Let’s say a king is not in some kind of public, official setting. He’s in the privacy of his own home with his own family. His crown is off. He’s wearing his pajamas. He’s not in his royal robes. There’s no one around. There’s no security cameras where anyone can see what he’s doing. He’s in the privacy of his own home with his own family. Then you can say his ‘kingliness’ will be completely covered up. Maybe he has a three-year-old son, and his three-year-old son is playing in his lap. Now ask yourself, what do you think the king gets more pleasure out of? The relationship when he’s the king and his subjects are nervous around him, who want to please him, and who salute him from a distance? Does that relationship give him more pleasure? Or does having his three-year-old son play on his lap and not even care that he’s the king that gives him more pleasure?
His three-year-old son probably is old enough to know,
“Oh, my Daddy’s the king. Everybody salutes him. Everyone gives him respect!”
But that boy doesn’t feel that. (He thinks,)
“To me he’s not the king. He’s the king. It’s fine. But he’s the king for everybody else. For me, he’s my father.”
The king may have some friends who treat him in the same way, in perfect privacy where none of the subjects can see, where none of the media can see - in privacy. Maybe they grew up with him, and they’ve known him since he was a boy.
You know, “I used to babysit you!”
Maybe, one of his friends is a couple of years older than him.
“Hey, you may be the king. That’s fine. But I used to babysit you. I used to feed you!”
You know, is that person ever going to treat him like the king? Maybe in public, he’ll show proper respect. But in private, he’ll treat him as his close friend.
So, what I’m saying is that those Saints who love Krishna with feelings that you are my friend, or you’re my son, or you’re my beloved - those loving feelings - what they do is actually create the same loving feeling in Krishna’s heart. Because whatever feelings a soul has for Krishna, He loves that soul the same way in return. So, it means that now, that relationship has overshadowed God’s ‘Godliness’.
