The Burden of Love (Part Two - Conclusion)

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The Burden of Love (Part Two - Conclusion)

 

The young woman in the story of Sri Ramanujacarya demonstrates that

love

is often expressed by embracing things we don't like. In fact, this

is

the test of our love. One might disagree. One can point to a

purport

of

Srila Prabhupada's (Bg 9.26), which states, "Above all, the offering

should be made with an attitude of love. Krishna has no need of food,

since He already possesses everything that be, yet He will accept the

offering of one who desires to please Him in that way. The important

element, in preparation, in serving and in offering, is to act with

love

for Krishna."

 

But this does not contradict the idea of sacrifice. Out of love, one

has

voluntarily entered into a relationship, and to maintain and promote

that

relationship, one may accept some hardship as a burden of love. Love

does not mean only doing what one likes to do. A parent does all

kinds

of unpleasant things out of love for his or her baby. So, love also

means sacrifice. Similarly, a disciple takes on all kinds of

inconvenience out of love for the spiritual master. Krishna is

pleased

by love for the guru, and that begins with obedience. Srila

Prabhupada

says that there is great gain in such loving sacrifice (Lecture,

August

24, 1968): "Anything which you do not like, but for Krishna's sake if

you accept, that is tapasya. Because your, the central point is, you

love

Krishna; therefore you have sacrificed. The point is that for

Krishna's

sake, you are voluntarily accepting this inconvenience. That is

tapasya.

And as soon as you become tapasvi, your whole existential condition

becomes purified."

 

One who argues that she can perform certain kinds of service out of

love

but will not perform others because they are unpleasant is speaking on

the basis of attachment. One may be attached to (or repulsed by) a

particular activity or the result. But Krishna argues for

nonattachment

in Bhagavad-gita (2.47):

 

karmany evadhikaras te

ma phalesu kadacana

ma karma-phala-hetur bhur

ma te sango 'stv akarmani

 

yoga-sthah kuru karmani

sangam tyaktva dhananjaya

siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

samatvam yoga ucyate

 

"You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not

entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of

the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing

your

duty. Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all

attachment

to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga."

 

Arjuna's dilemma at Kuruksetra is a prime example. He dearly loved

Dronacarya, Bhismsa and many other allies of Duryodhana. He was so

overwhelmed at the prospect of killing his beloved family members and

superiors that he chose not to fight. Lord Krishna, however,

chastised

Arjuna for this sentimental display. He even called Arjuna's apparent

nobility a petty weakness of heart, ksudram hrdaya-daurbalyam! Sri

Krishna convinced Arjuna that it was his duty to fight and that

Krishna

Himself willed the battle to take place. Arjuna took up his Gandiva

and

fought, though it was still very difficult for him to kill his loved

ones.

 

In Krishna consciousness, one's love for the Lord is based upon one's

love, not for particular activities, but one's love for and obedience

to

the spiritual master. Inevitably, the spiritual master will ask the

disciple to stretch her preconceived limits of what is pleasant or

unpleasant, what is or is not possible. Some instructions will be

uncomfortable, but the disciple will bear them as a burden of love.

 

In the last months of Srila Prabhupada's extended illness, some of

Srila

Prabhupada's senior disciples were caring for him. It was very

difficult. These young men were now in charge of making decisions on

behalf of their spiritual master - how to care for him, keep him

comfortable, how to encourage him to recover. All the while, they

were

facing the crushing realization that soon he would pass away. He was

the

center of their universe. How would they go on individually without

him?

How would they maintain his mission? It was painful and sweet, as we

can see in this exchange between Srila Prabhupada and Tamala Krsna

Maharaj:

 

Tamala Krsna: Srila Prabhupada, the way you deal with us simply

deepens

our attachment every moment.

 

Prabhupada: It is my duty. (laughter) There was a professor in

Scottish

Churches' College. So when you would say something, he would reply,

"That's my duty,juti," j-u-t-i. (chuckles).

 

When Srila Prabhupada seemed to indicate that he was perhaps a burden

for

his disciples due to his immobility, Jayadvaita Maharaj replied:

"You've

given the example in Srimad-Bhagavatam that when a capitalist has

money,

that's also a burden. And when the woman has a child, that child is a

burden. So in the same way... But that burden is a burden of love. So

you're that kind of burden, the kind of burden that's wanted."

 

Love is not cheap or easy. It is a crooked path. It overlaps with

unpleasant things such as pain and sacrifice and tribulation. But

because the path is love, these pains and sacrifices and tribulations

intensify the depth and happiness of love. Love is indeed the only

thing

that pleases Krishna. But this does not mean that Krishna is

satisfied

simply by whether or not his aspiring devotee is happy with a

particular

service. In fact, a devotee who thinks this way will not be satisfied

either (SB 1.2.6):

 

sa vai pumsam paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhoksaje

ahaituky apratihata

yayatma suprasidati

 

"The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men

can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord.

Such

devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely

satisfy the self."

 

Krishna and the devotee will only be satisfied by selfless love,

meaning

that service which is prepared to embrace pain and sacrifice and

difficulty.