tried to hold them back, but no, they must go to Him, to their
Lover, Shri Krishna; He must not be hungry, the child of their
love. And so they went and gave Him food and He ate. But they say: They
left their husbands! they left their homes! how wrong to leave husbands
and homes and follow after Shri Krishna! The implication always
is that their love was purely physical love, as though that were
possible with a child of seven. I know that words of physical love are
used, and I know it is said in a curious translation that "they came
under the spell of Cupid." It matters not for the words, let us look at
the facts. There is not a religion in the world that has not taught that
when the Supreme calls, all else must be cast aside. I have seen Shri
Krishna contrasted with Jesus of Nazareth to the detriment of
Shri Krishna, and a contrast is drawn between the purity of the
one and the impurity of the other; the proof given was that the husbands
were left while the wives went to play with and wait on the Lord. But I
have read words that came from the lips of Jesus of Nazareth; "He that
loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." "And every one
that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall
receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (Matt. x.
37, and xix. 29.) And again, yet more strongly: "If any man come to me
and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple." (Luke xiv. 26.) That is exactly the same idea. When Jesus
calls, husband and wife, father and mother, must be forsaken, and the
reward will be eternal life. Why is that right when done for Jesus,
which is wrong when done for Shri Krishna?

[Footnote 12: Dance.]

It is not only that you find the same teaching in both religions; but in
every other religion of the world the terms of physical love are used to
describe the relation between the soul and God. Take the "Song of
Solomon." If you take the Christian _Bible_ and read the margin you will
see "The Love of Christ for His Church"; and if from the margin you look
down the column, you will find the most passionate of love songs, a
description of the exquisite female form in all the details of its
attractive beauty; the cry of the lover to the b