How can we understand Prabhupada’s statement that there is no love in this world?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, sometimes we hear from Sri Prabhupada, there’s no love in this world. Yes. Actually, scripture, if we see, when it is taking one angle, and not just scripture, Krishna Prabhupada, when they are taking one perspective, they focus on that one perspective.
And then other times, they give other perspectives also. So, for example, Prabhupada many times says that, there is no happiness in the material world. But then, Prabhupada also quotes the nectar of devotion.
He talks about various levels of happiness. And he says that, the happiness in the earth, thousands of times more than that, is the happiness in the heavens. Then thousands of times more than that, is the happiness in Brahman-loka.
Thousands of times more, is the happiness in Brahman-loka. And thousands of times more happiness, is there in the spiritual world. So, now again, this hierarchy indicates, that there is some happiness here.
Or even, now, Radha Ashtakam is coming. We have this beautiful Radhika Ashtakam, where it’s a Vishwa Vandya. It says, how there are various levels of beauties.
There are beautiful women in this world. There are the Apsaras in the spiritual, in the heavens. Then there are the goddesses of fortune.
And there are Gopis. And then there is Radharani, whose beauty, whose qualities, are far, far more than everyone else’s. So, again, there’s a hierarchy over here.
So, the point is, and if you consider philosophically also, Krishna says, the whole chapter of Vibhuti Yoga, 10.41, he gives the principle, but the whole 10 chapters of Vibhuti Yoga, he says that, yad yad vibhuti manasattvam shrimadur jitanevama tattva devavagacchattvam mumma tejvamsya sambhavam that whatever is attractive in this world, it manifests a spark of Krishna’s splendor. So, that means, there are attractive things in this world. Krishna, if it’s manifesting a spark, the spark is not the whole, but the spark is real.
And the spark cannot provide you the satisfaction the whole can provide. But if it is a spark coming from the whole, if it is manifesting a spark of the whole, that means it also has attractiveness. So, the Bhagavad Gita does not reject in that sense, that there are attractive things in this world.
And naturally, attractive things, they evoke attraction. And attraction is a form of love. So, when we say that, actually, Prabhupada says, there is no love in this world.
That statement has to be seen in the light of other statements and scriptures. So, basically, there is the idea that the love in this world itself is the ultimate. That’s what people think.
People are so enamored by their fascination with love. So, then, it’s nothing. Nothing to be so excited about.
So, there is a word. What applies for love also applies for happiness. Because in love, we get happiness.
There is one verse in Prahlad Maharaj’s prayers to Narasimhadeva, which reconciles both. So, he says, So, he says, Narasimhadeva is telling him, what benediction do you want? And Prahlad says, My dear lord, what benediction can I ask you in this world? He says, actually, happiness is something we only hear about in this world. But if we try to experience it, it is like a mirage.
And he says, what about the body? You can get so much enjoyment from it. He says, It’s simply a breeding place for diseases. So, then, despite this terrible dreary reality, people are not able to give up the desire for worldly enjoyment.
And not just ordinary people, even Vidhwan, even wise people can’t give it up. Why is that? That in fulfilling kama, in fulfilling desire, there is a drop of nectar. Lava is a fraction.
Madhu is honey, or nectar. And that shamayandura, it’s almost irresistible to me. So, in the same words, he’s using two metaphors, which can seem contradictory.
One is mirage, and the other is a drop of honey. So, in a mirage, there is no water. In a drop of honey, there is a drop.
So, what is the reality? The mirage is not about the presence of happiness, or the presence of love. The mirage is about the quantity of love, or the quantity of happiness. We, when we are attracted to objects in this world, we think this will give me so much happiness.
This relationship will give me so much love that I’ll be satisfied. So, the falsity is in terms of the mind’s imagination that So, sense pleasure is not imaginary. There is a little pleasure.
But, what is a product of imagination is our conception of the quantity. We think there is so much pleasure over there. We think there is so much love over there.
But then, it turns out to be so little. So, Srila Prabhupada also points towards this when he says that the mother’s love for a child is the nearest that we get to selfless love in this world. So, in the book Second Chance, Srila Prabhupada writes that parents naturally feel affection for their children.
And he says that such affection is natural and necessary. But, it is not spiritual. So, Prabhupada is not saying this is false.
When parents take care of their children, when animals take care of their offsprings, that is natural. It is natural in the sense that it is produced by nature. It is necessary.
The offspring would not even live without it. But, it is itself not spiritual. So, the statement that when Prabhupada says there is no love in this world, we have to see that in the light of other statements also.
So, there is no love in this world. Like Prahlad says, it is a mirage. But then, when we see, he also says, there is a drop.
So, the mirage is in terms of the quantity. We think there is a lot over here which will make us happy. But, what is actually there is very, very little.
So, as compared to the promise that is there, what we get is so little that it is almost like nothing. There is an example often given of this that suppose somebody is in a desert and they are dying of water and suddenly they see a helicopter coming along. The helicopter is written W-A-T-E-R.
And the helicopter lands. And then there is a person in uniform comes with a big jug of water. It is also written W-A-T-E-R.
And this person moves the hand forward. And that person comes out, pours that big jug. And what comes out is one drop of water.
And then, that person just walks back with the helicopter and the helicopter flies away. What? What? One drop? What is that going to do? It is almost like nothing. Isn’t it? So, as compared to our longing and our imagination, the love and the happiness that we get in this world is like nothing.
But in principle, a drop of water is still some water. So, the attractiveness in this world, attractive objects in this world do manifest a spark of Krishna’s power. So, the Bhagavatam also says in the Chato Shloki, what is Maya? Maya is to Riddhe Artham Yat Pratiyedhan Pratiyedh Tat Vidyad Atmano Maya Nitha Vasa Veda Dama To see things disconnected from Krishna.
That is Maya. So, when I see this drop and I think this alone will be enough for me, then that is Maya. And to expose that this drop is not going to satisfy us.
So, Acharyas sometimes make, not just Acharyas, Shastras also make a rhetorical statement that there is no love in this world. So, those statements, if we see them in the proper light, that statement expresses one’s perspective. There are other statements which express other perspectives.
Then we understand that in comparison to what we long for, the love in this world is so tiny that it is like nothing. This is the answer. Thank you very much.
Shetanacharita Amrit Ki Jai Gaur Premam So, our nature,