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Everyone needs love, but the problem is that the love available in this material world is imperfect. There is never enough love available to satisfy the hunger of the soul. And because this hunger is for unconditional affection and love, the conditional love of the material world is unsatisfying.

So the love of this material world is insufficient, both in quantity and quality, to satisfy the spirit soul. However, spiritual love is unlimited in quantity and perfectly unconditional. This spiritual love is available from only one source: the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When we revive our original relationship with Him, we find ourselves in an unlimited ocean of perfect, ecstatic spiritual love and affection.

This spiritual love alone can satisfy the spirit soul, who has been wandering through the material world for many, many births searching for perfect love. The Esoteric Teaching says:

na hy ato 'nyah sivah pantha
visatah samsrtav iha
vasudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogo yato bhavet

“For those who are wandering in the material universe, there is no more auspicious means of deliverance than direct devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

bhagavan brahma kartsnyena
trir anviksya manisaya
tad adhyavasyat kuta-stho
ratir atman yato bhavet

“The great personality Brahma, with great attention and concentration of the mind, studied the Vedas three times, and after scrutinizingly examining them, he ascertained that attraction for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Kṛṣṇa, is the highest perfection of religion.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.2.33-34]

Kṛṣṇa loves us so much that He even expands His original transcendental form into many, just to accompany the soul on his journey in the material world:

esa hy asesa-sattvanam
atmamsah paramatmanah
adyo ’vataro yatrasau
bhuta-gramo vibhavyate

“The gigantic universal form of the Supreme Lord is the first incarnation and plenary portion of the Supersoul. He is the Self of an unlimited number of living entities, and in Him rests the aggregate creation, which thus flourishes.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.6.8]

The Lord is the Supersoul in the bodies of an unlimited number of living entities. In other words, there are two souls in every living body: the individual spirit soul and the Supersoul, an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supersoul is the energetic source of the living entities’ life energy (prana), consciousness and intelligence. He also acts as the indwelling witness of everyone’s activities. The Esoteric Teaching declares:

suparnav etau sadrsau sakhayau
yadrcchayaitau krta-nidau ca vrkse
ekas tayoh khadati pippalannam
anyo niranno ’pi balena bhuyan

“By chance, two birds have made a nest together in the same tree. The two birds are friends and are of a similar nature. One of them, however, is eating the fruits of the tree, whereas the other, who does not eat the fruits, is in a superior position due to His potency.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.11.6]

The eating bird represents the materially conditioned soul tasting the fruits of the tree of the body: happiness and distress. Whenever we contact the material energy with our consciousness, we hope for enjoyment but the experience always has some component of suffering. This is the imperfection of material life.

However we can mitigate all our suffering by making the Lord, in His form as Supersoul, the source of our love and pleasure. The Katha Upanisad [3.1.1], Mundaka Upanisad and Svetasvatara Upanisad [4.6] confirm this:

samane vrkse puruso nimagno
'nisaya socati muhyamanah
justam yada pasyaty anyam isam asya
mahimanam iti vita-sokah

“Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or other he turns his face to his friend, the Lord, and knows His glories—at once the suffering bird becomes free from all anxieties.”

So this is the secret of divine love, spiritual love and lasting happiness. Somehow or other we must become conscious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the Supersoul within the heart, and rediscover our relationship with Him. The experience of transcendental love results in spiritual ecstasy beyond any comparison with any other kind of love:

sa muhurtam abhut tusnim
Kṛṣṇanghri-sudhaya bhrsam
tivrena bhakti-yogena
nimagnah sadhu nirvrtah

“For a moment Uddhava remained stunned in silence, and his body did not move. He became absorbed in the nectar of remembering the Lord’s lotus feet in devotional ecstasy, and he appeared to be going increasingly deeper into that ecstasy.”

pulakodbhinna-sarvango
muncan milad-drsa sucah
purnartho laksitas tena
sneha-prasara-samplutah

“Then Uddhava displayed all the transcendental bodily changes due to total ecstasy, and he was trying to wipe away tears of separation from his eyes. Thus Vidura could understand that Uddhava had completely assimilated extensive love for the Lord.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.2.4-5]

Some of the external bodily symptoms of ecstatic love of Godhead are horripilation (‘goose bumps’), standing of the hair on end, breaking or choking of the voice, cold tears, and becoming stunned. Internal symptoms include spontaneous meditative trance (samadhi), absorption in remembrance of the Lord, forgetfulness of all material conditions and designations, and various spiritual flavors of emotional ecstasy too numerous to mention here.

The real aim of all yoga processes is to reawaken this transcendental loving ecstasy in our hearts. Unfortunately, most schools of yoga, especially in the West, have lost their link with the complete Vedic information on spiritual life. Therefore they do not teach this most confidential spiritual knowledge, nor can they deliver their students the complete cessation of material misery, which is born from contact of the soul with the material senses.

Only the Esoteric Teaching can guide the sincere student through the various pitfalls and distractions along the spiritual path to the actual goal, which is pure love of Godhead.

tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te

“To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 10.10]

Here the Lord gives us a hint how to approach Him: through constant devotion and loving service. If we follow His advice, then He will help us from within. Then we are assured of attaining success, like many people who followed this same path in the past:

vita-raga-bhaya-krodha
man-maya mam upasritah
bahavo jnana-tapasa
puta mad-bhavam agatah

“Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me—and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 4.10]

God’s love is available to everyone, because He is present in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul (Paramatma). But to receive this love, we have to become purified of our attraction to pale material things. Otherwise the noise of our own material desire and activities will distract us from the real solution to all our suffering and problems, which lies waiting to be discovered in our own hearts: pure love of Godhead.

This exalted goal of pure love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead is easy to attain with the methods given in the Esoteric Teaching. We just have to follow the method given in the Teaching, and over time the supreme state of self-realization will automatically manifest in our hearts. And what is that method?

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam mat-parayanah

“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.” [Bhagavad-gita 9.34]