How does one know God?

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

How does one know God?

 

bhaktyA mAm abhijAnAti yAvAn yaz cA 'smi tattvataH

tato mAM tattvato jnAtvA vizate tada anantaram

 

Bhagavad Gita 18.55

 

By devotion (Divine Love) he knows Me in truth,

What and Who I am; then having known Me in truth,

he forthwith enters into Me.

 

Prema, Love makes way to the inaccessible.

The unknown and the unknowable become known to the true lover.

What is known through love is true Knowledge and

what is done through love is the true service.

 

na tapobhir na vedaiz ca na jnAne nApi karmaNA

harirhi sAdhyate bhaktyA pramaNaM tatra gopikAH

 

Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Chapter. 2, verse. 18

 

Sri Hari can be won neither by means of austerities nor through the

study of the Vedas, nor even through righteous action.

He can be won only through Divine Love. The cowherdesses of Vraja bear

testimony to this.

 

sarvasya cA 'haM hRdi sanniviSTo mattaH smRtir jnAnam apohanaM ca

vedaizca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedAnta kRd veda vid eva ca 'ham

 

(B.Gita 15.15)

 

Bhagavan Krishna also said:

 

And I am seated in the hearts of all;

from Me are memory, knowledge, as well as their loss;

 

I am verily That Which alone has to be known by Vedas ;

I am indeed the Author of the Vedanta as well as

the sole Knower of the Vedas.

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

Mathara Sruti declares:

 

bhaktir "eva" inaM nayati

bhaktir "eva" inaM darzayati

bhakti "vazaH" puruSaH

bhaktir "eva" bhUyasI

 

Divine Love alone will bring the Lord to you.

Bhakti alone will give you the realization of the Lord.

Since the Lord is under the pure control of Divine Love,

So bhakti ALONE is the greatest Divine Power of all.

 

Please note the Sanskrit word 'eva' in its insisting tone as 'only'

and 'alone'.

In Narada Bhakti Sutra the same word - 'eva' is declared three times:

 

tri satyasya bhaktir 'eva' garIyasI, bhaktir 'eva' garIyasI

 

In the Padma Purana, Uttara-khanda, Chapter 15, it is stated:

 

cakSur vinA yathA dIpam

yathA darpaNam eva ca

samIpastham na pazyanti

tathA viSNum bahirmukhaH

 

As a blind person cannot see himself

even with the help of a lamp or a mirror,

persons (devoid of bhakti) who've turned

their faces away from all pervading Lord

cannot perceive Him even

if He is so close to them.

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!