Some people argue, “God is infinite, so we can never know him.”

Such an argument, while apparently preserving God’s infinitude, makes loving him difficult, if not impossible. After all, how much can we love an utter stranger?

Gita wisdom conveys that God’s infinitude implies his inexhaustibility, not unknowability. After hearing the Bhagavad-gita’s four nutshell verses (10.08-11), Arjuna acknowledges Krishna’s infinitude by stating that he can’t be known even by the gods (10.14), asserting further that Krishna alone can know himself (10.15). Yet that acknowledgment doesn’t stop Arjuna from wanting to know more about the unknowable Lord. Far from it, he fervently requests Krishna to speak about his glories in detail, declaring that such glories are perennially relishable (10.18).

To understand Arjuna’s paradoxical statements that acknowledge unknowability and yet seek knowledge, consider the example of an avid underwater explorer diving into an ocean. Suppose further that the ocean is infinite and is made of not salt water, but nectar – and nectar of different flavors in different parts of the ocean. The explorer can go to the ocean’s various parts without ever being able to go through it entirely – and yet want to taste more and more of it.

Similar is the situation of devotees who dive into the ocean of Krishna’s glories.

To swim in and drink from this ocean, we need not physical exertion, but emotional redirection by the process of bhakti-yoga. Those without devotion are like those who don’t know swimming – the ocean remains unknowable to them. In contrast, when we practice bhakti-yoga, our devotion for him strengthens and his glories become increasingly relishable. Being spiritually energized by such taste, we long to know his unending glories more and more, ad infinitum.

Thus, God’s infinitude doesn’t make him unknowable – it makes both his glories and the process of knowing them inexhaustible.

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