212
Krṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
appreciated in yogic meditation, He seated Himself by their sides. By seating Himself outside, He showed special favor to the  gopīs , who were the selected beauties of all creation. Having gotten their most beloved Lord, the  gopīs  began to please Him by moving their eyebrows and smiling and also by suppressing their anger. Some of them took His lotus feet in their laps and began to massage Him. And while smiling, they confidentially expressed their suppressed anger and said, “Dear Krṣṇa, we are ordinary women of Vṛndāvana, and we do not know much about Vedic knowledge—what is right and what is wrong. We therefore put a question to You, and, since You are very learned, You can answer it properly. In dealing between lovers, we find that there are three classes of men. One class simply receives, another class reciprocates favorably, even if the lover is very contrary, and the third class neither acts contrary nor answers favorably in dealings of love. So out of these three classes, which do You prefer, or which do You call honest?”
In answer, Krṣṇa said, “My dear friends, persons who simply reciprocate the loving dealings of the other party are just like merchants. They give in loving affairs as much as they get from the other party. Practically there is no question of love. It is simply business dealing, and it is self-interested or self-centered. Better the second class of men, who love in spite of the opposite party’s contrariness; even those without a tinge of loving affairs are better than the merchants. Sincere love can be seen when the father and mother love their children in spite of their children’s neglect. The third class neither reciprocates nor neglects. They can be further divided into two classes. One is the self-satisfied, who do not require anyone’s love. They are called  ātmārāma , which means they are absorbed in the thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and so do not care whether one loves them or not. But another class are ungrateful men. They are called callous. The men in this group revolt against superior persons. For instance, a son, in spite of receiving all kinds of things from loving parents, may be callous and not reciprocate. Those in this class are generally known as  gurudruha , which means they receive favors from the parents or the spiritual master and yet neglect them.”
Krṣṇa indirectly answered the questions of the  gopīs , even those questions which implied that Krṣṇa did not properly receive their dealings. In answer, Krṣṇa said that He, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is self-satisfied. He does not require anyone’s love, but at the same time He said that He is not ungrateful.
“My dear friends,” Krṣṇa continued, “you might be aggrieved by My words and acts, but you must know that sometimes I do not reciprocate