Nectar of Devotion
The feeling of love is the most fundamental feeling of all living beings, especially the human being. This feeling is always hankering for perfection, and if that hankering for perfection remains unsatisfied it leads to an underlying frustration in live. Love approaches the level of completeness only if applied to the source of all existence, to God. And one who is really in love with God must spontaneously love everyone and everything, because all is part of Him. The process of developing this genuine love of God is generally known as bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotion or devotional service.
Genuine love involves complete dedication to the happiness of object of love. A mother is prepared to sacrifice everything for the safety and satisfaction of her child and she serves her child with complete devotion. Great lovers like Romeo and Julia loved each other to the point of sacrificing their lives for each other, and great statesmen like Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi sacrificed everything for their kinsmen. Now, if this kind of intensive love is directed to God, it is able to transcend all barriers and come to the level of complete purity and selflessness. In this state love cannot exclude anyone or anything.
How to come to this state of pure love is vividly described in Srila Rupa Gosvami’s book Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu. Rupa Gosvami describes 64 principles of activities, attitudes and cultivations of feelings in relation to God. These are all things everyone can do in his or her daily life. They are practices that release our cravings for reciprocation of unconditional love.
The second part of the book describes the experiences and the inner life of someone who has actually entered into a loving relationship with God. A variety of its stunning features are mentioned in the book. These descriptions are sure to awaken the dormant love for God in the reader, who will then be able to relish his own, individual loving relationship with God. A summary study of Rupa Gosvami’s book is available under the title “Nectar of Devotion” by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
 
Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
www.krishna.com. Used with permission.