SO THAT MY LOVE MIGHT FLOW

 
Narada, one of Krishna's close ones, came one day to the palace to give Krishna a message. But as he approached, a watchman stopped him and said, "You cannot enter."

"What do you mean I cannot enter? I am Narada. I have access to Krishna's bed chamber." Which was true. Narada was so close to Krishna that he had permission to come anytime, anywhere, to see him.

But the watchman replied, "I know who you are, but on this particular occasion you must remain here. The Lord Himself has ordered me to stop anybody from coming just now."

"What do you mean on this particular occasion? What is the Lord doing that I can't go to see him?"

The watchman replied, "He said he wanted to pray."

"Pray? My Lord is praying? To whom does he pray? Who is greater than my Lord?" Narada demanded and accused the watchman of blasphemy.

But the watchman persisted in keeping Narada out, saying, "I am only telling you what he told me. He said he wanted to pray and that I should not let anyone in because he did not want to be disturbed while he is praying." Narada had no choice but to wait, and all sorts of confused thoughts were going through his head....

After half an hour or so, Krishna came out of his room and saw Narada waiting outside the door. He greeted Narada warmly but Narada was so agitated that he made only the most perfunctory of greetings. "What's wrong?" Krishna asked. "You seem upset."

Narada was so upset, in fact, that he totally forgot about the message he had come to deliver, he totally forgot that that was why he had come in the first place and he blurted out, "The watchman said you were praying."

"Yes, that is so," Krishna affirmed.

"But to whom do you pray?" asked Narada, whose confidence in the Lord was shaken by Krishna's admission.

Krishna laughed. "Do you really want to see to whom I pray? Come with me." And Krishna led Narada to his prayer room. "Here, here is my God," Krishna said.

And what did Narada see? He saw little figures, little images of Krishna's mandali. There was a little figure of Narada, of Arjuna, of all the close ones. "These are the ones I pray to," Krishna explained. "I pray to my lovers. You see, the whole purpose of creation was so that my love might flow. I eternally love my creation, but periodically I take birth to receive the love of my lovers. My lovers worship me and I worship their love for me."