Hare Krsna,
It is the greatness and humility of Lord Krsna that He thinks His transcendental glories have increased because of His devotion to His servitors. Lord Krsna is full in six kinds of opulences – fame, beauty, wealth, power, knowledge, and renunciation. He is the reservoir and source of all qualities. He is the cause of everything. Everything comes from Him. And still to think that His has obtained these qualities because of His devotion to His devotees makes Him the Supreme Lord. The devotee thinks that he is elevated in all good qualities due to his being a devotee of the Lord. The Lord thinks He is the reservoir of all good qualities due to His being a servitor to His devotees. This is mutual appreciation.
“”The relationship between the Lord and His devotee is transcendentally beautiful. As the devotee thinks that it is due to being a devotee of the Lord that he is elevated in all good qualities, so the Lord also thinks that it is because of His devotion to the servitor that all His transcendental glories have increased.” (SB 3.16.7 Purport)
In the spiritual world, there is always a transcendental competition going on between the Lord and His devotees. The devotees want to serve and glorify the Lord more and more. In return, the Lord also wants to glorify His devotees.
“The Lord is situated as Himself, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is accompanied by His expansions like Lord Rāma, Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Mahā-Viṣṇu and so forth. The devotees worship all these forms according to their liking, and the Lord, out of His affection, presents Himself as arcā-vigraha. He sometimes presents Himself personally before the devotee out of reciprocation or affection. A devotee is always fully surrendered to the loving service of the Lord, and the Lord is visible to the devotee according to the devotee’s desires. He may be present in the form of Lord Rāma, Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva and so on. Such is the exchange of love between the Lord and His devotees.” (SB 5.7.9 P)
If we reflect deeply, the reasoning behind the advent of Lord Caitanya is a deeper meaning and example of mutual appreciation. In Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta introduction, Srila Prabhupada explains:
“Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one, and when Kṛṣṇa desires to enjoy pleasure, He manifests Himself as Rādhārāṇī. The spiritual exchange of love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is the actual display of Kṛṣṇa’s internal pleasure potency. Although we speak of “when” Kṛṣṇa desires, just when He did desire we cannot say. We only speak in this way because in conditioned life we take it that everything has a beginning; however, in spiritual life everything is absolute, and so there is neither beginning nor end. Yet in order to understand that Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one and that They also become divided, the question “When?” automatically comes to mind. When Kṛṣṇa desired to enjoy His pleasure potency, He manifested Himself in the separate form of Rādhārāṇī, and when He wanted to understand Himself through the agency of Rādhā, He united with Rādhārāṇī, and that unification is called Lord Caitanya. This is all explained by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in the fifth verse of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.”
“Viṣaya and āśraya are two very significant words relating to the reciprocation between Kṛṣṇa and His devotee. The devotee is called the āśraya, and his beloved, Kṛṣṇa, is the viṣaya…In the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī is the āśraya feature and Kṛṣṇa the viṣaya. The transcendental consciousness of the Lord tells Him, “I am Kṛṣṇa, and I experience pleasure as the viṣaya. The pleasure enjoyed by Rādhārāṇī, the āśraya, is many times greater than the pleasure I feel.” Therefore, to feel the pleasure of the āśraya category, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” (CC Adi 4.135 Purport)
“The relation, the natural relation between God and ourselves, is so sweet that a pure living entity is always trying to render service to the Lord without any material profit and the Lord is trying to serve the devotee. He’s also finding out the opportunity, how to serve His devotee. So, this is spiritual exchange of love.” (SP Lecture on BG 4.6-8)
Therefore, Krsna consciousness means that we are trying to reach that platform of real love, exchange of love, a platform of mutual appreciation with the Lord. By chanting the Holy Name of the Lord lovingly and attentively, we express our appreciation for the Divine Couple Radha and Krsna. By this the Lord is pleased and thus there is an exchange of love and mutual appreciation between the Lord and His devotees. The particular loving mood or attitude relished in the exchange of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called rasa, or mellow. This is the same mood of the Lord that is reflected in the pastime of the four Kumaras and Jaya/Vijaya. The Lord
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 