04.35: Not just Believing, but Belonging

The Bhagavad-gita (4.35) explains that when we become illumined by spiritual knowledge, our level of insight goes far beyond believing in God to belonging to God. When we believe in God, we often tend to think of him as our facilitator and expect him to make things work for us. When we belong to God, we recognize that God is our Lord and master, and realize that we are expected to make things work for him, i.e., we are expected to offer lovingly our very selves to become instruments of his will. Believing in God can give us a sense of security that God will protect our life, but belonging to God gives us a sense of purpose that God loves and values us so much that he believes we can be a part of his plan. As our heart longs not just to live, but to love, what will bring fulfillment to our heart is not just the feeling of believing in God, but the feeling of belonging to him.