A monk while journeying along the back roads met Krishna. Recognizing him, and after receiving permission he asked, “Krishna, if I loved you with all my heart, how many incarnations will it take me to reach enlightenment?”
Krishna looked at him, in him, through him, weighed his future and his past, and replied, “If you loved me with all your heart, It will take you seven incarnations to reach enlightenment.”
The monk then asked; “If instead of loving you, I hated you with all my heart. How many incarnations will it take then?”
Krishna replied, “then it will take you only three incarnations.”
“But why would it be shorter,” asked the monk?
“Because,” replied Krishna, “you would always have me in your mind.”