If I think of Shri Krishna as part of my family, where do I draw the line in terms of formality? He (a devotee) gave me an example of his father, something his father says to him, which is right. His father says, “I'm your father. I'm not your buddy.” And whenever we've been around our fathers, played with our fathers, we know there's a line not to cross. Right? You can go to a certain point of informality, but at a certain point, your father gives you that look, and you know that's the line because “I'm the father, I'm not your buddy. You can't do everything, get away with everything with me!” There has to be a certain level of respect and dignity and formality maintained.
So he's (devotee) asking, “Is it the same thing with Shri Krishna?” The answer is no. It's up to you. Put it that way. If you want there to be formality, let there be formality. If you don't want there to be formality, there doesn't have to be. One big difference between our relationships in this world and our relationship to Shri Krishna is that we can have multiple relational feelings with Him. In the world, we have those limitations, “I'm your father, not your buddy.” The father is the father. You have someone else who's your companion, friend, buddy. One person cannot fulfill all of your relational needs. You need many people. You need someone else as your mother, someone else as your father, someone else as your husband, someone else as your wife, someone else as your son or daughter. One person can't be all of these things to you.
How is it possible? Shri Krishna is all of those things to us.
गतिर्भर्ता प्रभु: साक्षी निवास: शरणं सुहृत् |
Gatir bhartā prabhuḥ sākṣhī nivāsaḥ śharaṇaṁ suhṛit
- Gita 9.18
“I'm Your everything.”
त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव त्वमेव बंधुश्च सखा त्वमेव । त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणम् त्वमेव त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव ।
Tvamev mātā cha pitā tvamev. Tvameva bandhuśhcha sakhā tvamev. Tvamev vidyā draviṇaṃ tvamev. Tvamev sarvaṃ mama dev dev.- Mahabharat
“Oh, Shree Krishna, You're my everything!”
Imagine saying that to a person in this world. It's not possible. That's why we naturally have this fear. How should I love Him? Like this or like that? If I love Him like this, can I also love Him like that? Yes. Love Him all the ways. There is no restriction. All of the relationships are bound up in one. We call this samyak sambandh. Sambandh is made of two words. Sambandh means relationship. Bandh means jodi, a pairing. So you have some relationship with someone, so you're joined with them. Sam means samyak, chaaron aur (around) paripoorna (complete, perfect) sambandh (relationship). So a true relationship is paripoorn. Paripoorn means absolute and complete in every way with no restriction or limitation. There's no such thing in the world. So sambandh doesn't exist in our worldly relations. Sambandh exists with Shri Krishna.
You want to think of Him as your father one minute and your son the next? Go ahead. Imagine one minute your father is saying to you, “Oh, please bring me a glass of water,” and you bring him a glass of water. And the next second, you call him from the other room, “Oh, beta (son), come here!” Call your father as if you would talk to your son. That won't last long in the household. They'll send you to a mental hospital. Something cracked up here.
With Shri Krishna, there's no no such restriction. One minute, He can be your husband. The next minute, your son. The next minute, your friend. The next minute, your father. It's all in your heart. He's in your heart.
