We experience true love when Krishna is placed in the center of a relationship. If everyone keeps themselves as the center, they will feel an overwhelming degree of impersonalism. They will have their orbit and they will not want anyone to penetrate it. Then there is no love, only tension, as each of us thinks that we have what we need to maintain ourselves and our families, and if anything comes to disrupt that security, we will push it out of our way. How is that love? It’s impersonalism. Loving relationships develop when there is an effort to do something collectively to please Krishna. The catalyst for such unified action is hearing. The more we hear, the more we will understand the Lord’s messages and the more we will realize how important it is for us to make a personal sacrifice to achieve His goals. Therefore, love begins when the devotees hear and chant together. Love is not based on sentimentality. Loving relationships are formed when we place Krishna in the center—not sentimentally, but with intelligence.
(Istaghosti Boston, April 1995)