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34 THE PATH OF PERFECTION Learning How to See God 35
| “The supreme occupation (dharma) for all humanity is that by know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if
which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the tran- He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me broken-
scendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and hearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to
uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.’” Cultivation of love do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord,
of God: that is the definition of first-class religion. Just as there are unconditionally.’ That is the sentiment of one who is established
three gunas, or three qualities, in the material world, there are In pure love of God. When we attain that stage of love of God, we
various religions, each situated in one of the three modes. We are | will find that everything is full of pleasure; God is full of pleasure,
not, however, concerned with analyzing these religious concep- and we also are full of pleasure.
tions. For us, the purpose of religion is to understand God and to : . 7
learn how to love God. That is the real purpose of any first-class suhrn-mitrary-udasina-
religious system. If a religion does not teach love of God, it is use- _madhyastha-dvesya-bandhusu
less. One may follow his religious principles very carefully, but if sadhusv api ca papesu
one does not possess love of God, his religion is null and void. Ac- sama-buddhir visisyate
cording to Srimad-Bhdgavatam (1.2.6) real religion must be “ . .
ahaituki and apratihatd: without selfish motivation and without A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards
impediment. By practicing such a religion, we will become happy all—the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the
in all respects. pious, the sinner, and those who are indifferent and impartial—
Sa vai pumsari paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje. Another with an equal mind.”’ (Bg. 6.9) This is a sign of real spiritual ad-
name for God is adhoksaja, which means ‘‘one who cannot be | vancement. In this material world we are considering people
seen by materialistic attempts.” That is to say that God conquers friends and enemies on the bodily platform—that is, on the basis
all our attempts to see Him materially. The word aksaja refers to j of sense gratification. If one gratifies our senses, he is our friend,
experimental knowledge, and adhah means ‘“‘unreachable.’’ So | and if he doesn’t, he is our enemy. However, once we have
God cannot be reached through experimental knowledge. We realized God, or the Absolute Truth, there are no such material
have to learn to contact Him in a different way: through sub- Considerations. — . a
missive hearing and the rendering of transcendental loving In this material world, all conditioned souls are under illusion. ~
service. A doctor treats all patients, and although a patient may be
True religion teaches causeless love of God. It does not say, “‘I delirious and insult the doctor, the doctor does not refuse to treat
love God because He supplies me nice objects for my sense grati- him. He still administers the medicine that is required. As Lord
fication.”’ That is not love. God is great, God is our eternal father, Jesus Christ said, we should hate the sin, not the sinner. That is a
and it is our duty to love Him. There is no question of barter or ex- _ Very nice statement, because the sinner is under illusion. He is
change. We should not think, ‘‘Oh, God gives me my daily bread; mad. If we hate him, how can we deliver him? Therefore, those
therefore I love God.”’ God gives daily bread even to the cats and who are advanced devotees, who are really servants of God, do
dogs. Since He is the father of everyone, He is supplyingeveryone not hate anyone. When Lord Jesus Christ was being crucified, he
food. So loving God for daily bread is not love. Love is without | Said, “‘My God, forgive them. They know not what they do.” This
reason. Even if God does not supply us our daily bread, we should Is the proper attitude of an advanced devotee. He understands that
love Him. That is true love. As Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, dslisya the conditioned souls cannot be hated, because they have become
vd pada-ratam pinastu mam adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va: “‘I mad due to their materialistic way of thinking. In this Krsna
