What should we ask God and what should we not?

[Shri Hrushikesh asked: In Your recent answer given to Śrī Durgaprasad, You have said the following:

“God is omniscient and omnipotent. There is no need of asking God for any type of help since God knows everything at all times, especially regarding His devotees. He is watching all His devotees and is aware of every situation faced by His devotee. We have to report our problems to other human beings so that they may help us in difficult situations. This is because they cannot know unless we inform them. On knowing our difficulties, they might help us a little. There is a saying that even a mother does not give food unless we ask her. This applies only to non-omniscient human beings and not to the omniscient God.”

I request You to give me more clarity on this as I have some doubts on the same. In the above passsage, You have mentioned that there is no need of asking God for any help and that point is clear. However, my question is about asking for advice. When we are making a decision related to materialistic life, should we ask God for His advice? For example, if a person wants to change his job due to some difficulties at work, should he approach God and ask if it is right to change the job? Let us say the person does not ask God assuming that God is omnipotent and that it is God who is making him think of changing the job. How does the person know whether the decision is his subconscious projection due to his own suffering or whether it is God’s will? Your servant. Hrushikesh]

Swami replied: Asking God for advice is quite different from asking help from God. The first point is not seeking any help from God, but seeking the help of God in the form of right advice, when one gets a doubt. Arjuna asked God Kṛṣṇa to advise him about whether to proceed with the war or withdraw from the war. From one angle, Arjuna felt that proceeding with the war was justified because the opposite side was following injustice and God always wants to punish injustice and establish justice. At the same time, he also felt that killing his grandfather and his teacher, who stood against him, for the sake of getting back his justified share of the property was a sin since non-violence is said to be the highest justice. Both sides have powerful logic and both arguments belong to the same field of pravṛtti alone, which is worldly life. Had there been a controversy between nivṛtti and pravṛtti, Arjuna could have easily sided with nivṛtti since nivṛtti is always greater than pravṛtti (Nivṛttistu mahāphalā). But since his doubt was between two arguments within the same field of pravṛtti, there was only a narrow marginal difference between the two arguments. So, Arjuna only requested Kṛṣṇa to help him decide which side was correct, so that Arjuna could follow the correct side. In his request, Arjuna was not asking any help from Kṛṣṇa to win the war and get his share of the property.

Had Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa to help him win the war, such a request would have been selfish. It would have proved that Arjuna aspired for some fruit in return from God for his devotion. Such a request would be wrong since it would be business-devotion. What is criticized is only the aspiration for help from God in a business-like manner. There is no problem with seeking God’s advice in distinguishing between justice and injustice in a situation where there is a very narrow difference between the two. Arjuna only asked which of the two arguments was correct (Yat śreya etayorekam… —Gītā). Upon getting the correct advice from Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna said that he would proceed with the war to fight against injustice (Kariṣye vacanaṃ tava – Gītā). Arjuna did not ask any help from Kṛṣṇa in the war. Kṛṣṇa had taken an oath in the beginning itself that He would not touch any weapon in the war. It clearly meant that He was not going to practically help any side. Kṛṣṇa had, in fact, taken that oath to test Arjuna. Kṛṣṇa wanted to see whether Arjuna had come to Him for some practical help or whether Arjuna had come to Him due to love for Him. Actually, Arjuna had come to Kṛṣṇa due to his real love for Kṛṣṇa. He did not aspire for any fruit in return and Arjuna stood true to this point, till the end of the war. We have to learn the real lesson from this, which is that we should always worship God due to our selfless love alone and not due to the aspiration for doing selfish business with Him.

Keywords:

| Shri Datta Swami | What should we ask God and what should we not? | pravrutti nivrutti Krishna Nivruttistu mahaaphalaa Yat shreya etayorekam Karishye vacanam tava

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