Today I read a wonderful article pertaining to the relationship between Moses and God. The relationship started off with Moses wanting something from God but went into a more intimate relationship. God finally revealed His more intimate self rather than the angry/father persona that the Old Testament mostly focuses on.
I was walking around with Baby Gauri outside and it just hit me, that God wants an intimate relationship with us and we want an intimate relationship with God, but due to our being covered by the inferior energy of the Lord, we wrap ourselves up in fruitive activities and mental speculation. We know from the scriptures that devotional service awakens our dormant love for Him.
Love of God. The more we serve with love. Loving Krishna is not based on rituals and regulations. Love transcends these. The devotee does not perform rituals, he transforms the rituals into acts of love. Those acts of love attracts Krishna. It is stated that devotional service is sri-krsna-karsini, it attracts the Lord. That love is Srimati Radharani. As we surrender the Lord reciprocates. We cannot understand God through intellect or ritual, we can only understand God by His mercy. We cannot force our way into a relationship with somebody. We cannot force God to have a relationship with us.
Love. The devotee wants Krishna to be pleased, nothing for oneself. The gopis are the topmost devotees. They are simple village girls who love Krishna for Him. They do not even care for the knowledge of Krishna's Godhead position. They are attracted to His pastimes, qualities and His flute. This may sound sentimental, but this is actually deeper than any mundane religion, meditation or hatha yoga. Covered over by the Lord's maha-maya potency, the living entities do not the truth. The truth is the devotee wants to please Krishna and Krishna wants to please the devotee. To please someone means to serve that person. We are selfish and filled with speculations because we take shelter of other speculators rather than serve the pure representative of God who has the ability to transform us into pure devotees. Whew............................... Love.
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Continuing on this topic of loving God or fearing God, I just read something that relates to this issue. It is from the Spiritual Warrior IV: Conquering the Enemies of the Mind. In a chapter entitled: Choosing Love Over Fear, Bhakti-tirtha Swami points out that "love cannot develop in the presence of fear".
This is a very powerful statement. "Love cannot develop in the presence of fear". Think about all the people who are encouraged to obey God out of fear. How will they ever achieve the perfection of life (to achieve love of God), when they are in fear of Him?
Those that primarily preach the idea that one should fear God are ultimately doing a great disservice. Because by doing so they are preventing the loving relationships between God and His devotees from ever taking place.
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