Gita 07.21 – Krishna is much more merciful than the God in the Prodigal Son metaphor
Thank you yoyo Krishna is talking in this section about demigod worship from 7.20 to 23 in the previous verse he stated how when people's knowledge is stolen by desire and instead of worshiping him they worship other devatas anya devata in this verse he continues on that discussion by stating that they worship how they worship whichever form they desire to worship with faith they desire to worship in that particular form in that particular devata firm faith I grant such faith to them the implication of this verse is that devotion even to the devatas is a result of Krishna's arrangement even Krishna's we could say mercy it is Krishna who gives faith to the demigod worshippers to worship the devatas why would Krishna do such a thing because that is what will lead to their gradual elevation the inclusiveness of the Vedic path is such that it offers both gradual and rapid pathways for progress so for those who want to worship who want to move forward rapidly beyond the clutches of the material modes beyond the shackles of material nature those who want to realize and relish their spiritual nature for them for them it is recommended that they just surrender to Krishna that is the rapid way up but for those who for whatever reason are not ready to take that rapid way up Krishna doesn't condemn them reject them sentence them to hell we see in the Abrahamic religions there are there is the idea that you have to worship this particular representative of god, son of god, messenger of god and then you are delivered and if you don't worship then you are on your way to hell so this sort of digital logic my way or the highway not just the highway but the hell way we could say the way to hell the Gita does not endorse this sort of polarity the Gita reveals a vision of god who is much more accommodating and what he does is he offers intermediaries between himself and us and these intermediaries they are also at one level substitutes, surrogates, alternatives the idea is that when we strive to turn towards Krishna it is not easy for many people to surrender to him and of course if someone gets the association of devotees then surrender becomes extremely easy relatively easier rather as compared to the complexity of other processes but for whatever reason if someone is not able to surrender to Krishna then Krishna offers alternatives so that people can keep moving towards him even when they are not able to directly move towards him if somebody can't progress by direct devotion to Krishna then they can progress by indirect devotion to Krishna's representatives suppose there is a father we know in the bible there is a story of the prodigal son that the father leaves when the son leaves the father eagerly awaits and joyfully welcomes the son back although the son has rebelled, rejected the father squandered the father's wealth disgraced the father's name and yet when the son comes the father welcomes so this definitely demonstrates God's love for all of us and the basic motive of this prodigal son story applies to all the world's theistic religions at the same time there is also an understanding that God does much more than waiting patiently and welcoming joyfully, God proactively strives to assist even when the soul is away, so for example in the prodigal son story it is stated that the son was wandering here and there and everywhere unable to find any way to move on and the father helps the father so in the prodigal son it is the son who is caught in a, working for a pig sty owner who makes him feed pigs who bite him and who makes him eat the same food that the pigs are eating and in this way the person suffers, the prodigal son suffers so now the Gita reveals the vision of a God who helps the soul so the soul's devotion is misdirected God helps by helping the soul to turn towards Krishna and attain Krishna so this is done through the systematic process of the practice of Devata Puja, so demigods are not just administrative assistants in Krishna's cosmic administration just as there might be a council of ministers who may help a king but along with that the demigods are also surrogates just like the father can be, the son can be at home provided for by the father but if the son is not ready to be with the father then the father may send some other representative or maybe if the father is a king the king may send a minister and the minister tells the son instead of working for such a cruel master why don't you work for me, I'll pay you better I'll offer you better working and living conditions and like that the devatas offer the soul opportunities and the soul accepts these opportunities the minister says come back to my holdings, my land and there you can work for me so in this way the son has come back to the father's kingdom and is indirectly under the father's care not yet at home but still within the kingdom so like that the soul starts worshipping the devata as indirectly the soul is in Krishna's care through the being in the care of the devatas now of course if the son is intelligent son would directly come back to the father itself but that is not the level rightness that's why Krishna has told you Krishna is so kind that Krishna gives faith for the worship of the devatas so it's like depending on the mood of the son the son may like one minister and not like another minister so Krishna is saying that whichever minister the soul wants to worship Krishna makes that faith strong so Krishna's idea is Krishna's concern is somehow let the soul be elevated so let me gradually come back to the safety of my shelter so how this student god worship works further we will discuss in our future talks.