Here, I am facing myself again, in the beginning days of this Holy month of Kartik...to remember that beautiful pastime of how the Supreme One who frees us from material bondage got bound by the rope of love of His pure devotee...

It is said that, there is actually only one word in the whole existance: LOVE! It is either a giving of love or a call for it! And all our daily activities center around it!

I look at the people in the world, they are fighting, quarreling or crying suffering so intensely from an upbringing of lack of love! I look at the new comers to devotional service, and see that they need special care because that's what will ultimately attract them to the spiritual path...having been disappointed with the worldly pursuits and turning to a spiritual alternative of expression of love! I look at myself, how I was desperately looking for it from the people around, getting it from the senior devotees, and then sharing it with those who come after. I look at the pure representatives who are tirelessly traveling and sharing the love of God all over the world to satisfy the hungry souls. And I look at the Supreme Lord who is the source of all the perfect and complete love, how He is constantly giving His love, teaching us how to love, and finally completely bound by the love of His pure devotees who have fully received it from Him.

But love is something we miss easily, misinterpret constantly and express with difficulty, simply due to the fact that we have been in the association of lust for too long. We have got the ideal definition of love in Krishna Consciousness, so we dive into it with no reluctancy, yet always have difficulty realizing and applying it. The mind understands love, and the heart cries for it. But the body often misinterprets love, and the language misexpresses it. So we end up finding even devotees struggling with it, or falling away from the devotional path having lost the connection. It is like a long-lost lover. After years of separation you've established some relationship with someone else, and have almost completely forgotten that person whom you used to be so close to. Then after a long search you finally get reunited, but long separation has given you a hard time getting comfortable again with each other. So finally you may even end up separating again having failed to find the connection...only those few with determination after repeated failure and efforts finally become perfectly united again. Then all the distance disappears, all the pain goes away, and you can't live without each other just like fish can not live without water.

That's how it is for us with Krishna. After such a long separation we can hardly recognize Him, and even less appreciation. So we first become close to those who know Him to see if we feel connected, and then slowly approach Him as the ultimate object of our devotion. There are still despondence and heart-breaking in the process. There are still disappointment and frustration and sacrifice along the way. There are the pains of being distanced from the world and people, and even the tears of being left alone, having left the world and still being a long way from the goal...untill one day, when all the false attachments are removed and full connection is established...the Lord enchants us with His complete beauty and we bind the Lord with the rope of pure love!