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It is said that the whole Vedic literature is meant to bring us to the platform of devotional service. In other words, they are meant to teach us to love Kṛṣṇa. This includes not only books such as the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam but even books we don’t directly associate with love of Godhead, such as the Vedānta-sūtra and the Upaniṣads.
However, when it comes to spiritual practice, it doesn’t look so easy to attain in practice. As we practice, we see that the obstacles are many, and often we don’t know where to start from.
Where is the short answer? How can we develop love for Kṛṣṇa? Here we come to a very important verse Kṛṣṇa gives us at the end of chapter nine of the Gītā:
“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.”
Here, Kṛṣṇa gives us four instructions that bring us to the stage of complete absorption that is the foundation of love of Godhead. Love does not arise in a vacuum. Kṛṣṇa does not simply tell us to love Him; He gives us a practical process to revive this love.
Why does a mother develop such a deep love and attachment for her child? It is the combination of four factors. First, the mother is always absorbed in thinking of the child. Even while doing other things, her consciousness remains connected with his needs. Second, there is a relationship. She does not consider the child to be just another person; she thinks, “This is my child,” and identifies herself as his mother. This relationship becomes central to her identity. Third, there is practical activity. She is constantly feeding the child, bathing him, dressing him, comforting him, and so on. Finally, there is a selfless attitude. She puts aside her own comfort for the sake of the child, accepting sacrifices and inconveniences, because the well-being of the child becomes more important than her own immediate comfort.
These are not four separate factors; they reinforce each other, making her whole life and consciousness organized around the child. This deep attachment does not come simply from becoming a biological mother; it is continually deepened through years of selfless service. The limitation is that one’s role as a mother is limited to this life, while our relationship with Kṛṣṇa is eternal, and once fully revived, brings us back to His association.
Prabhupāda explains that the love of a mother is the purest expression of love that we can find in this material world, and it helps us to understand the process Kṛṣṇa is describing in text 9.34. The process He gives us is divided into the four basic components.
The first is man-manāḥ: always think of Me. This describes consciousness. The mind must always think of something; Kṛṣṇa asks us to think of Him. This means to always remember Kṛṣṇa’s name, form, pastimes, instructions, etc. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa compares this remembrance to an uninterrupted stream of honey. The analogy is that when honey is poured, it does not fall in separate drops, but forms a continuous stream. Similarly, man-manāḥ means that remembrance of Kṛṣṇa should become a continuous current anchored in all the activities of our life instead of isolated flashes during moments of devotional practice.
The second instruction is mad-bhaktaḥ: become My devotee. This is connected with relationship. As Prabhupāda emphasizes, we should not be like Kaṁsa, thinking of Kṛṣṇa as an enemy. We should think of Him devotionally. More than that, to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa means, in the highest sense, to make Him the very center of our identity, fully accepting our eternal relationship with Him. A mundane person accepts so many upādhis, or mundane labels, such as a man, a woman, a citizen of a certain nation, etc. A pure devotee has just one identity: I’m an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.
The third is mad-yājī: Worship Me. This is about activity. Devotion should have a practical form. Mad-yājī includes worshiping Kṛṣṇa’s form as the Deity, offering food, flowers, lamps, prayers, and so on, up to the point of making our whole life an offering to Him.
The fourth is māṁ namaskuru: offer obeisances to Me. This is about our internal attitude. It means to accept that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord and we are dependent upon Him. Ultimately, it leads to the eradication of ahaṅkāra, the false sense of identity as a material enjoyer that keeps us bound to this material world. This, in turn, leads us to completely surrender unto Kṛṣṇa, reinforcing the other three.
In summary, man-manāḥ explains how to center our consciousness on Kṛṣṇa; mad-bhaktaḥ centers our relationships and identity on Kṛṣṇa; mad-yājī makes our activities centered on Kṛṣṇa, and māṁ namaskuru changes our internal attitude towards dependence and surrender unto Him. The four reinforce one another until Kṛṣṇa becomes the center of our consciousness.
Thus, when Kṛṣṇa tells us “become My devotee,” this doesn’t simply mean becoming a member of a religious organization. That’s an eternal process that starts here and continues eternally in the spiritual world. Our relationship with Kṛṣṇa is constitutional and eternal, but this doesn’t mean it is static. It continues to expand unlimitedly.
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