God loves us as much as we love Him

Continuing with the next two lines of ‘Sadhana Karu Pyare’
series.

जितनो तू कर प्यार तितनो, प्यार कर तोहिं प्यारे ।
प्यार ही सों प्यार कर पिय, प्यार चाकर प्यारे ।।

Jitno tu kar pyār titno, pyār kar tohiṃ pyāre
Pyār hī soṃ pyār kar piy, pyār cākar pyāre

A person who loves a worldly person always doubts and is in constant dilemma, wondering, “The one whom I love, does he love me or not? And if he does, how much does he love me?” We always get caught up in thoughts like this. This is because, in this world, no one shows real sentiments. Some pretend to show more love by writing many letters, while others hide and don’t express it at all. Also, we always try to show that we love the other person more than he loves us. But, all the while, internally, we want the other to love us more than we love him. That is why the one who loves the world is primarily tense and wonders whether or not the other person loves him.  

In the spiritual realm, there are no such worries. If you want to determine how much your ishta deva (the chosen form of God you worship) and your Guru love you, just measure your love. He loves you as much as you love Him. If you love Him less, then He also loves you little. If you love Him more, He will also love you to the same extent.

Shree Krishna follows His law as declared in the Bhagavad Gita 11.4: 

ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम् |

“In whatever way people surrender unto Me, I reciprocate accordingly.”

In the material world, we always doubt, “How much does he love me? Is it enough? No. I saw today that His love has decreased toward me.” We perform this drama every day by seeing the other person’s external behaviour. But we don’t have to do this in the spiritual realm. We must understand that whether God acts favourably or unfavourably with us, God will love us as much as we love Him. This is a challenge. Do not be afraid.

Once in Braj, when God descended to earth, Lord Shankar rushed to Gokul to have a vision of His Beloved God. He disguised as an ascetic with a garland of skulls and snakes and stood before Mother Yashoda’s door, begging for a glimpse of her Divine child. She refused, thinking that his fearsome appearance would scare her child. Lord Shankar got disheartened. He went to the Yamuna river’s banks and started crying loudly, “You are causelessly merciful and loving to your devotees. Won’t you give me a glimpse of Your Divine form?” Shree Krishna is governed by His law. According to His rule, when Lord Shankar heard his crying, Shree Krishna also reciprocated by crying. He never cried like this before. Mother Yashoda was sure the ascetic might have cast a spell on her child. On finding the ascetic on the banks of the Yamuna River, she begged him to come and see her child, who was calling Him loudly. And finally, Lord Shankar had a glimpse of Shree Krishna’s Divine form. This beautiful pastime illustrates that when someone hankers to meet Shree Krishna, then Shree Krishna, too, hankers to meet him. This law ties God in an eternal relation with His devotee.

Keeping this Divine law in mind, you should never worry that perhaps He does not love you. He has to love you. He has no choice. Why is there a doubt on your part about His love for you? He is All-seeing, All-knowing, the witness to everything, the wellwisher of all, and the Supreme Almighty Lord. There is no question of doubt in this regard. There is no power that can shake or disturb the degree and amount of His love. There is no need to speculate, “Does He love me?” or “How much does He love me?” How much He loves you depends on how much you love Him. How much love do you want from Him? “A lot.” Then love Him a lot. How is it that you love Him a little bit and expect Him to love you a lot?
So, God loves us to the extent that we love Him and surrender ourselves to Him. When you understand this law, you no longer worry about whether He considers you His or not. Questions such as, “Does He love me, and how much does he love me,” come to an end.

The devotee says, “O Shyamsundar! You are my King.” God says, “It is fine with me. Dear residents of Ayodhya, you are my subjects.” Suppose the individual says, “No, No! You are my friend. Come here, and I will put my arms around your shoulder.” Shree Krishna says, “OK, Arjun, You are my best friend.” The devotee says, “O Shyamsundar! I feel like taking care of you. You are my son, and I am your mother.” Shree Krishna says, “No problem, Mother Yashoda; you are my mother.” The devotee says, “No, Shyamsundar, I have a very close and intimate relationship with you. You are my Beloved.” Shree Krishna says, “It is fine with me. You are my Gopis, and I am your Beloved.”

So, God has formed a law. Now, there is no question for the individual to have any doubts. It is in the hands of the devotee how much he wants God to love him. He can make God love the person as much as he wants. He can make God his master, friend, son, or beloved. The keys are in the hands of the devotee. The selfless love of the Gopis made the Supreme God, Shree Krishna, forget His Godliness and become their eternal servitor. The Gopis called Him a thief, flirt and so on, and Shree Krishna longed to hear these illiterate maidens of Braj.

Always remember, God only wants to see your love for Him. He is not interested in your abilities. The worldly people notice qualities. People in this world are more interested in your abilities. “He is rich and famous; He has a good social status; He is intelligent.” It means the world pays attention to those with a quality, i.e., people interested in others based on their characteristics. But God is not like that. God is not interested and does not see all these things. Kubja was not at all beautiful, yet God accepted her love. Vidur did not have a very good family background. But God accepted him. Sudama was not a rich man, but God accepted his friendship. God only observes devotion. Gajraj, the elephant, was not intelligent, and Dhruv was very young. All these personalities only loved God and attained Him.

God is attainable only through love. Hence, it is easy to receive God’s love. Just love Him, and He will reciprocate it. We don’t have to think further or otherwise. Just keep increasing your love for God.