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The Glories of Devotional Service
1051
of Godhead as the dearmost friend, the dearmost relative, the dearmost son, the dearmost preceptor, the dearmost well-wisher or the dearmost Deity. The Lord is eternal; therefore any relationship in which we accept Him is also eternal. It is clearly confirmed herein that the relationships cannot be destroyed, and therefore the opulences of those relationships are never destroyed. Every living entity has the propensity to love someone. We can see that if someone has no object of love, then generally he puts his love in a pet animal like a cat or a dog. Thus the eternal propensity for love in all living entities is always searching for a place to reside. From this verse we can learn that we can love the Supreme Personality of Godhead as our dearmost object—as a friend, as a son, as a preceptor or as a well-wisher—and there will be no cheating and no end to such love. We shall eternally enjoy the relationship with the Supreme Lord in different aspects. A special feature of this verse is the acceptance of the Supreme Lord as the supreme preceptor.  Bhagavad-gītā  is spoken directly by the Supreme Lord, and Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as  guru  or spiritual master. Similarly, we should accept only Kṛṣṇa as the supreme spiritual master.
Kṛṣṇa, of course, means Kṛṣṇa and His confidential devotees; Kṛṣṇa is not alone. When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa means Kṛṣṇa in His name, in His form, in His quality, in His abode, in His associates, etc. Kṛṣṇa is never alone because the devotees of Kṛṣṇa are not impersonalists. For example, a king is always associated with his secretary, his commander, his servant and so much paraphernalia. As soon as we accept Kṛṣṇa and His associates as our preceptors, no ill effects can destroy our knowledge. In the material world the knowledge which we acquire may change because of the influence of time, but nevertheless the conclusions received from  Bhagavad-gītā , directly from the speeches of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, can never change. There is no use interpreting  Bhagavad-gītā ; it is eternal.
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, should be accepted as one's best friend. He will never cheat. He will always give His friendly advice and friendly protection to the devotee. If Kṛṣṇa is accepted as a son, He will never die. Here we have a very loving son or child, but the father and mother, or those who are affectionate towards him, always hope, "May my son not die." But Kṛṣṇa actually never will die. Therefore those who accept Kṛṣṇa or the Supreme Lord as their son will never be bereft of their son. In many instances devotees have accepted the Deity as a son. In Bengal there are many such instances, and even after the death of the devotee, the Deity performed the  śrāddha  ceremony for the father. The relationship is never destroyed. People are accustomed to worship different forms of demigods, but in  Bhagavad-gītā  such a mentality is condemned; therefore one should be intelligent enough