THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION
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Love is Not Taking, Taking, Taking
(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada offering arotika to Radha Gokulananda, 1973)
"Now, Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that you have to offer something out of your love. Love means you must give something. You are taking something from Kṛṣṇa. Why not give something? Is it love, simply going on taking, taking, taking, and no offering? We are taking from Kṛṣṇa so much light. We are taking from Kṛṣṇa so much air, so much water. So many things Kṛṣṇa is supplying for our subsistence, fruits, grains. Without supplied by Kṛṣṇa, you cannot have. You cannot manufacture all these things. So you must admit that God is supplying us so many things. And why not offer something? Is it love? Therefore offering is required. Love means you take and you give also.
Suppose if you love somebody... You simply take from him, but you don't give. Oh, do you think it is very good? No. It is not good. That is not love. That is exploitation. If I go on simply taking from you, and if I don't offer you anything, that is simply exploitation. So love means you must take, you must give."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, November 23, 1966)
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