What is the difference between worldly love and love for God? A person who loves a worldly person always doubts, and is in constant dilemma wondering, "The one whom I love, does he love me or not? And if he does, how much does he love me?" We always get caught up in thoughts like this. This is because, in this world, no one shows real sentiments. Some pretend to show more love by writing many letters, while others hide and don't express at all. Also, we always try to show that we love the other person more than he loves us. But, all the while, internally we want the other to love us more than we love him. That is why the one who loves the world is mostly tense, and wonders whether or not the other person loves him. In the spiritual realm, there are no such worries. If you would like to determine how much your ishta deva (the chosen form of God you worship) and your Guru loves you, just measure your love. He loves you as much as you love Him. If you love Him less, then He also loves you little. If you love Him more, then He will also love you to the same extent. Shree Krishna follows His law as declared in the Geeta: ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmyaham "I serve the devotee exactly according to the sentiment with which he worships Me, and to the degree of his surrender." Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji also said: ek pratigye kṛiṣhṇer āchhe poorva haichhe ye yaichhe bhaje kṛiṣhṇa tār bhaje taichhe "God will love a soul with the same sentiment, at the same time, and to the same degree and extent that the soul loves Him. God reciprocates the love of the individual soul to the exact degree and with the exact sentiment." This is an indisputable, unchanging Divine law. In the material world, we always doubt, "How much does he loves me? Is it enough? No. I saw today, His love has decreased towards me." We perform this drama everyday by seeing the other person's external behavior. But, we don't have to do this in the spiritual realm. We must understand that, whether God acts favorably or unfavorably with us, God will love us as much we love Him. This is a challenge. Do not be afraid.
Once in Braj, when God descended to earth, Lord Shankar rushed to Gokul to have a vision of His Beloved God. He disguised as an ascetic with a garland of skulls and snakes and stood in front of Mother Yashoda's door, begging for a glimpse of her Divine child. She refused, thinking that her child would be scared by His fearsome appearance. Lord Shankar got disheartened. He went to the banks of the Yamuna river and started crying loud, "You are causelessly merciful and loving to your devotees. Won't you give me a glimpse of Your Divine form?" Shree Krishna is governed by His law. According to His rule, on hearing Lord Shankar's crying, Shree Krishna also reciprocated by crying. He never cried like this before. Mother Yashoda was sure that the ascetic might have cast a spell on her child. On finding the ascetic on the banks of Yamuna river, she begged him to come and see her child, who was calling Him loudly. And finally Lord Shankar had a glimpse of Shree Krishna's Divine form. This beautiful pastime illustrates that when someone hankers to meet Shree Krishna, then Shree Krishna too hankers to meet him. This is the law that ties God in an eternal relation with His devotee. Keeping this Divine law in mind, you should never worry that perhaps He does not love you. He has to love you. He has no choice. Why is there a doubt on your part about His love for you? He is All-seeing, All-knowing, the witness to everything, the well-wisher of all, and the Supreme Almighty Lord. There is no question of doubt in this regard. There is no power that can shake or disturb the degree and amount of His love. There is no need to speculate, "Does He love me?" or "How much does He love me?" How much He loves you, depends on how much you love Him. How much love do you want from Him? "A lot." Then love Him a lot. How is it that you love Him a little bit and expect Him to love you a lot? So, God loves us to the extent that we love Him and surrender ourselves to Him. When you understand this law, you no longer worry about whether He considers you His or not. Questions such as, "Does He love me and how much does he love me," come to an end. The devotee says, "O Shyamsundar! You are my King." God says, "It is fine with me. Dear residents of Ayodhya, you are my subjects." If the individual says, "No, No! You are my friend. Come here, I will put my arms around your shoulder." Shree Krishna says, "Ok Arjun, You be my best friend." The devotee says, "O Shyamsundar! I feel like taking care of you. You are my son and I am your mother." Shree Krishna says, "No problem mother Yashoda, You are my mother." The devotee says, "No Shyamsundar, I have a very close and intimate relation with you. You are my Beloved." Shree Krishna says, "It is fine with me. You are my Gopis and I am your Beloved."
So, God has formed a law. Now, there is no question for the individual to have any doubts. It is in the hands of the devotee how much he wants that God should love him. He can make God love the person as much as he wants. He can make God his master, friend, son, or beloved. The keys are in the hands of the devotee. It was the selfless love of the Gopis that made the Supreme God, Shree Krishna forget His Godliness and become their eternal servitor. The Gopis called Him a thief, flirt and so on, and Shree Krishna longed to hear these illiterate maidens of Braj. Always remember, God only wants to see your love for Him. He is not interested in your abilities. Qualities are noticed by the worldly people. People in this world are more interested in your abilities. "He is rich and famous; He has a good social status; He is intelligent." It means the world pays attention to those who have a quality i.e., people are interested in others based on their characteristics. But, God is not like that. God is not interested and does not see all these things. Kubja was not at all beautiful, yet God accepted her love. Vidur was not from a very good family background. But, God accepted him. Sudama was not a rich man, but God accepted his friendship. bhaktya tuṣhyati kevalaṁ nacha guṇairbhaktiḥpriyomādhavah God only observes devotion. Gajraj, the elephant, was not intelligent and Dhruv was very young. All these personalities only loved God and attained Him.
So, God is attainable only by love. Hence, it is so easy to receive the love of God. Just love Him and He will reciprocate it. We don't have to think further or otherwise. You should not feel, "I am a junior. I am a clerk. I am beautiful. I am ugly". Just keep increasing your love for God. The more we increase our love for Him, the more He will love us. He will keep gracing us and we will be spiritually wealthy.