When We Say No To God Its Mostly Because We Dont Know God Gita 07.19

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
When we say no to God, it’s mostly because we don’t know God. Most people nowadays are functionally non-theistic.
They may not be openly atheistic, but God doesn’t play much of a role in their lives. They may nominally, occasionally visit some places of God, temples, churches, mosques, but they live without considering God much in their day-to-day lives. And when they are invited to come closer to God, often they neglect or reject such proposals because they feel that God has hardly any relevance in their lives.
Now that’s largely because they don’t know God. The Bhagavad Gita describes that most people turn to God because they need something from God. Either the satisfaction of their casual curiosity or more often to remove a problem which they themselves can’t remove or to fulfill a desire that they themselves can’t fulfill.
Chaturvidha bhajante mam janah sukhritnao arjuna artho jivyan surartharthi jnani cha bharat arishabham There are four categories of people who come to Krishna and only the fourth are those who are in knowledge. And for the rest of them to come to knowledge may take many lifetimes. This was 7.16 and 7.19 Krishna says bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvamiti samatmasudurlabha So when we evolve spiritually for many lifetimes then we understand that Vasudevah sarvamiti that God is everything.
That means he is the embodiment and fulfillment of everything that we usually consider desirable. So to know God means to see him not just as a possible provider of our needs but as the ultimate purpose of all our purposes. This means that to know God means to know that he is the attractive principle in everything that we find attractive.
In 10.41 it is said yad yad vibhuti mat sattvam shreemadurjitamevavah tattvadevavagacchatvam mamatejam shasambhavam That everything attractive manifests the spark of Krishna’s supreme unlimited attractiveness. To the extent we understand this principle, to that extent we actually know God and then we can’t say no to God. We say no to God because we feel that our life is meant for other things that we will find more happiness in other things.
But if you understand that God is the source and reservoir of all happiness then that he is the source of all meaning and fulfillment in life then we will not search for anything else. So when we say no to God, not necessarily by adopting atheism but also when we adopt non-theism, that’s because we don’t really know God. If we know him then there is just no alternative for us to become devoted to him.
Not no alternative in the sense that our free will is taken away but no alternative in the sense that we understand that he is so lovable that settling for anything less than him seems like cheating ourselves. That’s why one who knows the Lord becomes devoted to him. etāṁ vibhūtim yogam ca mama yo vetti tattvataḥ so vikalpena yogena yujyate nātra-saṁśayaḥ One who understands his glory gives up all alternatives to him and becomes wholeheartedly devoted to him knowing that therein lies life’s supreme satisfaction.
Thank you.