With Valentine’s Day recently passing, we are reminded of the modern day relationships between men and women and the issues that come with them. Unlike during Vedic times, in today’s society, men and women are free to mingle amongst each other and have independence in choosing their significant others.
When a new relationship starts, whether it be of the marriage or a boyfriend-girlfriend variety, we sometimes develop a strong attachment for our paramour. At this point, one of the major relationship issues arises…that of saying three magic words of “I Love you.” Our feelings are very strong and we desperately want to let the other person know how we feel. Yet we are hesitant to say it since we’re not sure if the other person feels the same way. Eventually we no longer can sit idly by, and we force ourselves to reveal our feelings.
Revealing our loving feelings to someone else naturally give us tremendous satisfaction and bliss. We want the other person to know how we feel. As soon as we say it once, and the other person reciprocates, we start saying “I love you” as much as we can. We can’t end a phone conversation without saying it. We can’t say goodbye without saying it. We say it through letters, gifts, and even before we go to sleep. In this way, we derive tremendous bliss from our feelings of love.
These loving feelings exist in all of us due to our original loving relationship with God. We are all part and parcels of God, but we have forgotten this relationship due to our contact with material nature. The illusory energy of material nature, called maya, has redirected the love that we have for God to other people, such as friends, family, and pets.
The easiest way of rekindling that relationship is to chant the holy name of God, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.” “Krishna” and “Rama” are authorized names of God according to the Vedas, and “Hare” means the energy of God. When we are chanting “Hare Krishna”, we are paying obeisance to God and asking Him to let us love him. “Hare Krishna” is the best way to say “I love you.”
If we declare our love for God and sincerely mean it, then He will never abandon us. Krishna will love us ten times more than we love Him. Through experience, we have found that sometimes we can fall in and out love. We may love somebody for some time, but through disagreements or separation, that love dwindles. Eventually, the original “I love you”s end up being for naught.
Our love for God actually never dwindles. Once we decide to even serve Krishna a little bit, He makes sure to take care of us and love us no matter what may happen. Vedic literature is full of examples of great devotees who fell down from their exalted positions and took to sinful life, only to be saved afterwards. An example of this is Ajamila. Ajamila was a very pious man who ended up falling in loving with a prostitute. They had a son, and Ajamaila was still devoted enough to name his son Narayana, one of the names of Krishna. There is no difference between the Lord and His name. At the time of his death, Ajamila called out for his son, and because he remembered the Lord’s name, he was saved from going to hell. Instead of hell, he was sent to Krishna’s spiritual kingdom. The Lord knew that Ajamila had previously been a devotee, so He made sure to protect him. We may think we have an idea of what kindness means, but Krishna is the embodiment of the word.
Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and center of the universe. If we love Him, then we will automatically love all His other sons and daughters even more. Loving Him is the best way to increase our love for our husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend. So please chant “Hare Krishna” as much as you can and tell God how much you love Him.