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Love means

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Nectar of Devotion

Love means reposing one's affection completely upon one person, withdrawing all affinities for any other person.
Nectar of Devotion 19:

Great authorities like Bhīṣma have explained that love of Godhead means completely giving up all so-called love for any other person. According to Bhīṣma, love means reposing one's affection completely upon one person, withdrawing all affinities for any other person. This pure love can be transferred to the Supreme Personality of Godhead under two conditions—out of ecstasy and out of the causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Here the so-called love means... There is no love. It cannot be love. Because the man and woman, nobody is trying to satisfy the other party's senses. Everyone is trying to satisfy his or her senses.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- London, August 15, 1973:

At the present moment, everyone is trying to satisfy his senses. Ahaṁ mameti. Janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). Puṁsaḥ striyā maithunī-bhāvam etat. The whole material world is that... There are two living entities, male and female. The male is trying also, satisfy his senses, and the female is also trying to satisfy her senses. Here the so-called love means... There is no love. It cannot be love. Because the man and woman, nobody is trying to satisfy the other party's senses. Everyone is trying to satisfy his or her senses. A woman is loving a man for satisfying her senses, and the man is loving a woman for satisfying. Therefore, as soon as there is some little disturbance in the sense gratification, divorce. "I don't want it." Because the central point is personal sense gratification. But we can make a picture, show-bottle, "Oh, I love you so much. I love you so much." There is no love. It is all kāma, lust. In the material world, there cannot be possibility of love. It is not possible. The so-called is cheating, cheating only. "I love you. I love you because you are beautiful. It will satisfy my senses. Because you are young, it will satisfy my senses." This is the world. Material world means this. Puṁsaḥ striyā maithunī-bhāvam etat. The whole basic principle of this material world is sense gratification.

But you will develop your love. The love means, just like it is said, dadāti pratigṛhṇāti.
Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:

But you will develop your love. The love means, just like it is said, dadāti pratigṛhṇāti. You are coming into the temple if you give something, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ. Little things. "Kṛṣṇa, I have brought You. I could not bring any very costly thing, but I've collected these patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ.

Love means you must give something.
Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

Love means you must give something. You are taking something from Kṛṣṇa. Why not give something? Is it love, simply going on taking, taking, taking, and no offering? We are taking from Kṛṣṇa so much light. We are taking from Kṛṣṇa so much air, so much water. So many things Kṛṣṇa is supplying for our subsistence, fruits, grains. Without supplied by Kṛṣṇa, you cannot have. You cannot manufacture all these things. So you must admit that God is supplying us so many things. And why not offer something? Is it love? Therefore offering is required.

Love means you take and you give also.
Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

Love means you take and you give also. Suppose if you love somebody... You simply take from him, but you don't give. Oh, do you think it is very good? No. It is not good. That is not love. That is exploitation. If I go on simply taking from you, and if I don't offer you anything, that is simply exploitation.

So love means you must take, you must give.
Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

So love means you must take, you must give. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte, bhuṅkte bhojayate. You must eat, and you must give to eat. Simply don't go on eating kṛṣṇa-prasāda, but give something to Kṛṣṇa for eating.

So love means... There are six principles of loving.
Lecture on BG 9.24-26 -- New York, December 12, 1966:

So love means... There are six principles of loving. What is that? Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate, guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati ca ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam. How one can understand I love you, or you can understand that I love you? There is... There are six kinds of reciprocation, six kinds of exchange, reciprocation. What is that? Dadāti. One whom you love, you must give something.

Your love means you should offer to Kṛṣṇa the nicest, the choicest, the best thing.
Lecture on BG 9.24-26 -- New York, December 12, 1966:

Your love means you should offer to Kṛṣṇa the nicest, the choicest, the best thing. Because everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. So when you offer something best, choicest, that is your love only. Suppose you offer a fruit to Kṛṣṇa. Can you manufacture fruit? Oh, it is manufactured by Kṛṣṇa. It is God's gift. But if you place before Him some choicest fruit, some choicest flower, some choicest, I mean to say, thing, then that is your token of love that you think... In this material world...

Love means bhajanti, render service.
Lecture on BG 9.27-29 -- New York, December 19, 1966:

So here it is said, ye bhajanti tu. Bhajanti means render service in love. When there is question of love, there is service. Without service... 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.

Universal love means to love God.
Lecture on BG 10.8 -- New York, January 6, 1967:

You love your body. Why do you supply your food in the stomach? Why not to the eyes, to the ears, to the nose? Why not individually, every finger, every hand, every part, every hair? No. As soon as you put the foodstuff to the stomach, the energy is at once distributed everywhere. Similarly, universal love means to love God.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Love means one should give and should accept also.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, August 26, 1971:

Love means one should give and should accept also. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate. One should give the lover eatables and accept eatables from him or her. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati ca... You should not keep anything secret within your mind, and the lover should not keep anything secret within the mind. If these six kinds of exchanges are there, then there is love. And that love should be without any reason and without being stopped by any material cause.

Love means somebody else.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:

We have got the propensity to love. Love means somebody else. Love cannot be done or love cannot be executed only one, personally. There must be another one. I love somebody; somebody loves me. So as soon as there is question of love, there must be lover, there must be beloved, and the transaction, then love. Prema. Premā pum-artho mahān. So we have got this loving propensity, to love somebody, to love my family. First of all, love begins from family—father, mother, brother, sister. Then you extend your love to your society, to your community, then to your nation. Or you can extend to the international. You can expand. But what is the end? You can expand yourself, but unless you come to the point of loving the Supreme Person, you cannot have tranquillity or peace of mind. That is the secret.

Love means loving Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 1.8.35 -- Los Angeles, April 27, 1973 :

Kāma, the just opposite word is love. Kāma and..., kāma means lust, and love means loving Kṛṣṇa.

Love means without any motive.
Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Hawaii, January 20, 1974:

Anyone who has no other object to love, no children, no family, no wife—all right, keep a cat, keep a dog. But love is there. So that love is deserved for Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So the more we learn how to love the Supreme Lord, that is perfection of life. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. And what kind of love? Ahaituky apratihatā: that love is not motivated, that "I want this thing; therefore I shall love." Here in this material world the so-called love, lust, is motivated. "I'll get so much sense gratification; therefore I love a boy or a girl." That is not love; that is lust. Love means without any motive. Without any motive. Ahaitukī. And that, that love cannot be checked by any material impediments. Ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. If you can reach that love of Godhead, then you'll feel, "Oh, I am so fortunate." Otherwise we remain unfortunate. So love is there everywhere. Even in cats' and dogs' love there is love. But the perfection is when you actually find the person to love and you actually do it, that is perfection.

Love means if I love you, I don't want any return.
Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:

That is in spiritual world, not in this material... In the material world there is no love. It is lust. We are making business under the name of love. In the material world there cannot be love because... Suppose a girl loves a boy or a boy loves a girl. Both of them are actuated by sense gratification. So that is not love. That is not love. When there is question of sense gratification, that is not love. Just like there is little example. Just like mother loves the child. There is no question of sense gratification. Simply for the sake of love, the mother loves the child. It is simply a little example. Similarly, 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. Or we do not know what is meant by love. Love does not mean just a boy is attracted by a girl or a girl is attracted by a... That is not love. That is sense attraction. So in the material world there is no love. It is impossible. There is little, little example, just like I cited the example of mother and son or similar. That is also temporary. But real love is in the spiritual... That is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That is real love. There is no separation. There is no cheating. There is no divorce. There is no sex attraction. Simply for love's sake, loving, that is real love.

Love means two.
Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Paris, June 12, 1974:

Their philosophy is oneness. So how there can be love, one? Is it possible? Have you got any such experience? Love means one? No. Love means two. There must be two, the lover and the beloved. So lover... Kṛṣṇa is already lover. He's so lover of you that He's trying to get you back. That is Kṛṣṇa's attempt. "Please, My dear boy, or My dear friend, My dear servant..."

You can test, but pure love means whatever Kṛṣṇa may be, He is my lovable object: mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ.
Lecture on SB 2.3.1-4 -- Los Angeles, May 24, 1972:

Even when Kṛṣṇa played wonderful thing, so they simply thought, "Oh, He might be a demigod." You see. So they never tried to analyze Kṛṣṇa, but their love for Kṛṣṇa, there is no comparison. So that is wanted. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). "Whether Kṛṣṇa is God or not, let me test." You can test, but pure love means whatever Kṛṣṇa may be, He is my lovable object: mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ. We have no other business than to love Kṛṣṇa, whatever He may be. He may be God or He may be whatever He may be. That is called anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). Then what is the business? If everything is śūnyam... Śūnyam means zero. No, we are not zero. We are positive. What is that? Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Simply cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness favorably: "How I can become a lover of Kṛṣṇa?" That is wanted. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā. This is first-class devotion service. Of course, we should know Kṛṣṇa; otherwise, it may be we may neglect Him.

Love means six symptoms.
Lecture on SB 2.3.24 -- Los Angeles, June 22, 1972:

The whole system was that. Love exchange. I give you some service; you give me something, out of your love. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti. Love means six symptoms. I give you something, you give me something. I give you something for eating, you also give me something for eating. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate, guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. If I am in trouble, I express my mind, I open my mind before you, and you also try to help me. These are the six signs of love. That is Vedic civilization. Everything exchange of love. No business, mercantile.

Love means, "I enjoy or not enjoy, I love you."
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:

General idea is very good, but the one who is going to bestow divine service, he must know what is divine service and how to become divine. Lord Caitanya says, āpani ācari prabhu jīvera śikhāya. One has to first of all exhibit himself that he is divine, then he can, I mean to say, serve others divinely. "Physician heal thyself." If a physician is diseased, a patient does not like to go to him. "Well, he is himself diseased." So divine love is very good, but one should understand what is divine love. One should not misunderstand what is divine love. Just like in the material world, lust is accepted as love. A boy is loving a girl, a girl is loving... But it is lust. That is not love. But is going on in the name of love. The boy wants to enjoy the girl, the girl wants to enjoy the boy, and that is going on in love. Love is not like that. Love means, "I enjoy or not enjoy, I love you." That is love. Just like Cowper said, "England, with all thy faults, I love you." That is love. There is no return. Just like Rādhārāṇī's love to Kṛṣṇa. She does not require any return. You see?

Love means without any return, without any sense gratification, without any consideration.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:

Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana, Rādhārāṇī, and their whole life remained simply crying for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa never returned. But still, they loved Kṛṣṇa. That is love. That love is being shown by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: "Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa?" That's Rādhārāṇī's separation, love in separation. So love means without any return, without any sense gratification, without any consideration. That is love. Āśliṣya. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... Āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā (CC Antya 20.47).

Here the so-called love means he or she wants some return for sense gratification.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:

The lover is saying to the beloved, "Either You embrace me with love or you kick me, trample me down under Your feet. And if You make me brokenhearted without meeting me, so whatever You like, You can do. Still I love You." That is love. That is only possible to love Kṛṣṇa. That is not materially possible. Here the so-called love means he or she wants some return for sense gratification. So there the so-called love is lust. It is going in the market in the name of love. There is no love.

Love means trying to satisfy the senses of the lover. And who is the lover? Kṛṣṇa, the supreme lover.
Lecture on SB 6.1.11 -- New York, July 25, 1971:

But Kṛṣṇa consciousness means instead of satisfying one's own senses, one should be ready to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not very difficult. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta this distinction has been clearly made, what is love and what is lust. Lust means satisfying to gratify one's personal senses. And, and love means trying to satisfy the senses of the lover. And who is the lover? Kṛṣṇa, the supreme lover. So one, one is called prema, love, and the other is called lust—although the process may appear to be the same.

ātmendriya-prīti-vāñchā—tāre bali 'kāma'
kṛṣṇendriya-prīti-icchā dhare 'prema' nāma
(CC Adi 4.165)

Kāma and prema, this is the difference.

Real love means that. A lover does not consider what he is, the opposite party, what he is, whether he is rich man, whether he is educated man or educated... There is no such consideration. Love is spontaneous.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-62 -- Surat, January 3, 1971, at Adubhai Patel's House:

Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Just like gopīs, they did not try to understand Kṛṣṇa by jñāna, whether Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān. No. They simply automatically developed—not automatically; by their previous good activities—acute love for Kṛṣṇa. They never tried to understand Kṛṣṇa, whether He is God. When Uddhava tried to preach before them about jñāna they did not hear it very attentively. They simply absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Never mind Kṛṣṇa worship, but one loves Kṛṣṇa. And that is wanted. That is spontaneous. Real love means that. A lover does not consider what he is, the opposite party, what he is, whether he is rich man, whether he is educated man or educated... There is no such consideration. Love is spontaneous. That is an example also. Similarly, love for Kṛṣṇa, that should be simply spontaneous, without any consideration. Āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām: (CC Antya 20.47) "Either You trample down under Your feet or embrace me, still, I love You." That is love, that kind of love.

Love means love of Godhead. Otherwise, there is no love—only lust.
Lecture on SB 6.3.20-23 -- Gorakhpur, February 14, 1971:

Love means love of Godhead. Otherwise, there is no love—only lust.

To love means for benefit. That is real love. I love you for your benefit; you love me for my benefit. If I so-called love you for my benefit, that is lust. So in this material world there cannot be love.
Lecture on SB 7.6.9 -- New Vrindaban, June 25, 1976:

We are loving our child, that is very good, but not the soul, but the body. If someway or other the child is dead or my father is dead, we cry, "Father has gone." Why father has gone away? The body which you loved, that is lying there. So we do not know whom to love. So if we love actually, let us love the soul. How the soul... Love..., to love means for benefit. That is real love. I love you for your benefit; you love me for my benefit. If I so-called love you for my benefit, that is lust. So in this material world there cannot be love. It is not possible. Because everyone loves, so-called love. He loves his sense gratification. A young boy loves a young woman for his sense gratification, not for her sense gratification.

Love means for everyone. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Equality to all living entities.
Lecture on SB 7.6.9 -- New Vrindaban, June 25, 1976:

If we become pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then my love will be extended to everyone. Not only my society, but to everyone. It is not that "This is my children, that is other's children." All children. All human being. Not my countrymen—all other countrymen. Not only human beings, but even animals also. That is sneha. It is not that "I am safe, and let the animals be killed in the slaughterhouse." No, that is not love. Love means for everyone. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Equality to all living entities. That is real love. That is real concern, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A lover of Kṛṣṇa will hesitate to kill even one ant.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Symptom of love means when one is eager to render some service to the beloved.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101 -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

So we can discuss about the greatness of God, but next stage is that "God is so great, why not let me render some service unto the Supreme, the great?" That is one step forward. Simply to know "God is great and I am engaged in my own occupational duty," there is no symptom of love. Symptom of love means when one is eager to render some service to the beloved. That is love. Simply I love you and you love me, formality, but there is no service, that is not real love.

Love means there is person, individual. Without individual person, there is no question of love.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:

So those who are eternally liberated, they love Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are perfect in the spiritual world. 'Nitya-mukta'-nitya kṛṣṇa-caraṇe unmukha, 'kṛṣṇa-pāriṣada' nāma. They are all associates. The Supreme Lord is person, and His innumerable lovers, living entities, they are also individual persons. Love means there is person, individual. Without individual person, there is no question of love. When I, when the word "love" is used, there must be two lovers. Then the word is applicable, love. If there is no person, love is not with the air. There must be person. So the Supreme Lord is person, and the lovers, the living entities, they are also persons. They forget who is God, who is not God, but the central focus is in Kṛṣṇa. Everyone loves Kṛṣṇa. Without seeing Kṛṣṇa they are mad. This is the position in the spiritual world. Simply love Kṛṣṇa, that's all.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

So-called humanitarian love means they're loving some human being, but the animals are being killed.
Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971:

So our process is natural process. You love God, and if you (are) actually expert in loving God, naturally you love everyone. Just like Kṛṣṇa conscious person, because he loves God, he loves the animals also. He loves birds, beasts, everyone. But so-called humanitarian love means they're loving some human being, but the animals are being killed. Why they do not love the animals? Because imperfect. But the Kṛṣṇa conscious person will never kill an animal or give trouble to animal even. But that is universal love. If you love only your brother or sister, that is not universal love.

Universal love means you love everyone. That universal love can be developed by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not by otherwise.
Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971:

Universal love means you love everyone. That universal love can be developed by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not by otherwise.

General Lectures

Love means when there is intimacy. So to understand God is very difficult.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

So every human being should accept this mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and that is the purport of the verse Rūpa Gosvāmī first offered to Lord Caitanya, that namo mahā-vadānyāya: "You are the most munificent incarnation." Why? Now, "You are distributing Kṛṣṇa-prema, love of Godhead. People do not know what is God, and You are distributing love of Godhead." One cannot love anybody unless he knows the other party very well or very intimate dealings. Then there is question of love. Love, there is no question of love. If I do not know you, you do not know me, when we live ten thousand miles away, there is no question of love. Love means when there is intimacy. So to understand God is very difficult.

Philosophy Discussions

Love means the parties, they will not think of his own sense gratification but the sense gratification of the beloved.
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Hayagrīva: As far as defining love, what is love—people speak of love—he says, "If someone asks what is love, Paul answers, 'It is the fulfillment of the law.' Love is a matter of conscience, and hence it is not a matter of impulse and inclination, nor is it a matter of emotion, nor a matter for intellectual calculation. There is only one kind of love." And he says that is spiritual love.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Love in the material world is impossible. In the material world everyone is interested for his own sense gratification. The love between man and woman, young boy and young girl, that is not love, that is lust, because both the parties are interested in sense gratification. But that is not love. Love means the parties, they will not think of his own sense gratification but the sense gratification of the beloved. That is pure love. That is not possible in the material world, but we see the example of love in the picture of Vṛndāvana. In the Vṛndāvana village, everyone—man, animals and fruits, flowers, water, everything—they are only for loving Kṛṣṇa. They do not want any return from Kṛṣṇa. That is real love, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11).

No, sex life is animal. That is not love; that is lust.
Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: He says that real love means sympathy, not sex life.

Prabhupāda: No, sex life is animal. That is not love; that is lust. We always repeatedly say, sex life is lust. That is not love. Here is real love, that "They are suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Let us do something so that they may understand the values of life." Here is love. Sex, simply means you satisfy your senses and the other party satisfies her senses. That is sex. That is lust. You are lusty, she is lusty, that is all. There is no love. That is going on in the name of love. Rascaldom. That is not love. It is lust; they do not know it. Lusty thing has been accepted as love. Mistake. Bhrama, pramāda. Bhrama, mistake. Illusion. Illusion is accepted as something else. Lust is accepted as love. This is illusion.

Love means service.
Philosophy Discussion on Benedict Spinoza:

Love means service. Just like mother loves the child, she gives, she gives service. The father loves the child, she gives the service, he gives the service. So,

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam
Love means to give and to accept some gift from the lover.
Philosophy Discussion on Benedict Spinoza:

Love means to give and to accept some gift from the lover, dadāti pratigṛhṇāti, to feed him and to take foodstuff from him, to disclose his mind to him and understand his mind also. These six reciprocation of dealings is love. So love includes service.

Purports to Songs

Unalloyed love means without any tinge of philosophical speculation or fruitive activity.
Purport to Brahma-samhita Verses 32 and 38 -- New York, November 5, 1966:

Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). That qualification is unalloyed love. That's all. One who has achieved that unalloyed, unalloyed love for God... Unalloyed love means without any tinge of philosophical speculation or fruitive activity. That's another subject. It requires great explanation. But unalloyed love means without any tinge of material color. (indistinct) That is called unalloyed. Even philosophical speculation or fruitive activities, if it is offered to the Supreme Lord, that is not love. Love is above this.

So actual love means... Love, this word, can be applicable only with Kṛṣṇa, with God. Because we are created for that purpose.
Purport to Gaura Pahu -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1969:

Everyone says love. There are so many signboards, so many papers, "love, love." But there is no love. This is illusion. It is all lust. Love for intoxication, love for sex, love for this... This is going on. So actual love means... Love, this word, can be applicable only with Kṛṣṇa, with God. Because we are created for that purpose.

To love means to love Kṛṣṇa.
Purport to Gaura Pahu -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1969:

To love means to love Kṛṣṇa. So that is wanted. That is spiritual love. So prema-rathana. I could achieve that transcendental position of love, but I am neglecting. Therefore I am calling my spiritual death. And these things are happening due to my past misdeeds.

So love means loving God.
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:

So love means loving God. That is love. So the Caitanya Mahāprabhu is teaching this, yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam: "I am feeling one moment as a millenium, being separated from Kṛṣṇa. And the torrents of tears are coming just like torrents of rain." And śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvam: "And the whole world is seeming to Me vacant," govinda-viraheṇa me, "being separated from Govinda." This is love. So it doesn't matter what religious system you are following, but the result should be this, that you should be mad after God.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Pure love means anyābhilāśitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā.
Questions and Answers -- September 6, 1968, New York:

Prabhupāda: And those who are advanced devotees, they do not want to see whether Kṛṣṇa is great or small. They simply love Him. That's all. That is pure love. In Vṛndāvana, at least these gopīs, they never saw Kṛṣṇa's any jugglery or any greatness. But they still love, pure love. Pure love means

anyābhilāśitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu
śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
(Brs. 1.1.11)

Without any cultivation of knowledge, without any activities of fruitive action, without any desire, simply to love Kṛṣṇa in order to please Him—that is the highest perfectional stage of devotion. There is no consideration "Whether Kṛṣṇa is God or not, whether we are getting benefit or not." "Simply we love Kṛṣṇa." That is the perfectional stage.

Pure love means anyābhilāśitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam.
Questions and Answers -- September 6, 1968, New York:

Prabhupāda: So all these gopīs, all the cowherds boy in Vṛndāvana, they are not ordinary living entities. They have approached that stage after many, many pious activities. Yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ. After brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). Their position is different. Therefore they have reached that unalloyed stage: without any consideration, simply loving Kṛṣṇa. That stage they have passed already. There is no such consideration. Pure love. That is pure love. Pure love means anyābhilāśitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). There is no question of knowledge. What these gopīs...? They were damsels, cowherds girls. They had no study of Vedānta or anything knowledge. Simply ordinary village girls. How they attained such love for Kṛṣṇa? That is not ordinary thing. So it is not a thing that one should attain the transcendental loving platform of Kṛṣṇa by studying. No. vinā mahat-pāda-rajo 'bhiṣekam. It can be achieved by the grace of Kṛṣṇa or by the grace of Kṛṣṇa's devotees.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation Including Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.1-34 Recitation & Explanation -- April 1, 1969, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: If you put to test all kinds of religion in this formula of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you'll understand which religion is best. You haven't got to ask anybody. Simply by testing how much one has developed love of Godhead. How much one has learned to love Kṛṣṇa or God. If, following any type of religion, if you get this result, then you have performed your religious principle very nicely. This is the answer. And what kind of love? Ahaitukī, without any cause. "Oh, I love God because I want something from Him." Generally, as they love God, distress, they want something. "My dear Lord, I am very unhappy. Please help me." That is also good. That is not bad. That is accepted in Bhagavad-gītā. But that is not pure love. Pure love means there is no reason. "Why I am loving Kṛṣṇa? Oh, there is no reason. I love Kṛṣṇa. I want Kṛṣṇa." This is love.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Love means without any desire, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam, without any motive. That is pure love. If I give you something without any motive, that is pure love.
Room Conversation -- September 19, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Love symptoms means dadāti, giving. First symptom. Just like when a boy goes to love a girl, he brings something. That is ordinary etiquette. So first beginning of love is dadāti, pratigṛhṇāti. If I love you, I must give you. And if you offer me, I will take it, I will take something. Pratigṛhṇāti. Exchange, giving and taking. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti, bhuṅkte bhojayate. If you love somebody, give him to eat, and whatever he gives you, you also eat. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate, guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. And if you love somebody then you disclose your mind to him and try to understand him also. By these six processes the symptoms of love is there. But if you say that "I love you," but there is no action...

Guest (2): That giving should be without any intention of taking.

Prabhupāda: No, no profit making, no business that "I give you something. I must have something from you." No, no. Love means without any desire, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), without any motive. That is pure love. If I give you something without any motive, that is pure love.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Love means... You see the description of love is there, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. That is not love, "I love you and kill your brother." That's all.
Room Conversation -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Yogeśvara: He says that knowledge isn't sufficient. You have to have enough love of mankind so that these things will be put into practice.

Prabhupāda: If you have love of mankind, then you'll kill the cows. That is not love. I love you and kill this man. That is not love. Why? Why for loving you I shall kill him? What is that love? That is not love. Love means... You see the description of love is there, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
(BG 5.18)

That is not love, "I love you and kill your brother." That's all.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Love means that I want to eat something, and if I love somebody, then I will see that my beloved also eats.
Room Conversation with Carol Cameron -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Carol: How would you go about teaching this idea of love?

Prabhupāda: Love means that I want to eat something, and if I love somebody, then I will see that my beloved also eats. If you take something from your beloved, naturally the lovers present things. Just a boy loves a girl. He presents something to the girl. So, if you accept presentation by others, we should give him also something. And, if I have got some confidential thing, I must disclose it to the lover, and the lover is also expected, he should not keep anything confidential. He should disclose it. These are the six reciprocal exchanges between the lover and the beloved. If I love you, because you are beautiful, for my sense gratification, but I keep everything secret, that is not love. That is sense gratification. Lust. These are the signs of love.

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
ca ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

Prīti means love. These are the symptoms. Give and take, eat and give to eat, open you mind, and know the other party's mind also. This is love. The more you increase the six kinds of exchange, there is increase in the love.

First the love between-love means there are two, the lover and the beloved. So, the transaction begins between the two, then it expands.
Room Conversation with Carol Cameron -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Carol: Do you think a man who says he loves God should withdraw from the world, say into a community or something like that?

Prabhupāda: First of all between two. Then you can expand it. First the love between-love means there are two, the lover and the beloved. So, the transaction begins between the two, then it expands.

There are so many things. It is one of the items. Yes, that is one of the... Do you kill your own son? Why? Because you love him.
Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Dr. Pore: Love means never killing?

Prabhupāda: There are so many things. It is one of the items. Yes, that is one of the... Do you kill your own son? Why? Because you love him.

Love means without any personal profit.
Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ yato bhaktir adhokṣaje: "That is first-class religion which teaches how to love God." And that love—not for any material motive: "God, You give me this. Then I will love." No. Ahaitukī. Love means without any personal profit. If I love God for some profit that is business. That is not love. Ahaituky apratihatā. And such love of God cannot be checked by any material cause. In any condition, one can learn how to love God. It is not conditional, that "I am poor man. How shall I love God? I have got so many things to do." No, it is not like that. Poor, rich or young or old, black or white, there is no impediment. If one wants to love God, he can love God.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Love means they want to see their lovable suffering so much, you see.
Room Conversation -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976 :

Devotee (2): They like to keep the, Christ, the deity of Christ, they keep him nailed on the cross. They think that's very...

Prabhupāda: Therefore you see all the pictures in the Church, he is carrying the cross, and he is pushing, pushed by the government men. How miserable condition they show.

Devotee (2): They don't have any...

Prabhupāda: They do not have picture, just like we show Kṛṣṇa is enjoying. Such rotten things. That is going on in religion. They love, they love means they want to see their lovable suffering so much, you see. Only then (indistinct). This, we want to see our lovable object that He is enjoying. Young boy, (indistinct) gopīs, and nice night, playing flute, He's enjoying. That we want to see. And they want to see that lovable he is suffering. How they can see it, if there is love?

Love means you come to my house, give me some presentation, and take something from me.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Kulādri: We had one priest who came. He was discussing with Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja. He did not know what God looked like, he never gave anything, never talked about God, but he said he loved God.

Prabhupāda: Then? What kind of love it is?

Kulādri: Nor did he say his people ever came to church. He said, "At best they come once a week." He said that's all that is necessary.

Prabhupāda: Well, love does not mean that you come once in a week at my house. Love means you come to my house, give me some presentation, and take something from me. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam.

Love means if you love somebody, then you must give him something, you must accept something from him.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Love means if you love somebody, then you must give him something, you must accept something from him. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti. You must disclose your mind to him and he should disclose his mind to you. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati, and bhuṅkte bhojayate. If you love somebody, you give him something eatable and whatever eatable he offers you accept. These six kinds of exchange makes love. But if you do not know the person, the boy or the girl, then where is the question of love? Love begins... If you love some girl, if you love some boy, then you give something, some presentation, and he gives you some presentation. That develops love. You give something to eat and whatever he gives you to eat, you eat. You disclose your mind, "My dear such and such, I love you. This is my ambition." He dis... These are the exchange of love. So if there is no persons to person meeting, where is the question of love? That is not love. If I love somebody and weekly I visit that house, "This is the house," that's all. Where is the exchange of love?

Love means there is exchange.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Love means there is exchange. If you love somebody, if you have not given anything to that somebody, neither you have taken something from him, where is the love? Is that love? Means imperfect knowledge. You love... The conclusion is religion means to love God, and to love God means you must know who is God. There cannot be any other alternative.

Love means direct contact.
Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: And to love God we must have definite idea of God, our exchange. Just like materially also, if somebody loves somebody, one must know each other. Otherwise where there is question of love? Love means direct contact. So they speak of love of Godhead. Just like the Christian people, they say "Love of Godhead." But they have no idea who is God. So where is the question of love? It is an impractical proposition, love of Godhead. First of all, you must know who is God. If I love somebody, I must know him, what he is. So this is going on. They speak of love of Godhead, but they do not know who is God or what is God. Therefore they are misguided. Simply it is words. There is no practical value. Do you agree with this point or not? If you have no idea of God, if you have no business with God, then where is the question of love? What is the definition of love, huh? What is the definition of love?

Love means two persons, both of them; beloved and the lover, is it not?
Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: We talk about love, but I think you should personally, an individual should experience. My definition would be, a, uh, unworthy.

Prabhupāda: Definition of love, you can explain what is definition of love.

Parivrājakācārya: I can explain the definition of bhakti.

Prabhupāda: No, you bring another word. But explain it, what is love. In Vedic language you get every definition. Love means two persons, both of them; beloved and the lover, is it not? The first condition of love means there must be two persons. What do you think? There must be two persons when there is question of love.

Love means two persons, there is exchange.
Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Hari-śauri: Yes, it's a reciprocation.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Otherwise where is love? What is this? Unless there are two persons, where is the question of love? Try to understand one step by step.

Ali: Does that mean one loses himself? Personality?

Prabhupāda: What does he say?

Parivrājakācārya: Does that mean that one loses himself?

Prabhupāda: Why? Then where is love? Why shall I lose? I exist, you exist, then there is love. If I am lost, then with whom there will be to love?

Ali: I didn't mean losing the existence, but losing the self-importance.

Hari-śauri: Self-interest.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is very important thing. That is important, yes. But love means two persons, there is exchange. Giving something, taking something, feeding something and to eat something, and speaking everything, no secrecy, and to know everything of the other person. When these things are transacted, then there is love. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. If I love you and if I have got some secrecy, I don't disclose to you, that is not perfect love. I must deal with you open-hearted, you must deal with me open-hearted, then there is love. This is one of the basic principles. I shall invite you to eat with me and I shall accept your invitation to eat with me. I shall give you some presentation, you shall give me some presentation. In this way love develops. So if you want to love Kṛṣṇa, God, then these things must be there.

Correspondence

1973 Correspondence

Actual love means love of God, Krishna.
Letter to Lynne Ludwig -- Los Angeles 30 April, 1973:

You refer to the word "love" several times in your letter, but actual fact is there is no love in this material world. That is false propaganda. What they call "love" here is lust only, desire for personal sense-gratification;

kama esa krodha esa, rajoguna samudbhavah,

maha-sano maha-papma, viddhy enam iha vairinam

Krishna tells Arjuna, His disciple, that "It is lust only . . . which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world." In the Vedic language, their word for materialistic "love" as we call it at present day; "kama" lust for material desire, not love. The word for love, actually love we find in Vedas is "prema", meaning one's love of God, only. Outside God, there is no possibility of loving. Rather it is lusty desire the whole range of human activities, whatever and whenever, so long with this atmosphere of matter, the every activity of the human being—or any living entity—is based upon or given impetus, and thus polluted, by the attraction between male and female, sex-desire. For that sex-life, the whole universe is spinning round—and suffering! That is the harsh truth. So-called love, here, means "you gratify my senses, I'll gratify your senses," and as soon as that gratification stops: immediately there is divorce, separation, quarrel, hatred. So many things there are, going on under this false conception of love. Actual love means love of God, Krishna.

Page Title:Love means
Compiler:Rati, Prem, MadhuGopaldas
Created:20 of Nov, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=38, Con=16, Let=1
No. of Quotes:56