Love for God's sake

Many times Srila Prabhupada says that in this world love is but lust. Below are a few examples;

Lust is only the perverted reflection of the love of God which is natural for every living entity. But if one is educated in Krishna consciousness from the very beginning, that natural love of God cannot deteriorate into lust. - BG 3.41 Purport

If we become attached to this narration, we will experience the bliss of spiritual love and thus reject the perverted reflection of that love, which is called lust. - SB 10.33.39

This material life is simply based on lust; we want to enjoy this world, and we love this material world because we want to gratify our senses. This lust is a perverted reflection of our love of God. - On the Way to Krishna, Ch. 5

Here we love -- a man loves a woman, or a woman loves a man -- but there is frustration. After some time they are divorced, because their love is a perverted reflection. There is no real love in this world. It is simply lust. - Journey of Self-Discovery, Ch. 4

On the surface, it sounds like we should not love anyone since it is lust anyways and that we should just try to love Krishna or if we see two people who say they are in love we discredit or discourage them or the idea of love in this world. We can, as devotees, also become cold and without feelings towards one another in the name of love vs lust and justify our cold-hardheartedness towards others' with these verses. If we do this then we are doing a disservice to Srila Prabhupada.

We hear so much about love and compassion and sometimes we can get into a frame of mental rigidity in the name of following guru and shastra and miss the point. So let us examine these verses little carefully.

Certainly, love in this world is lust if not properly applied. Love becomes lust 'primarily' if we love someone to satisfy me (my senses only). The key word is 'primarily'. However, if we love someone in such a way that it 'primarily' pleases Krishna and then that pleasing of Krishna pleases me, then that is not lust but a path towards pure love. In other words, to the degree we love someone to primarily please Krishna versus pleasing myself, then that love becomes pure.

Bhakti yoga or Krishna consciousness is actually all about loving God and loving all living beings so to say love in this world aka lust is predominant is correct but the solution is not "not to love" but purify our love from loving for my sake to loving others' for Krishna's sake.

When we see everyone as part and parcel of Krishna, and in that mood we love someone and serve that someone, then such love and service centered around Krishna will actually nourish us internally and help us traverse the path towards God quicker.

Hare Krishna