Posted on: 17 Sep 2021
[A question by DawahWise]
Swami replied: Love is the feeling whereas lust is its language used for practical expression. Wherever love exists, lust also exists. But, it is not necessary that wherever lust exists, love shall exist. This concept is confined to the sweet devotion (Madhurabhakti) with God. When there is feeling, its language of expression comes spontaneously by force. Sometimes, even in the absence of real feeling in the heart, language may be created without real feeling in the heart as in the case of a prostitute. In the worldly bonds, other than sweet devotion, practical service and practical sacrifice stand in the place of lust.
Kubja was hearing the divine stories of Krishna from Brundavanam and developed devotion towards Krishna. Such devotion was general love that exists between God and a general devotee. When Kubja saw Krishna in Madhura city, she could not develop sweet devotion to Krishna due to her defective body. But, when Krishna transformed her in to beautiful lady, she developed lot of hope for sweet devotion because of the matching of her physical beauty with the physical beauty of Krishna. Due to this confined sweet love, the lust also developed simultaneously in the mind of Kubja. In this blindness of lust, she lost her devotion to Krishna in which Krishna is remembered as always God. Her lust towards Krishna made her love to be reduced to the love of romance only. The love of Gopikas towards Krishna was not only mere romance, but also was illuminated with the knowledge that Krishna was God. The difference between Kubja and 12 Gopikas was that the 12 Gopikas were having sweet devotion to Krishna along with the knowledge that Krishna was God and Kubja was confined to sweet devotion only forgetting that Krishna was God. This difference was based on the reason that Gopikas were sages in the previous births whereas Kubja was not a sage in the previous birth. Since Kubja became a very beautiful lady, her raised ego made her to forget that Krishna was God.