Most people are caught in materialism, in dreaming and worrying how they can possess and enjoy things in the here-and-now. Being thus obsessed, they feel that God is the last thing they need.

Despite their feeling, God remains the first thing they need. Why? Because God is not a thing like any other thing such as a gadget that we may or may not need. He is the being who is the basis of all being (10.39). Without him, none of the things we need would exist – indeed, we ourselves would not exist. He sustains all the things that sustain our existence: cosmic provisions such as light and heat, terrestrial provisions such as food, and physical provisions such as digestive ability (15.12-14).

Though God sustains everyone’s existence, he doesn’t manifest himself to everyone. The Bhagavad-gita (04.11) states that Krishna rewards us according to how we approach him. So, with those who put him at the bottom of their priority list, he reciprocates by becoming unmanifest. Significantly however, the school of hard knocks can change their priorities. Life can put them into such circumstances that they feel the need for something bigger than themselves.

What that bigger reality is, they can understand faster if they have somehow associated with spiritualists who have made God their top priority. They may neglect that association, but still it acts subconsciously, increasing their spiritual receptivity. Eventually, when life’s vicissitudes stump them, their increased spiritual receptivity prompts them to turn towards wisdom-texts such as the Gita for answers to existential questions.

The Gita’s profound answers coupled with potent bhakti-yoga practice helps them realize that God is the first thing they need – only in him will their longing for love and bliss be fulfilled perennially and perfectly.

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