Devotional service offered to Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, is the manifestation of the love we feel for Him.
Devotional service offered to God manifests in four ways: it is the expression of the attitude of service, friendship, parental affection, and conjugal love, which each devotee exchanges with Krishna, according to their position and the feelings that inspire them.
These are the four forms of spiritual exchange, of sweet sentiments, that devotees and saintly beings residing in Krishnaloka, the supreme planet of the spiritual world, exchange with Krishna, the Supreme Person.
In truth, Krishna is conquered by the saintly beings, the devotees who cherish these sweet sentiments. Overwhelmed by these feelings of absolute love, Lord Krishna experiences sublime spiritual happiness with His devoted servants, friends, parents, and loving consorts in the pure land of the supreme planet.
At the beginning of all things, every soul exchanged sweet sentiments with God.
Before descending into the material universe, each soul enjoyed a unique relationship filled with love for Lord Krishna. This bond of love surpasses in intensity any material love a thousandfold.
In truth, pure love for Krishna exists eternally in the hearts of all beings. We do not have to seek it anywhere but within ourselves. And when the heart is purified by chanting the Holy Names and by hearing the glories of Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, we awaken naturally.
Our natural and eternal condition in the spiritual world allows us to live in the intimate presence of God and to serve Him with love and devotion, our hearts filled with immense and infinite joy.
The pure devotee who experiences such spiritual affection for the Lord bathes in transcendental ecstasy. It is then that the heart becomes resplendent like a radiant sun. No cloud can cover the sun that shines high in the sky. Similarly, when the devotee becomes as pure as the sun, rays of ecstatic love, even more dazzling than those of the sun, emanate from their heart.
The ardent desire to know and express absolute love, or love for God.
In truth, no one can live without love. Our ardent desire, our thirst for love unfolds like a wave, a vibration, whose reach is unknown to us, and devotional service offered to Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, allows us to quench this thirst.
Devotional service teaches us the art of perfectly loving all living beings—the celestial beings inhabiting the heavenly planets located in the upper region of our galaxy, all human beings without exception, all land and aquatic animals, and all plants, from blades of grass to tall trees—by directing our love towards God.
In truth, whoever loves God also loves, immediately and simultaneously, all living beings with unconditional love.
The devotional service offered to God grants access to the service of love. This sweet feeling experienced when lovingly engaging in the sublime service of Lord Krishna is not limited to the existence of the material body.
It is called spiritual because it continues to exist after death, given the affection and feeling of love it radiates, which penetrate the spiritual essence of the being. That is why it is eternal.
It is superior to the feelings of love experienced by human beings on earth, which are based solely on physical attraction and whose duration is limited, for they are ephemeral.
To love is the very principle of life. Realizing Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, being conscious of His Divine Person, knowing Him as He truly is, and cultivating our love for Him, allows us to attain self-realization, to live and constantly experience true happiness.