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THE PATH OF PERFECTION
Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī—who cast off all aristocratic association as insignificant. To deliver poor, conditioned souls, they accepted loincloths and became mendicants, but they were always merged in the ecstatic ocean of the  gopīs ’ love for Kṛṣṇa, and they were always bathing repeatedly in the waves of that ocean.”
The words  kaupīna-kanthāśritau  indicate that the Gosvāmīs were simply wearing underwear and a loincloth and nothing else. In other words, they accepted the poorest way of life as mendicants. Generally, if one is habituated to living according to a high standard, he cannot immediately lower his standard. If a rich man accepts such a poor condition, he cannot live, but the Gosvāmīs lived very happily. How was this possible?  Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhurl vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau.  They were actually rich because they were constantly dipping themselves in the ocean of the loving affairs of the  gopīs . If one simply thinks of the  gopīs'  love for Kṛṣṇa, one is not lost. There are many ways not to lose sight of Kṛṣṇa. If we do not lose sight of Kṛṣṇa, then we will not be lost.
A person in Krṣṇa consciousness certainly sees Lord Krṣṇa everywhere, and he sees everything in Krṣṇa. Such a person may appear to see all separate manifestations of the material nature, but in each and every instance he is conscious of Krṣṇa, knowing that everything is the manifestation of Krṣṇa's energy. Nothing can exist without Krṣṇa, and Krṣṇa is the Lord of everything—this is the basic principle of Krṣṇa consciousness. How does the devotee know that everything is the manifestation of Krṣṇa's energy? First of all, a Krṣṇa conscious person is a philosopher. If he sees a tree, he thinks, "What is this tree?" He then sees that the tree has a material body—just as he has a material body—and that the tree is also a living entity, but due to the tree's past misdeeds, he has obtained such an abominable body that he cannot even move. The tree's body is material, material energy, and the devotee automatically questions, "Whose energy? Krṣṇa's energy. Therefore the tree is connected to Krṣṇa. Being a living entity, the tree is part and parcel of Krṣṇa." In this way, the Krṣṇa conscious
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person does not see the tree, but sees Kṛṣṇa present. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness: you don't see the tree. You see Kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection of  yoga , and that is also  samādhi .
Krṣṇa consciousness is the development of love of Krṣṇa—a position transcendental even to material liberation. Why does the Krṣṇa conscious person take such an account of the tree? Because he has love for Krṣṇa. If you love your child and your child is away, you think of him when you see his shoes. You think, “Oh, this is my dear child’s shoe.” It is not that you love the shoe, but the child. The shoe, however, evokes that love. Similarly, as soon as we see Krṣṇa’s energy manifested in a living entity, we love that entity because we love Krṣṇa. Therefore, if we love Krṣṇa, universal love is accounted for. Otherwise “universal love” is nonsensical, because it is not possible to love everybody without loving Krṣṇa. If we love Krṣṇa, universal love is automatically there. Without being Krṣṇa conscious, a person may say, “Here is my American brother, and here is my Indian brother. Now let us eat this cow.” Such a person may look on other humans as brothers, but he looks on the cow as food. Is this universal love? A Krṣṇa conscious person, however, thinks, “Oh, here is a cow. Here is a dog. They are part and parcel of Krṣṇa, but somehow or other they have acquired different bodies. This does not mean that they are not my brothers. How can I kill and eat my brothers?” That is true universal love—rooted in love for Krṣṇa. Without such Krṣṇa consciousness, there is no question of love at all.
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the stage beyond self-realization in which the devotee becomes one with Kṛṣṇa in the sense that Kṛṣṇa becomes everything for the devotee, and the devotee becomes full in loving Kṛṣṇa. An intimate relationship between the Lord and the devotee then exists. In that stage, the living entity attains his immortality. Nor is the Personality of Godhead ever out of sight of the devotee. To merge in Kṛṣṇa is spiritual annihilation. A devotee takes no such risk. It is stated in the  Brahma-saṁhitā  (5.38),
premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti