[Divine Love and its various aspects.] In Divine Love the sense of "I" and "mine" exists, as was shown by the mother of the Divine Incarnation, Krishna. For her, Krishna was only a son and not the Lord of the universe. She loved to nurse Him and take care of Him, always calling Him "my Krishna," and feeling the same anxiety about Him that an earthly mother would feel about her son. When a certain saint spoke to her, saying: "Your Krishna is the absolute Master of the world; He is not human"; Yasoda, the mother of Krishna, replied: "Oh no, He is not the Lord of the universe; He is my child. I cannot think of Him as other than my child." Divine Love is manifested

by various relations; the closer the relation, the stronger the tie of love. The relation of a servant to his master was manifested by Hanuman; the relation of a friend to his friend was shown by Arjuna to Krishna; while the Gopis were devoted to the Lord as their Divine husband.

Some people think that they are bound (Baddha), that they will never attain to Divine Wisdom, or to Divine Love. But all this fear vanishes from the heart of a true disciple if his Guru, or spiritual guide, be gracious to him. [Parable of the tiger.] There was a flock of sheep in the woods; suddenly a tigress jumped into their midst. At that moment she gave birth to a cub and died on the spot. The kindhearted sheep took care of the cub, and brought it up among them. They ate grass, the cub followed their example; they bleated, the cub also learned to bleat. In this manner the cub grew up not as a young tiger but like a sheep. One day a full-grown tiger came that way and watched with wonder the grass-eating tiger. The real tiger drew nearer, but the cub began to bleat. Then the real tiger dragged him to the edge of a lake and said: "Look here! Compare your face with mine. Is there any

difference? You are a tiger like me; grass is not your food; your food is animal flesh." But the grass-eating tiger could not believe it. After a long time the real tiger convinced him that he was of the same species. Then he gave him a piece of flesh to eat, but he would not touch it; 'he began once more to bleat and to seek for grass. At last, however, the real tiger forced him to eat animal flesh; at once he liked the taste of the blood, gave up his grass-eating and bleating, and realized that he was not a sheep but a tiger. He then followed the real tiger and became like him.