Re: Trust in God

Nityanaanda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna! Jaya Srila Prabhupada and Sri Guru Parampara!

Thank you truthseeker for the thoughtful question. Thank you Nava Gauranga dasa prabhu for your beautifully written answer.

Why should we trust God? Yes, this very important question we should ask. Krishna says:

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja

�Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.�

Naturally our first reaction to such a heavy statement is to protest: �But who are You? Why should I trust You?�

In the beginning of Bhagavad Gita Arjuna was in a very difficult situation (how difficult we could not even imagine). So, first of all he realized: �My friendly relationship with Krishna is not going to help me overcome this unusual weakness and confusion that I am confronted.� Therefore he �gave up� his friendship with the Lord and surrendered to Him as a disciple to spiritual master and started inquiring about his duty. (BG 2.7)

kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāḿ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaḿ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te 'haḿ śādhi māḿ tvāḿ prapannam

TRANSLATION
�Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.�


Later on, when Shri Krishna gradually revealed to him transcendental knowledge which drove away all ignorance from his heart, Arjuna realized that Krishna is not an ordinary person but God Himself, the original transcendental personality, the purest,  the ultimate abode, the unborn and eternal, the most powerful Lord of all Lords. He remembered also how great sages like Narada, Vyasa, Asita and Devala glorify Lord Krishna as the Supreme Brahman. Thus Arjuna prayed (BG 10.12-13)

arjuna uvāca
paraḿ brahma paraḿ dhāma
pavitraḿ paramaḿ bhavān
puruṣaḿ śāśvataḿ divyam
ādi-devam ajaḿ vibhum
āhus tvām ṛṣayaḥ sarve
devarṣir nāradas tathā
asito devalo vyāsaḥ
svayaḿ caiva bravīṣi me

So, then as Srila Prabhupada points out in the purport, one may think that Arjuna is eulogizing Krishna on the basis of their friendship. But it is not so. Later on Krishna gives detailed knowledge of His divine opulences and in the XI-th Chapter He reveals His all-pervading Universal Form to the filled with amazement Arjuna.

What I am trying to say is that to come to the point of asking us to surrender to Him completely (BG 18.66) the Lord has revealed and proven His supreme position and dominion over everything that be. In other words, He is not asking us to blindly accept Him as God, although of course He has the power to do so. On the contrary He has created us with the purpose to exchange loving relationship with Him and has granted us the free will whether to love Him or leave Him. It is all up to us. He will not force us in both choices. But the results of our choices will be different. We can either feel His love for us and get spiritually nourished by it while acting according to His desire, or we can disconnect ourselves and fade away in forgetfulness of our relationship with Him, in other words drown in the illusion of Maya.

Yes, God is all-powerful and therefore we should trust him. But this trust or faith is strengthened by knowledge and devotion as revealed in BG 10.8 where Krishna says.
ahaḿ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaḿ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māḿ
budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

�I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.�

Still this does not limit us in any way, because as He promises in  BG 4.11: ye yathā māḿ prapadyante tāḿs tathaiva bhajāmy aham

�As all surrender unto Me I reward them accordingly.�

But then you can ask: �What if God lies to us? After all this tendency of lying also originates from Him.� Yes, He sometimes lies or breaks His promise for different reasons but He always makes sure that the words of His pure devotees will never go in vain. Therefore He asks Arjuna to declare it boldly that His devotee will never perish. kaunteya pratijānīhi
na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31)

So, the conclusion is that we can fully put our trust in God, along with our mind, intelligence and refuge. And what will be the result. Shri Krishna explains this very nicely in the BG 5.17:

tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas
tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ
gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiḿ
j�āna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ

�When one's intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.�

Your servant: Sarvabhauma das

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