Do we relate with God only as our father?
Yes so do we have to relate to God only as our father yes he is definitely our father but that relationship is the foundation on which we can have various flavors to our relationship with him so he is our father, he is our parent in the sense that he is our source Krishna talks about this in the Bhagavad Gita when he says father of the whole universe several places in the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna refers to is this paternal way of relating with all living beings at the same time, that is not the only mode of the relationship which we can have with him in our eternal bond of love with him so the relationship of the father and the son there is to some extent the one sidedness that the son often asks give me this give me that and the father supplies so that limitation is not so much there when we approach God more in a mood of loving service selfish relationships are those relationships in which we seek more than we give selfless relationships are those in which we give more than we seek and truly fulfilling relationships are the relationships where both parties are selfless and for our relationship with God to become truly fulfilling we need to bring more of a giving mood than an asking mood in that relationship and the father son relationship where the father is the maintainer and the son is the maintained this often has a more of a taking asking and taking mood to the relationship than a giving mood so in the spiritual level of reality the relationship with God are more in the mood of giving and there are according to the bhakti traditions five broad flavors in which we can relate with God as a master and servant these relationships are actually increasing degrees of intimacy so the master and servant relationship there is some amount of formality but there is proximity also because the servant carries out the dear most desires of the master and even closer relationship is the relationship of friendship where we can actually become friends with God so actually below the servant relationship is simply the meditators relationship the meditator simply observes how God great is, how great God is and admires God, there there is absorption the greatness of God which is definitely good but there is no desire to serve God, to do something for God, to do something for God God is so great what can I do for him but when that passive admiration is infused with the active desire to serve yes God is so great that I want to do something to express my love for him then we have the relationship of servant with the master even closer is when the love becomes so great that actually the awareness of God's greatness goes to the background and one is aware primarily oh God is so close to me, he is my friend even closer and this is actually the antithesis of the normal father-son relationship is that where the devotee sees oneself as the parent of God and this is immensely selfless because here the devotee feels I have to maintain God that I have to take care of him and there is an enormous amount of sweetness and selflessness in this mood of relationship and the most intimate is the mood of a conjugal lover where one sees God as one's heartthrob and one has a romantic relationship with God, all these are different ways in which you can relate with him as a meditator observing, as a servant, as a friend, as a parent and as a lover and in all these ways there is increasing intimacy with God so the relationship with God is not monochrome as father and son it is actually multichrome with many different flavors and sweetnesses inherent in those flavors, thank you.