We are never forgotten by God, even when we have forgotten God.
When we go through life with many tests and trials, it is natural to feel lonely, given how vast, messy, and harsh the world can seem. At such times, even when we somehow turn to the sky and wonder if there is someone up there watching out for us—even if we have grown up with an atheistic worldview or haven’t lost our faith—we may still feel as if we are forgotten by God, that we must face this big, harsh world all alone, despite our weaknesses and wounds.
The Bhagavad Gita 15.15 assures us that God never forgets us, for he is always with us in our heart as our indwelling companion, closer to us than even the closest person could ever be, even when they hold us in the tightest, warmest embrace. While God’s indwelling presence may seem like just a theory, and may sometimes even feel abstract or far-fetched, it is a reality. This truth is not only proclaimed by wisdom texts like the Gita, but is also affirmed by great saints across history and geography, who have lived in the light and love of God’s intimate presence in the innermost chambers of their hearts.
The reason for our struggles in life is not that God has forgotten us, but that we have forgotten him. The Bhagavad Gita 15.7 declares that, as souls, we are part of God, but we forget him in the hope of seeking worldly pleasures, thus becoming subjected to the many desires and fears that hound our mind and senses. Rather than worrying whether God has forgotten us, we can start working on countering our forgetfulness of him. We can try to cultivate remembrance of him by chanting his holy names, praying to him, beholding his beautiful deities, associating with saintly devotees, and studying his words in the Bhagavad Gita.
The more we become steady in his remembrance, the deeper will become our perception of his proximate presence in our heart. Through this practice of remembrance, that perception will gradually evolve into a conviction, and finally into a realization, whereby we will understand that he is not just a reality, but a reality greater than the reality of the people around us. In fact, he is “realer” than what we normally call reality, for he is not only the supreme reality but also the reality that sustains all realities, as declared in Bhagavad Gita 10.39: no existence can continue without his foundational existence.
No matter how many hardships we face in life, our very life would not be possible without the many arrangements beyond our control and even beyond our conception—arrangements that are actually made by our benevolent Lord. When we learn to live in the light of his remembrance, the warmth of his presence will start filling our heart, removing the coldness and loneliness from there forever.
Summary:
- When faced with the many trials and tests of life in the big, harsh world we seem to face alone, we may feel forgotten by God, but in reality, we have forgotten him.
- This forgetfulness can be countered by cultivating remembrance of the one who is always present with us, within us, as our constant companion and greatest well-wisher.
- The more we live in the light of his remembrance, the more the warmth of his presence will comfort and strengthen us, as his presence evolves from being a perception to a conviction to a realization, wherein we see him as realer than reality.
Think it over:
- Why may we feel forgotten by God?
- How can we become more aware of his indwelling presence?
- How can the practice of remembrance counter the feeling of existential loneliness?
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15.15 I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
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