When we pray to God, what do we ask Him? Someone says, “O God, please see that I can top this exam and make my parents proud.” Elsewhere, one would say, “O Shree Krishna, make me so rich and powerful that I may never have to ask anything.” The same person would ask later: “Please listen to my prayer one last time and grant my wish to marry this girl.” Many times, God fulfills our wishes, and in the next prayer, we present the following premeditated plea! While doing so, we are often unaware that God grants worldly boons only if He wishes to be easily released from a devotee by bestowing things of lesser value, and hides the true treasure from him.

What then is the real treasure that God possesses? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu reveals God’s closely guarded secret in the following verse.

kṛṣṇa yadi chuṭe bhakte bhukti mukti diyā kabhu prema-bhakti nā dena rakhena lukāiyā

“If a devotee wants material enjoyment (bhukti) or liberation (mukti), Krishna grants it immediately. But, He rarely gives pure love (prema-bhakti), keeping it carefully hidden.” — Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 8.18

The verse confirms that God is generous with worldly success (bhukti) and even liberation from rebirth (mukti). But when it comes to prema—divine, selfless love, He becomes protective. Why? Because if He gives away prema, He will have to get enslaved by His devotee.

Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj entreats a sadhak to claim that priceless treasure from his worshippable God. He pens in this enlightening pad from Prem Ras Madira (his collection of 1008 pads), delving into the secrets of divine love: Piya! Mola amolaka lījiye

“O friend! Obtain the priceless treasure of God (divine love) without paying any price.”

What is the nature of such love? Swami Mukundananda explains with the help of an anecdote from the life of the blind saint Soordas.

Soordas Challenged God: The Power of Selfless Love

Soordas often sang the glories of God in sacred satsangs at people’s homes in Vrindavan. The gathering brimmed with music, devotion, and divine fervor. One evening, when the program ended, everyone returned home, forgetting that the blind Baba needed help to walk back to his hut in Parasauli.

True to his saintly nature, Soordas did not want to trouble anyone. Tapping his stick on the path, he set out alone. Just ahead of him lay a deep pit. One wrong step, and his life would have ended there.

Seeing his devotee in danger, God could not remain still. Shree Krishna manifested, chiding him, "O Babaji, how careless of you! There is a pit ahead, and you are about to fall. Are you not worried at all?" He then grabbed Soordas' walking stick.

Grateful, Soordas replied, "My son, thank you very much. You saved my life." The childlike Krishna offered to take him to his hut. They walked along, Krishna holding the front of the stick and Soordas the back. During their conversation, Soordas suspected it was the Lord Himself due to the captivating voice.

Soordas decided to try to catch Krishna by slowly extending his hand on the stick. Realizing Soordas's intent, laughing mischievously, Krishna let go of the stick and ran away, profoundly stating, "It is not so easy to catch Me. Great yogis and sages meditate for ages and still do not get My darshan in their samadhi. How will you catch Me like this?"

Soordas Tries to Grab Krishna’s Hand Along the Stick

Unfazed, Soordas recited a famous doha and challenged God:

hāth chhuḍāye jāt ho, nibal jānike mohi

hirday te jab jāhuge marda badaungo tohi

"O Shree Krishna, You may slip from my feeble grasp, considering me weak. But if You are truly heroic, try escaping from my heart, where I have seated You forever. Only then will I consider You a real man."

Inspiration

Soordas’ selfless love compelled God to bestow him divine darshan in the yugal sarkar form (Radha and Krishna), inundating his heart with divine love. Soordas exemplifies the power of selfless devotion and how pure love can bind God.

The Price of Divine Love: How to Attain It?

Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj urges seekers to claim that treasure without paying a price for it. He further states the urgency to hasten the process, for we must not relinquish the golden opportunity we have in the human form:

asa avasara phira nahin milaigo, bātana mora patījiye

“You may not receive such a golden opportunity again. Believe me, I am telling the truth.”

However, God does not bestow this gift indiscriminately, as we witnessed in the snippet from Soordas’ life. How, then, do we attain it? To demonstrate this, Krishna, along with Narad Ji, devised a lila. Let us relish it.

Once, Narad Muni arrived in Dwarka bearing a single, fragrant flower from Kalpavriksha, the celestial wish-fulfilling tree of the heavens. But Narad was no ordinary traveler—he was a divine provocateur, a cosmic stirrer sent not to incite trouble, but to reveal truths buried deep in the hearts of even the most exalted souls.

With a knowing smile, he offered the rare blossom to Shree Krishna, the King of Dwarka and the Lord of the cosmos. Krishna, in turn, gifted it to Rukmini, his chief queen, calm and ever-devoted.

Shree Krishna Offering the Flower of the Kalpavriksha Tree to Rukmini

Narad wasted no time. He approached the second queen, Satyabhama, and reported the incident, inciting pangs of jealousy. She stopped speaking to Krishna, her heart clouded by ego and wounded affection.

Days passed. Finally, unable to hide her pain, she confronted Krishna:
"You gave that divine flower to Rukmini. Not to me. Do I not mean anything to you?"

Krishna, ever gentle, laughed softly, "Oh dear one, if a single flower causes such grief, then let me bring you the entire tree!"

And with His divine sankalp shakti, the Kalpavriksha descended from the heavens and manifested in Dwarka. Narad returned with the next twist in this divine pastime.

"Satyabhama," he said, "Kalpavriksha is now here! On this auspicious Ekadashi, if you offer your dearest possession beneath it, you will receive immense spiritual merit."

Caught in a moment of deep spiritual aspiration, Satyabhama declared, "The dearest to me is my Lord—Shri Krishna Himself."

"Then offer him," Narad responded, "I am a Brahmin. Donate Him to me."

And with faith and formality, she placed water in her palm and offered Dwarkadheesh to the sage.

Narad smiled, turned to Krishna, and said, "O Tribhangilal, take my kamandal and follow me." Without protest, Krishna obeyed.

Seeing their husband follow Narad into the jungle, the other queens protested in panic.

But Narad reminded them, "What is given in charity cannot be taken back."

“Still, if you wish him back, weigh Him against His equal. Place treasures upon a scale until they match His weight. Then you may reclaim Him."

A golden scale was brought. Krishna sat on one side, serene, smiling. On the other side, mountains of gold, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds were heaped. The queens, avatars of Lakshmi herself, gave with unending abundance. But Krishna’s side never budged. He was immeasurable—not in weight, but in essence.

The queens turned to Narad in despair, "What can balance the Lord?"

Narad, ever the teacher, pointed to Krishna. "Ask Him."

And Krishna said simply, "Place a single tulsi leaf—but with true devotion."

Rukmini stepped forward. With eyes full of surrender, she offered a tulsi leaf, whispering her love into it. The scale tipped. Krishna rose. He showed the world: God cannot be bought with wealth, but a single leaf, offered with love, can win His heart.

Inspiration

You cannot buy or bargain for divine love. Nor can you snatch it. You must ask for it with your whole heart. This is the kind of yearning that the Gopis of Vraj experienced in separation from their soul Beloved. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in Radha bhav, experienced such param vyakulta:

yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam
śūnyaṁ jagat sarvaṁ api saṁsāre rāhito mama

–Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 6.45

“Without my Govind, every moment seems like ages, my eyes are flowing torrents of rain, the whole world appears void and lifeless.”

This is the sentiment of lalāsa— intense, unbearable longing for God. Divine Love might be priceless. However, there is a price to attain it. And that price is lalāsa–deep, intolerable yearning.

When we pray, “prem bhiksham dehi”—grant me divine love, we often ask with dry mechanical lips, not with crying hearts.

Just like a hungry child cries for its mother—not bargaining with logic, nor with learning, but with helpless love—so must we cry before our Divine Beloved.

Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj reiterates in the pad, Piya Mol Amolak:

banana chahata jo amara-suhāgini, tana-mana-prānana dījiye

“If you want to become the immortal bride of Shree Krishna, surrender your body, mind, and soul to Him.”

When we renounce material desires and give our all in selfless loving offering, He bestows the highest treasure.

How Dhanna’s Steadfast Faith Earned Him The Most Priceless Treasure

Swami Mukundananda explains how we can deepen our devotion, flashing a gem of knowledge from the Bhagavatam. He says: God is eternally ours and is the Soul of our souls. If He were to withdraw His presence even for a moment, the soul would lose all sentience. Yet, the tragedy is that we have forgotten this truth.

We have practiced a false identity: ‘This world is mine, my possessions, my status, my body.’ This deep-rooted delusion has led us away from God. We must reverse this habit if we wish to turn towards Him. Instead of repeating the thought, ‘the world is mine,’ we must remember, ‘God alone is mine.’ As Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj beautifully says: Tu hi tu hi tu hi toh hai mera Nandanandana. The day we truly feel ‘God alone is mine,’ love for Him will awaken fully in our hearts.” Let us learn this from the following story.

Dhanna Jat was a popular North Indian saint. Being illiterate, he used to serve at the temple, but the priest never permitted him to worship the Shaligram. One day, Dhanna approached him: “Panditji, please teach me devotion.” The priest scoffed, “What bhakti can you do without knowing Vedic mantras?” But Dhanna insisted. Amused, the priest handed him a stone grinder and said, “This is Lord Shaligram. Bathe Him, adorn Him, and offer your meals to Him daily.”

Overjoyed, Dhanna brought the stone home, believing God had entered his hut. He bathed and decorated it with love. When mealtime came, he offered his bajra rotis to the Lord, pleading, “Please eat.” But the stone remained still. Dhanna, undeterred, gave up his meal, thinking God must be hungrier. When even that didn't work, he vowed, “If You won’t eat, I won’t either.”

Seven days passed. Dhanna remained unfed but steadfast in love. God, seeing such pure devotion, melted. Emerging from the stone, He began to eat. Dhanna joyfully cried, “You have come to life!” But when the Lord reached for the second roti, Dhanna protested, “ I have fasted for 7 days and now I’m hungry too!” The Lord laughed, blessed him, and granted him divine knowledge and love.

Even without scriptures, Dhanna’s faith turned a stone into God. Such is the power of unwavering devotion.

Inspiration

The scriptures say that one can practice devotion through various bhavs (spiritual sentiments): dasya bhav (servitude), sakhya bhav (friendship), vatsalya bhav (parental affection), and the pinnacle of devotion, madhurya bhav (divine belovedness), which encompasses all other sentiments.

Dhanna too cultivated a personal relationship with God. He had firm faith that God is his own. Like the sakhas, cowherd boys of Vraj who innocently fought with Krishna over sweetmeats, Dhanna’s act of snatching a half-eaten roti from God is an act of intimate friendship.

God Manifests Before the Illiterate Boy Dhanna Jat

Conclusion

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu refers to prema (divine love) as the pancham purusharth—the crest-jewel of all the purusharths—dharm (one’s righteous duty), arth (material prosperity) kama (desires), and moksha (liberation). It is higher than even the coveted final stage of moksha. Neither of the four stages can enslave God. Hence, the highest goal of human life is to attain this amolak (priceless) treasure, even if it takes many lifetimes to do so. When we become kamna rahit (devoid of material desires) and desire only God, and this yearning to attain Him becomes unbearable, that is when God opens the floodgates of His graces, drowning us in divine love. The soul finds true fulfillment as Maharajji expresses in his pad: dai sarabasa lai prema-sudhā rasa, tehi rasa mahañ nita bhījiye

“By offering everything of yours to Him, receive the nectar of love and bliss, and drown in that bliss forever.”

The duty of the soul does not end here. He further elaborates:

puni tehi rasahiń pivāiya aurahiń, āpuhun soi rasa pījiye

“Drink that sweet nectar of divine bliss, and serve it to others as well.”

The line reflects Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s dicta: i)naam e ruchi and ii) jeev e daya as the two primary goals of a soul. The first principle is to drench ourselves in the ambrosial essence of divine love. The second is to spread this treasure with others, guiding them forward on the path of bhakti. When the soul performs these duties in loving service to his eternal Beloved, his life becomes truly successful:

janama 'kripālu' saphala kara lījiye, kyoń kara nija kara mīnjiye

“O soul! Make your life successful by surrendering to Shree Krishna; otherwise, you will have to rub your hand helplessly in regret.”

Call to Action:

1. Relish this soul-stirring pad by Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj:Swami Mukundananda | Piya Mol Amolak Lijiye | Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj | Radha Kunj

2. Subscribe and share the Swami Mukundananda YouTube channel: This is the Definition of TRUE LOVE | Inspiring STORY of Meerabai by Swami Mukundananda

3. Deepen your devotion with timeless spiritual secrets with Swami Mukundananda’s book Nourish Your Soul. Order now https://www.jkyog.org/giftshop/product-details/7899136655405 and embark on your journey of spiritual enlightenment.