What is love?
Responding to this question in The Search For Sri Krsna—Reality The Beautiful, Srila Sridhar Maharaj says: "Love means sacrifice for others... The underlying principle of love is sacrifice, but sacrifice for whom? Who is the beneficiary?
"Love is the beneficiary... Krishna consciousness means real love and beauty. Real love and beauty must predominate, not selfishness or exploitation. Generally, whenever we see beauty we think that beauty is to be exploited, but actually beauty is the exploiter, beauty is the master, and beauty is the controlling principle....
"Divine love is the supreme-most goal of every soul. Beauty and love is the summum bonum, our highest attainment: that is the ultimate controlling principle, and not power. And beauty and love are found at their highest position in Krishna in Vrindavan. The ultimate conception of the Absolute Truth is that of reality the beautiful and divine love.
"The ideal of Vrindavan is above all other ideals... In Vrindavan, the land of Krishna, the standard of sacrifice is unlimited. Devotees there are willing to risk everything for Krishna. If that principle of sacrifice is enthroned, then peace will automatically follow.
"Everyone should contribute to the center, but no one should draw energy from there... and beauty will be victorious in the world. Love will be victorious in the world. We will sacrifice everything to see that the banner of divine love will flutter all over the world, for a particle of that divine love will be able to keep peace and distribute peace in all directions."
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