Ever Increasing Love

chandra sam barhai prem govind radhe,
pai yamen poornima na kabahun bata de

This couplet composed by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj is from Kripalu Bhakti Dhara, and his explanation of its meaning follows:

The definition of love is that it should always keep on increasing every moment. The place where the flow of the Ganges River begins in the Himalayas is shaped like the mouth of a cow, so it is called Gomukh. It is very narrow at this point. But after this its flow steadily increases, and by the time it reaches Bengal it is extremely big and wide. Divine love is like this. And what is worldly love like? It is like a river that begins with a width of fifty feet. So many small rivulets branch off from this river that eventually it becomes a small trickle. Understand this in simple language.

If you stand outside in the early morning, your shadow is extremely long. This becomes shorter and shorter as the sun moves, until midday when you have no shadow at all. As the day progresses towards late afternoon, your shadow grows again, but in the opposite direction. Worldly love is just like your shadow — it begins long in the morning and ends at midday. This is true for any kind of love you have in the world, whether for your wife, husband, son, daughter, or even for a beautiful scene. The Taj Mahal is one of India’s most beautiful landmarks. When foreign prime ministers visit India, they always visit the Taj Mahaj and praise it greatly. But if you ask the people who live in Agra, “Come on! Let’s go see the Taj Mahal!” They will say, “What for? What is there to see? I have seen it already.”

All love in the world steadily decreases. And after this, one starts to experience sorrow from that same husband or wife. Then the insults and verbal abuse begin. God’s love on the other hand steadily increases every moment, just like the waxing moon. But unlike the moon, God’s love has the unusual quality that it never reaches a state of absolute fullness — it keeps on steadily increasing for eternity. This is the miracle of divine love.

So there is a competition going on between Shri Radha, who is the form of divine love, and Shri Krishna, who is the form of divine beauty. Radha Rani increases Her love, and so Shri Krishna increases His beauty. Radha Rani’s love increases even more, and Shri Krishna increases His beauty to match. Neither defeats the other in this competition. The bliss of Their love and beauty keeps on steadily increasing for eternity. This is because both Their body and Their soul is sat-chit-anand (eternal existence, divine knowledge, divine bliss). That is why this unique quality is present in Their divine personalities.

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj

2 November 2009