Love or Lust—What's the Difference?

-The reciprocation of love between Radha and Krsna is the essence of spiritual love. Because Krsna is the origin of everything, He is the origin of love also. The attraction between boys and girls in the material world is a perverted reflection of the purely spiritual relationship between Radha and Krsna. One who thinks he can be happy through material sexual enjoyment cannot understand the relationship between Radha and Krsna; and, conversely, if one hears about Radha and Krsna from a bona fide spiritual master, his material sexual desires evaporate.

In the material world, although one may profess true love, inwardly one's real desire is to enjoy his own senses. We love someone as long is he or she pleases our senses, and when such sensual pleasure dwindles, the so-called love dwindles with it. Thus the love affair ends in separation or divorce. But pure devotees of Krsna on the spiritual platform have no desires to please themselves. They desire only to please Lord Krsna. This is true unalloyed love.

What we speak of as "love" in the material world is actually lust, or a desire to serve oneself. It has no permanent basis: today I love one girl, tomorrow another, according to my changing fancy. Indeed, although a boy and girl may change sexual partners as often as dogs and cats do, in our modern idiom we refer to their sexual intercourse as "lovemaking," as though the gross friction of two hot bodies could generate love. We speak of love so easily, but actually in this material world there is no love-it is all lust. The difference between love and lust is like the difference between gold and iron. Both gold and iron are metals, but otherwise they are not at all alike.

The conditioned souls in the material world are generally misdirected and frustrated in love because they try to get pleasure by satisfying their material bodily senses. They do not know that they are different from their bodies. The body is always changing-from childhood, to youth, to old age-but the same person is always present in each body. He identifies himself as an American or Englishman, a Jew or a Christian, a boy or a girl, according to his body, but that body is not himself. Therefore no matter how diligently he tries to be happy by gratifying his bodily demands, he is never successful. Just as one cannot satisfy a bird by cleaning its cage and not feeding the bird itself, one cannot satisfy himself merely by trying to satisfy his physical senses. Besides that, the more one tries to satisfy the senses, the more they demand. Indulgence cannot satisfy the senses, any more than gasoline can extinguish a fire. Trying to smother one's anxieties with the gasoline of sense gratification will only ignite an explosion. Therefore, by trying to satisfy his material desires for sensual enjoyment the poor conditioned soul merely increases his desire, but not his satisfaction. He becomes a servant of the senses, working hard to fulfill hankerings that can never be fulfilled. To find real pleasure, one must find real love-and for this one must love Krsna. To be truly happy, one must engage in His devotional service.

Such devotional service is under the control of Srimati Radharani. She is the presiding Deity of devotional service. Because She is very merciful, devotees especially take advantage of Her merciful nature to attain the service of Krsna. Indeed, although engagement in pure devotional service is rarely achieved, one can achieve it very easily by the grace of Srimati Radharani.

Bhagavad-gita confirms that those who are truly mahatmas, great souls, take shelter of Krsna's daivi prakrti, or spiritual energy-Srimati Radharani. "Always chanting My glories," Lord Krsna declares, "endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion." (Bg. 9.14) This devotional service is not an activity of the material world; it is fully spiritual because it is directly under the control of Krsna's spiritual energy-Srimati Radharani.

To perform devotional service, one should follow in the footsteps of Srimati Radharani by performing pure devotional service to Krsna, without any concern for material profit. But one should not worship Krsna alone. Krsna is not complete without Radharani, as the sun is not complete without the sunshine. One should therefore worship both Radha and Krsna, for together They are the complete Absolute Truth.

Actually, worshiping Radharani is better than worshiping Krsna. More precisely, one can best worship Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through Srimati Radharani, His supreme pleasure energy. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita, "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it." (Bg. 9.26) But rather than offer a flower directly to Krsna, better to offer the flower to Srimati Radharani, requesting, "My dear Radharani, please recommend me to Your Krsna." Krsna is the supreme controller, yet He is controlled by the pure devotion of Srimati Radharani. Krsna is therefore also known as the "property of Radharani." if one can please Radharani, therefore, one can very easily please Lord Krsna.

Srimati Radharani has the vision of a maha-bhagavata, the most highly elevated devotee. Thus She sees everyone equally. If anyone approaches Her to serve Krsna, even if he is the most fallen, She immediately bestows Her mercy upon him by recommending to Krsna, "Oh, Krsna, here is a devotee. He is better than Me." Because Srimati Radharani is always absorbed in thought of Krsna, She is very dear to Krsna. Therefore if one tries in this way to reach Krsna through Radharani, he will surely be successful.