Prema

“Love is a flower; lust is a thorn. Prema (love) can be truly called prema only when it recognizes divinity and only when it realizes that we should love the divine. That kind of prema alone deserves to be described as true prema.”

The foundation of bhakti (devotion) ls pure love (prema). What is prema? How is it different from the love we experience in our daily life, and how can we cultivate it?

Swami says, “The word bhakti is sometimes also known as prema or love. To this word prema, we attribute many different meanings. Sometimes prema is understood to be synonymous with kama (lust). This creates an impression in our minds that prema and kama to some extent mean the same thing. Although prema and kama may look synonymous, we have to recognize that the ways and methods of prema on the one hand, and the ways and methods of kama on the other hand, are different from each other. Kama is tying you up in bondage. Prema is bestowing on you happiness. Prema is a pure quality, whereas kama is an impure quality. We should enquire about the reason for kama becoming impure and for prema remaining pure. The water that flows and keeps flowing remains pure. The water that is stagnant and does not flow becomes impure. A stage will come when even worms can breed and thrive in stagnant water. In the same manner, prema, which moves—flows from one heart to another, from one place to another, and from one person to another—ultimately reaches the destination, which is called grace of God. Such prema is pure. But the kind of premaor love that gets tied up to one individual when you say ‘Oh! he belongs to me, he is mine,’ does not flow. Such prema will be called kama or will be prema with an attachment to a particular individual. That kind of premise which has a limitation and is narrow and confined to one place cannot be called prema in the real sense.”

Summer Showers in Brindavan 1972, p. 104