Shant: Love God as your protector. Example can be loving Shiva, Vishnu or Durga (or any
other form of Durga, like Kali or Jagatdhatri)
Dasya: Love God as parent or master. Example is how Hanuman loved Ram and Sita
Sakhya: Love God as friend or sibling. Example is how Arjun loved Krishna
Vatsalya: Love God as son or daughter. Example is how Yasoda loved Krishna
Madhurya: Love God as lover or spouse. Example is Mirabai loved Krishna.
Swami Nikhilananda also talked about some terms we use incorrectly to describe Hinduism.
Often, non-Hindus describe us as idol-worshippers. According to English dictionary, idol is a
false God. We do not worship idol, but, we pray to God in the form we feel comfortable.
We also do not pray to multitude of Gods, we pray to one and only one God, who is visible in the
form we want him to come to us
We often hear from non-Hindus that stories of Hindu scriptures are made up stories (mythology).
We must tell them that we believe that these are from real e