God is there. There is no doubt of it, but because, due to our foolishness, we think there is no God, there is no father, that is our foolishness. But what is that God, how He is, what is His business, how He is formed - all these things we want to learn

Expressions researched:
"God is there, and there is no doubt of it, but because, due to our foolishness, we think there is no God, there is no father, that is our foolishness. But what is that God, how He is, what is His business, how He is formed—all these things we want to learn"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

God is there, and there is no doubt of it, but because, due to our foolishness, we think there is no God, there is no father, that is our foolishness. But what is that God, how He is, what is His business, how He is formed—all these things we want to learn, and human life is meant for that purpose. In the life of cats and dogs we cannot understand God, but in the human life we can understand.

770129 - Lecture BG 07.01 - Bhuvanesvara

According to our śāstra, there are seven mothers: my original mother, ādau-mātā. Guroḥ patnī is my mother. Dhenu, cow, is my mother. Dhātrī, the nurse, is my mother. Tathā pṛthvī, also earth is also my mother. So mātā is there, and the sons are there. How you can deny, that "There is no father"? I may not see my father, but there is father; there is no doubt of it. That pitā is personally presenting Himself—ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4): "I am the seed-giving father."

So therefore . . . So God is there, and there is no doubt of it, but because, due to our foolishness, we think there is no God, there is no father, that is our foolishness. But what is that God, how He is, what is His business, how He is formed—all these things we want to learn, and human life is meant for that purpose. In the life of cats and dogs we cannot understand God, but in the human life we can understand. Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra the first aphorism is that athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life, in the human form of life . . . Because we get this human form of life after many, many evolutionary . . . (break) So this is a chance to understand what is God and what is our relationship with Him. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung,

hari hari bifale, janama goṅāinu,

manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā,

jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu

So it is our duty to understand, and some of them are trying to understand what is God. Now, here Kṛṣṇa, bhagavān uvāca, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, said that "You can understand Me perfectly." Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). Bhagavān is the last word of the Absolute Truth. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). So to understand Bhagavān is the last word, vedānta. Vedānta means . . . Veda means knowledge, and anta means the last word. Everything has some end. So you can have so many knowledges, but unless you understand what is Bhagavān, your knowledge is imperfect. Therefore you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā,

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vasudevaḥ sarvam iti

sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ

(BG 7.19)

So the conclusion is that we may be very learned scholar or scientist or philosopher—that we may be—or very good worker, very good politician, but if we do not understand what is God, then we are in the categories of mūḍha, narādhama, duṣkṛtina.