Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to give us the highest gift of Krishna prema. Rupa Goswami extols Mahaprabhu as maha vadanyaya, the most magnanimous.
Mahaprabhu gave love for Krishna without requiring people to even have knowledge of Krishna. His magnanimity lies in the fact that even without we knowing Krishna, He bestowed love for Krishna upon us.
It is very difficult to love someone without knowing them, but Mahaprabhu is offering us that.
Almost all of the second generation devotees haven’t seen Srila Prabhupada. Is it possible to love Srila Prabhupada without seeing him? Also, we haven’t seen Krishna. How then can we love Him?
Love at First Sight
In the modern world, seeing one another is highly emphasized. How can a boy and girl marry without seeing each other? It seems impossible.
We have many examples of people falling in love at first sight. But if love is dependent on seeing, why do couples who keep intently gazing at each other’s faces for the whole day get separated? Their later sight becomes affected by a vision defect.
Their seeing gets transformed not into increased love, but into disgust.
That means love is not the result of merely seeing someone.
Hearing About That Person
Actually, more than seeing, love is about hearing — hearing from that person and hearing about that person.
Didn’t Urvashi hear about Pururava’s glorious qualities before getting enchanted by him? For Pururava, it was love at first sight. But later, rather quite later, he lamented. He understood that his attraction was only skin deep.
How did Rukmini awaken her love for Krishna? Simply by hearing about Krishna.
She says:
śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṁ te
nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato ‘ṅga-tāpam
rūpaṁ dṛśāṁ dṛśimatāṁ akhilārtha-lābhaṁ
tvayy acyutāviśati cittam apatrapaṁ me
Śrī Rukmiṇī said [in her letter, as read by the brāhmaṇa]: O beauty of the worlds, having heard of Your qualities, which enter the ears of those who hear and remove their bodily distress, and having also heard of Your beauty, which fulfills all the visual desires of those who see, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You, O Kṛṣṇa. SB 10.52.37
How did the brāhmaṇa patnīs develop love for Krishna? Again, by hearing about Him.
Similarly, if one wishes to develop love for Srila Prabhupada, it is quite possible when we hear about Srila Prabhupada. There are around 100 biographies on his life – more than any other person in the 20th century.
When we read about him, it is but natural to be affected by his divine character.
Hearing From That Person
A boy and a girl develop their so called love by speaking and hearing from one another.
If we wish to develop love for Krishna or Srila Prabhupada, another very important thing we must do is to hear from them – to hear the words of Krishna, the song of God, Bhagavad Gita, or the numerous places where Krishna has spoken in the Srimad Bhagavatam.
When we repeatedly hear from a person, we can surely develop love for that person.
Srila Prabhupada’s disciples heard from him and, as a result, developed attachment to him.
There were many who loved him so much that they followed him wherever he went, but they could not continue in the movement after Srila Prabhupada left.Because their attraction was mainly on the physical plane. Their connection was not with the vani.
Vani has the power to surcharge spiritual emotions. When we hear lectures, kirtans and bhajans of Srila Prabhupada, it creates a deep impact. I remember a very new devotee once saying about Srila Prabhupada’s kirtan as ‘very divine’ which she heard accidentally on YouTube.
Sound vibration has great power.
Associate With Their Lover
Love is contagious. If someone loves Srila Prabhupada very dearly, and if we take their association, it is just a matter of time. We will also develop the same loving feelings toward Srila Prabhupada.
If someone is mad after Krishna, he can make us mad after Krishna too.
When Uddhava went to Vrindavan and saw the intense love of the gopis, he was mesmerized by their love, to say the least. He desired simply to become a creeper and attain the dust of their lotus feet. Before coming to Vrindavan, he was confidently going as Krishna’s messenger. But after reaching there, he understood he was a beggar.
He went there to transform their hearts, but he returned with a transformed heart.
Association matters a lot, and it can bring quick results. Otherwise, how could we, who had no idea about Srila Prabhupada or Lord Caitanya, now be trying to serve in their mission and give at least a bit of our energy for them?
