds of material or psychic phenomena. You should not mix these feelings with other things; they are completely apart from material, psychic, and celestial phenomena. Psychic phenomenon is material, and affinity to Krishn is something different, individual and independent. In this way, as you develop your affinity, you develop your divine-love-consciousness towards Krishn, and a time may come when you could experience the same love that the Gopis experienced in their life.
Conclusion:
The path of divine-love-consciousness begins with an affinity for Krishn and, if nurtured, it will grow into a profound spiritual experience. As Swami Prakashanand Saraswati teaches, true devotion leads to the highest realization—experiencing Krishn’s love as the Gopis did.
