Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/222

 was a Jnâni; he knew that the Lord is the Creator, Protector and Destroyer of all phenomena; but the third man, who said, "Why trouble the Lord, let us climb the tree," was a true lover of God. He had had the taste of Divine Love, the highest form of Bhakti. In one aspect of Divine Love (Prema) the lover thinks of himself as greater than the object of love; he has the constant desire to protect the Be- loved and make Him happy by removing all troubles and anxieties. The Gopis had true Prema, or Divine Love. In Divine Love the sense of "I" and "mine" exists, as was shown by the mother of the Divine Incarnation, Krishna. For her, Krishna was only a son and not the Lord of the universe. She loved to nurse Him and take care of Him, always calling Him "my Krishna," and feeling the same anxiety about Him that an earthly mother would feel about her son. When a certain saint spoke to her, saying: "Your Krishna is the absolute Master of the world; He is not human"; Yasodâ, the mother of Krishna, replied: "Oh no, He is not the Lord of the universe; He is my child. I cannot think of Him as other than my child." Divine Love is mani-