What is Love?

Words with too much meaning start to lose their meaning. I mean…, I love pizza, but does pizza love me? Is my love for pizza unconditional, regardless if she is fresh, stale, or Hawaiian style? Does my love for pizza strive for her happiness, even if I may suffer? Or do I just love her for her looks and the other sensual delights she gives me?

Definitions do matter

The rasa theory, the relationship theory, of the yoga tradition starts off by defining that love is between two individuals and that such love, in a pure state, strives for the happiness of the other party without other motives. A simple example is the mother’s care for her baby. Such love and care may come at her expense, but to her, it is worth it if the baby is happy. There we see that my pizza affection cannot be put in the category of love according to such a definition. For love is one or two parties caring for the happiness and well-being of the other.

Core care

The wanting to show care is core to all. That propensity extends out from every individual. At first, a person extends care from himself to his parents and then to his family. But the need to express care is there in the individual themselves, for even if a person doesn’t have a spouse or a girlfriend, they will likely desire a dog or a cat. That push to give love, care, and serve others is inherent within everyone. It may stretch further to one’s own community or nation. It can extend even broader, to all of humanity, or nature, or even the universe itself. This may be compared to a drop of water on a leaf. If a leaf were to hold the water, like a little cup, it would not benefit the leaf. If the water were to glide down that leaf’s twigs, then the potential benefit increases. If it were to glide down the branches and reach the trunk, then all the better. Best is, however, if that water were to then come all the way down to the root. That gives the highest potential that all the other parts of the tree will benefit.

Leaves on a tree

We are like leaves on a tree. We should not hold the water of care just to ourselves, but we should let it go past us, the further out towards the root, and the more we will be benefited. If I only care for myself, I will find that I will not be happy. If I care for my family, I will be more fulfilled. If I stretch that care to a larger circle of the nation, the universe, and so on, I will find myself all the more fulfilled. If, however, I can stretch that tendency to care towards the root of all existence, the Divinity, God, I will find myself the most fulfilled. This is because the root nourishes all. That is the most fulfilling love.

Chandra: How long have you been distributing free hot meals at Tompkins Square Park?

Adi: Bhaktivedanta Swami, a.k.a. Śrīla Prabhupāda, started this program of distributing vegetarian food 55 years ago, in 1965. We have continued this endeavor steadily as Interfaith Community Services for the past 25 years, rain or shine.

Chandra: Can you tell us more about Interfaith Community Services?

Adi: Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we gather at our kitchen in the Lower East Side with cooks and volunteers to prepare healthy, flavorful, and balanced vegetarian meals for anyone who is hungry.

At 9:00 a.m., we head to the southwestern corner of Tompkins Square Park and offer any arrangement of our meals free to anyone who is there. If someone wants three containers of salad, two containers of vegetable curries, two containers of rice, and one cake, we give it to them.

As everyone comes through the line, we take their order and prepare it according to their preference. We feel that God’s love is distributed through service, and we want people to know that God loves them.

Chandra: I have seen that people from various faith traditions regularly participate. That appears to be a theme.

Adi: I’ve read that when we cook with anger, anger goes into the food; when we cook with self-centeredness, selfishness goes into the food; and when we cook with love, love goes into the food.

Because of this, we treat cooking as a form of meditation. We see the food as being lovingly prepared and shared with God. People from all walks of life enjoy coming to serve, and when people taste the food, they notice something special—a real difference.

Chandra: Can you tell us something about Tompkins Square Park?

Adi: This area used to be a shanty town. The New York Daily News once called it the noisiest block in Manhattan. Since the 1980s, it has improved many times over.

Back then, the park struggled with prostitution, drugs, and makeshift cardboard shelters. Eventually, the government boarded up the park with an eight-foot-tall plywood barrier and emptied it. There were riots in the streets.

Right next to the Bhakti Center, there used to be a brothel, and next to it, an S&M bar. I feel that the distribution of sacred, blessed food—and the act of sharing the love of God—has had a positive effect on the neighborhood. The park has become a park again, and people have come a long way.

Chandra: I see a wide range of volunteers from all sections of society. How are they getting connected to the meal distribution?

Adi: Many guests stay at our guesthouses and are invited to our spiritual programs, especially the opportunity to participate in serving hot meals to those in need.

People often show up, serve for several hours, and feel deeply fulfilled. They come back and bring friends. We receive emails from people wanting to volunteer, and sometimes people simply arrive at our kitchen door saying, “My friend served food here—can I help too?” We even have many children who love to help.

Chandra: Do you have any stories you can share?

Adi: One of our neighbors, a Korean man, asked if he could bring his five-year-old daughter to help. I suggested that instead of simply bringing her, he first explain what we do and invite her to participate.

During her second time volunteering, I asked the little two-foot-tall girl, “Why do you come out here?” She put her hands on her hips, looked at me sternly, and said, “We are trying to show people that God loves them.”

We also had visitors from China who volunteered with us. After serving, they said, “Now we are different.” It was a life-changing experience.

Another woman shared that she was trying to reconnect with her nine-year-old daughter after her marriage ended. She brought her daughter to New York City, hoping to rebuild their bond. After several days of sightseeing, she still felt something was missing. When they came to serve free meals together, everything shifted—they suddenly felt connected.

I explained that she and her husband had shared physical, emotional, and intellectual relationships—but what about the self, the spiritual dimension? Serving God together, even through something as simple as placing food on someone’s plate, touches the heart and the soul.

This is an interfaith program, with Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and Jews coming together not to fight, but to serve God. Service free from material motivation is what brings true joy to the soul.

Come and see!

Monday, Wednesday, & Friday on the SW corner of Tompkins Square Park at 9:30 am.

To volunteer meet at the kitchen at 8:45am at 124 E 4th St. NY, NY 10003 or sign up on the Interfaith Community Services website

Published in NY Spirit MGZ Summer 2024 Volume #1

Also see our great photos on our Instagram @Interfaith_nyc