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Summary: atmendriya-priti-vanchatare bali `kama' krsnendriya-priti-iccha dhare `prema' nama

"The desire to gratify one's own senses is kama [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Krishna is prema [love]." (Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 4.165)

Here priti is the common factor to the two definitions: lust and love. In the verse Prabhupada translates priti as "to please", yet throughout his books priti is related to the principle of love, and technically equated with prema. Thus, the above verse could also be paraphrased "Love is the desire to please Krishna's senses. When that love is directed to the pleasure of one's own senses, it is known as lust." Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to this verse- "If there is ample reason for the dissolution of a loving relationship and yet such dissolution does not take place, such a relationship of intimate love is called pure."

Now it becomes more clear what Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur meant when he said: "There is no love in this material world!" Real love is other-worldly, ie. not of this world! It is free entirely from passion, or the motivation for personal gain, seeking one's personal enjoyment as an operative factor within a relationship. Real love is most rare, it is not of this world, and is the basis of our life in Krsna Consciousness. All of our interpersonal exchanges should be directed toward this objective, and performed in this consciousness.

Reading Assignment Various sources

a) Bhagavad Gita 3.41 Lust is only the perverted reflection of the love of God which is natural for every living entity. But if one is educated in Krishna consciousness from the very beginning, that natural love of God cannot deteriorate into lust. When love of God deteriorates into lust, it is very difficult to return to the normal condition. Nonetheless, Krishna consciousness is so powerful that even a late beginner can become a lover of God by following the regulative principles of devotional service. So, from any stage of life, or from the time of understanding its urgency, one can begin regulating the senses in Krishna consciousness, devotional service of the Lord, and turn the lust into love of Godhead -- the highest perfectional stage of human life.

b) Srimad Bhagavatam 10.33.39 If we become attached to this narration, we will experience the bliss of spiritual love and thus reject the perverted reflection of that love, which is called lust. As nicely put by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita (2.59), param drstva nivartate: "Once having directly experienced the Supreme, one will not return to material pleasures."

c) "On the Way to Krishna" 5: Steering Toward the Supreme

This material life is simply based on lust; we want to enjoy this world, and we love this material world because we want to gratify our senses. This lust is a perverted reflection of our love of God. In our original constitution we are made to love God, but because we have forgotten God, we love matter. Love is there. Either we love matter, or we love God. But in no case can we get out of this loving propensity; indeed, we often see that when one doesn't have children, he loves a cat or a dog. Why? Because we want and need to love something. In the absence of reality, we put our faith and love in cats and dogs. Love is always there, but it is distorted into the form of lust. When this lust is baffled, we become angry; when we become angry, we become illusioned; and when we are illusioned, we are doomed. This is the process that is going on, but we have to reverse this process and turn lust into love. If we love God, we love everything. But if we do not love God, it is not possible to love anything. We may think that it is love, but it is simply a glamorized form of lust. Those who have become the dogs of lust are said to have lost all good sense: kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah [Bhagavad Gita. 7.20].

d) "Journey of Self Discovery" 4.2: The Bona Fide Spiritual Master

Here in this world we are experiencing frustration. Here we love -- a man loves a woman, or a woman loves a man -- but there is frustration. After some time they are divorced, because their love is a perverted reflection. There is no real love in this world. It is simply lust. Real love is in the spiritual world, between Radha and Krishna. Real love is there between Krishna and the gopis. Real love is there in the friendship between Krishna and His cowherd boys. Real love is there between Krishna and the cows and calves. Real love is there between Krishna and the trees, flowers, and water. In the spiritual world, everything is love.

e) Bhagavad-gita 7.18 lecture - New York, October 12, 1966

Out of lust, material lust. That's all. Because our life, this material life, is simply based on lust. We want to enjoy this world. We love this material world because I want to satisfy my senses. So this lust is the perverted reflection of my love of God. In my original constitution, I am made to love God, but because I have forgotten God, therefore I love matter. Love is there. Love is there. Either you love this matter or you love God, but you cannot get out of this loving propensity. Just like sometimes we see: one who hasn't got children, he loves a cat, loves a dog. You see? Why? Because he wants to love something. But in the absence of reality, he puts his faith and love into cats and dogs. So love is there, but that love is now represented in the form of lust. And this lust, when we are baffled in the lust, we become angry. We get wrath. And when we are in wrath, then next stage is illusion. And when we are illusioned, we are doomed. This process is going on.

f) Bhagavad-gita 9.27-29 lecture - New York, December 19, 1966

You love some person or... You always think of him. That is quite natural. Anyone. That is the objective of love. But because we are..., our love in this material world is a perverted reflection of the love of God, love can be applied only to God. In this material world there is no love. It is all lust. There cannot be any love. The word love can be applied only to God. So these are only perverted reflection, what is going on in the name of love. There is no love. So the nature of love is this, that the lover wants every moment to see without any remuneration, without any return. That is real love.

g) Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.2-5 lecture - Montreal, October 23, 1968

Prabhupada: Romantic love is in the spiritual world, Radha-Krishna. That is the origin of romantic love. And here we are trying to imitate, although we are on the platform of lust. It is imitation, shadow, perverted reflection. So actually, Krishna consciousness means we are trying to reach that platform of real love, exchange of love. The example... One example can be given: just like in diseased conditioned, actually there is no enjoyment, but still, the doctor gives some diet: "You eat this." But he does not enjoy. Eating enjoyment is in healthy life, not in diseased condition.

h) The Nectar of Devotion lecture - Bombay, January 1, 1973

The Vedanta-sutra says, janmady asya yatah [Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1]. The, everything is emanating from the Absolute. So there is love. Just like Radha-Krishna love, Kisora-kisori, young Krishna, young Radharani. This love is pervertedly reflected in this material world which is in the name of love, but it is lust; therefore it is called perverted reflection. Lust because the, a young boy, a young girl mix together, they love together, but a slight disagreement, they separate. Why? Because that is not love. That is lust. The lust is going on in the name of love. But the reflection is from there. Therefore it is called maya. The same love between father and mother.

i) Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.142 lecture , New York, November 30, 1966

Now, we are aspiring after possessing something, possessiveness. What we should possess? The possession is Krishna, and desire is reciprocation between Krishna and myself, and the ultimate end is love. That's all. Just like we have got perverted reflection of that love here between the two lovers. They don't want anything. He wants she, and she wants he. That's all. That is desire and their reciprocation of loving affairs and the ultimate end, that they are peaceful in love. This is only perverted reflection of the real love, which is reciprocated with Krishna. Here there is no possibility of love. This is all lust. But we call it love because it is just a reflection. Just a real... That is real, and this is unreal. Just like shadow and reality. There is gulf of difference between the shadow and reality. So whatever love we see in this world, that love is only a perverted reflection of that real love with Krishna. vedadi sakala sastre Krishna-mukhya sambandha tanra jnane anusange yaya maya-bandha.

j) Paramananda & Satyabhama's Wedding lecture - Montreal, July 22, 1968

So apart from that argumentative point of view, our presentation is that this conjugal love between man and woman is not unnatural. It is quite natural because it is in the Absolute Truth, as we find from Vedic description, that the Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, is engaged in conjugal loving affairs, Radha-Krishna. But the same Radha-Krishna love matter has permeated through matter. Therefore it is perverted reflection. Here in this material world, the so-called love is not actual love. It is lust. Here the male and female are attracted not by love but by lust. So in this Krishna consciousness society, because we are trying to approach the Absolute Truth, the lust propensity has to be converted into pure love.

k) Lecture - Boston, April 25, 1969

But the so-called love in this material world is only a perverted reflection. It is only lust. So you have, by austerity, you have to change that lust into love. If you love one girl, if you love one boy, that is very nice. That is natural. That is not unnatural. But don't change that love. Be combined permanently. Be combined. Not that "After few months I give up this girl," "I give up this boy," "I capture another."