Text 38] 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 can-
not 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 God-
head 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-gitd is spoken directly by the
Supreme Lord, and Arjuna accepted Krsna as guru or spiritual master.
Similarly, we should accept only Krsna as the supreme spiritual master.

Krsna, of course, means Krsna and His confidential devotees; Krsna is
not alone. When we speak of Krsna, Krsna means Krsna in His name, in His
form, in His quality, in His abode, in His associates, etc. Krsna is never
alone because the devotees of Krsna 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 Krsna 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 in-
fluence of time, but nevertheless the conclusions received from Bhagavad-
gitd, directly from the speeches of the Supreme Lord Krsna, can never
change. There is no use interpreting Bhagavad-gita; it is eternal.

Krsna, 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 Krsna 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 affec-
tionate towards him, always hope, “May my son not die.”’ But Krsna actually
never will die. Therefore those who accept Krsna 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 sraddha cere-
mony for the father. The relationship is never destroyed. People are
accustomed to worship different forms of demigods, but in Bhagavad-gita
such a mentality is condemned; therefore one should be intelligent enough
