The Nature of True Devotion

Uddhava: "Lord, You speak of knowledge that You will impart to me. I have heard the Vedas recited, I have performed the sacrifices, I have followed the dharma of my station. Yet none of this consoles me when I think of losing You. What knowledge can ease this pain?"

Krishna: "Uddhava, the knowledge of the Vedas is like a lamp that lights the path—but devotion, pure bhakti, is the destination itself. All that you have learned, all the rituals and recitations, they are preparation. True devotion transcends them all."

Uddhava: "Then what is true devotion, my Lord? I have served You all my life. I have loved You more than my own breath. Is this not devotion?"

Krishna: "What you feel for Me is indeed the seed of devotion, and it has blossomed beautifully in your heart. But let Me tell you the nature of bhakti in its fullness. True devotion is not merely loving Me—it is seeing Me everywhere, in all beings, in all circumstances. It is loving the Self that dwells in every creature."

Uddhava: "But how can I love equally one who is virtuous and one who is wicked? How can I see You in those who cause harm?"

Krishna: "Because harm and virtue are costumes worn by the soul in different performances. The actor remains unchanged though he plays villain and hero both. The one who causes harm today may be the saint of tomorrow. And the wicked person you see is still a soul on a journey, still a spark of My eternal light—temporarily obscured, but never extinguished."

Uddhava: "This is difficult, Krishna. My mind naturally distinguishes between friend and enemy, between those who worship You and those who mock You."

Krishna: "And this is precisely the work of devotion—to dissolve these distinctions. Not by ignoring evil, but by recognizing the divine potential in all. A true devotee neither hates the sinner nor is attached even to the saint. He sees Me as the thread running through all these pearls of existence."

Uddhava: "Is there no place for preference then? Can I not love You more than others?"

Krishna: "Listen carefully, for this is subtle. You may love this form, this personality you know as Krishna, with all your heart—and this is beautiful, this is sacred. But the highest devotion recognizes that this form is but one wave in the infinite ocean of My being. The gopis of Vrindavan loved My form with such intensity that they forgot themselves entirely—and in that forgetting, they found the formless."

Uddhava: "The gopis... I have heard of their love. They left everything—their families, their duties, their very sense of shame—when they heard Your flute. Such love seems almost madness."

Krishna: "It was the sanest thing they ever did. For what is the use of duty that does not lead to Me? What is the value of shame before the world when one stands naked before God? Their love was not madness, Uddhava—it was the highest wisdom wearing the disguise of madness."

Uddhava: "Then devotion is not about following rules?"

Krishna: "Rules are scaffolding for building the temple of the heart. Once the temple stands, the scaffolding can be removed. The gopis never studied scripture, never performed elaborate sacrifices—yet their devotion surpassed that of the greatest sages. Because they gave Me the one thing that matters: themselves, completely, without reservation."

Uddhava: "How do I give myself completely when there is still this 'I' that wants to possess You, that fears losing You?"

Krishna: "That fear itself is a form of giving. Your very anguish at My departure is a kind of offering. But let Me tell you—the 'I' that fears losing Me is the very illusion that separation creates. When devotion matures, you will realize there was never a separate 'you' to lose a separate 'Me.' We have always been one. This recognition is the crown of bhakti."