
Question
You say God is above all Mayic vices. Yet he wants us to love ONLY Him. Even in our selfishness driven material world a single person loves a lot of people viz. father, mother, brothers, sisters, spouse, kids and friends. And they seem to all get along. Then why is God so jealous?
Answer
You have been listening to Shri Maharaj Ji's lectures and understood many fundamental things from there like
Vedic scriptures advise us to humbly ask questions from a God-realized saint, thereby deepen the understanding of bhakti related facts called tattva gyan. And this is one of those questions.
Let me give you the short answer first. "God has no unfulfilled desires, so He has no ulterior motives. Therefore, every action of God is for gracing the souls."
Now, let me go a little deeper to explain how God's instruction "Love ONLY Me" is grace and not instigated by jealousy.
You say God is above all Mayic vices. Yet he wants us to love ONLY Him. Even in our selfishness driven material world a single person loves a lot of people viz. father, mother, brothers, sisters, spouse, kids and friends. And they seem to all get along. Then why is God so jealous?
Answer
You have been listening to Shri Maharaj Ji's lectures and understood many fundamental things from there like
- Everyone does each and every action for their own happiness.
- God is the master of Maya. Thus, He can't be enslaved by vices of Maya.
Vedic scriptures advise us to humbly ask questions from a God-realized saint, thereby deepen the understanding of bhakti related facts called tattva gyan. And this is one of those questions.
Let me give you the short answer first. "God has no unfulfilled desires, so He has no ulterior motives. Therefore, every action of God is for gracing the souls."
Now, let me go a little deeper to explain how God's instruction "Love ONLY Me" is grace and not instigated by jealousy.
In the Bhagwat Gita, the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna emphasizes on the topic of “exclusiveness in surrender of the mind”. Lord Krishna says in the Gita
मामेकं शरणं ब्रज ॥
|
maamekan sharanan bra
Gita 18.66 |
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते ।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥ Gita 9.22 |
ananyaashchintayanto maan ye janaah paryupaasate .
teshaan nityaabhiyuktaanaan yogaksheman vahaamyaham Gita 9.22 |
“Those who constantly meditate on Me and selflessly serve only Me, I protect what they have and give them what they don’t have”.
मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय॥
Gita 12.8 |
mayyev man aadhatsv
Gita 12.8 |
“Endow your mind and intellect with only Me”.
In all of these verses, in Gita, Shri Krishna has frequently used the word ev (एव). The word ev in Sanskrit means "only". So in all these verses Shri Krishna is telling Arjun to absorb his mind in Him and Him alone, to obtain His grace.
In this world, we love many different people, our mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, children, other relatives, friends etc. and no one objects to us loving anyone else. However, as per Bhagavat Gita God has put this very strange condition that love Me and Me alone (मामेकं शरणं ब्रज). Only then will I shower my grace upon you [1].
In our day to day life experience, such a statement is made only when someone is jealous. Due to that experience many naive people interpret God's advise to be fueled by jealousy.
In all of these verses, in Gita, Shri Krishna has frequently used the word ev (एव). The word ev in Sanskrit means "only". So in all these verses Shri Krishna is telling Arjun to absorb his mind in Him and Him alone, to obtain His grace.
In this world, we love many different people, our mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, children, other relatives, friends etc. and no one objects to us loving anyone else. However, as per Bhagavat Gita God has put this very strange condition that love Me and Me alone (मामेकं शरणं ब्रज). Only then will I shower my grace upon you [1].
In our day to day life experience, such a statement is made only when someone is jealous. Due to that experience many naive people interpret God's advise to be fueled by jealousy.
No! God is not jealous. Jealousy is a characteristic of Maya, which is a maid of God. It cannot overpower God. Hence, God is not jealous and can never be jealous. Still He insists on exclusively loving Him. What is the reason behind this restriction of exclusiveness?

We all have experienced situations in life where at different times in our life our attachment to different people increases for example when one is growing up, one is very close to their parents, in adulthood, one becomes very attached to one's spouse and parents do not object. When a child is born to them, they become very close to the children and the spouse does not object.
However, when the same person gets interested in the spiritual path and starts getting attached to God and spending most of their time in singing the glories of God, the same family members seem to resist, resent and try to prevent the person from following the path of God. There are plenty of proofs in the the history where the saints like Prahalad, Meerabai, Tukaram, Tulsidas, Kabirdas etc had to face stiff opposition.
Just like the world does not like anyone loving God, God too does not like anybody loving the material objects or people!
God has nothing to gain by jiva loving Him, still He says so because jiva has a lot of gain by loving Him. Remember God is gracious and a well-wisher!
However, when the same person gets interested in the spiritual path and starts getting attached to God and spending most of their time in singing the glories of God, the same family members seem to resist, resent and try to prevent the person from following the path of God. There are plenty of proofs in the the history where the saints like Prahalad, Meerabai, Tukaram, Tulsidas, Kabirdas etc had to face stiff opposition.
Just like the world does not like anyone loving God, God too does not like anybody loving the material objects or people!
God has nothing to gain by jiva loving Him, still He says so because jiva has a lot of gain by loving Him. Remember God is gracious and a well-wisher!

God has innumerable names, attributes, abodes and saints. If someone loves any or all of them, God is delighted. He still calls that jiva an exclusive devotee. In other words, a devotee is free to love anything or anyone in the divine realm. But God does not want you to love any material thing (inert object) or material being (sentient entity).
The reason is obvious. God is our eternal relative [2][3][4][5] and real well-wisher. He wants us to attain the aim of life and become eternally blissful. If you love material objects (living or non-living), your attachment to them material world increases. Thus, Maya gets a tighter grip on you and Mayic characteristics (anger, greed, jealousy) become more dominant within you [6]. Thereby making you more miserable than before.
The reason is obvious. God is our eternal relative [2][3][4][5] and real well-wisher. He wants us to attain the aim of life and become eternally blissful. If you love material objects (living or non-living), your attachment to them material world increases. Thus, Maya gets a tighter grip on you and Mayic characteristics (anger, greed, jealousy) become more dominant within you [6]. Thereby making you more miserable than before.

On the other hand, when one loves God, the ocean of bliss comes in the mind. Thus the aspirant experiences an ever-increasing bliss. As you continue to attach the mind more and more to God, the material attachments continue to reduce [7], making the mind pure. Once the mind is completely purified, Guru makes the mind divine and bestows God’s love. Only then the devotee can see God [8][9] and attain His Divine powers [10][11], Divine knowledge and be in His Divine Abode forever.
Always remember that at any given time both Maya and God cannot stay in one’s mind. Only when Maya goes then God will come. Like saint Kabirdas said
प्रेम गली साँकरी, तामें दो ना समाहिं ।
prem galee saankaree, taamen do na samaahin
“The path of love is narrow. Both Maya and God cannot stay in it”.
Guru, or any divine personality are non-different from God Himself. They are all the same. God’s names, forms, pastimes, attributes, abodes and His devotees belong to the Divine area of God. They all dwell in each other at all times. God is delighted when you love His saints. In fact, in Shrimad Bhagavat Mahapuran 11.19.21 Shri Krishna has said “I consider worshiping My devotees to be superior than worshiping Me directly.”
Always remember that at any given time both Maya and God cannot stay in one’s mind. Only when Maya goes then God will come. Like saint Kabirdas said
प्रेम गली साँकरी, तामें दो ना समाहिं ।
prem galee saankaree, taamen do na samaahin
“The path of love is narrow. Both Maya and God cannot stay in it”.
Guru, or any divine personality are non-different from God Himself. They are all the same. God’s names, forms, pastimes, attributes, abodes and His devotees belong to the Divine area of God. They all dwell in each other at all times. God is delighted when you love His saints. In fact, in Shrimad Bhagavat Mahapuran 11.19.21 Shri Krishna has said “I consider worshiping My devotees to be superior than worshiping Me directly.”
So, God is not jealous. God wants to grant the permanent, ever increasing, ever new bliss to the jiva. According to God’s law that bliss can be granted only in a divine mind. Moved by His earnest desire to make to jiva blissful, He is advising the soul to renounce attachments to material people and material objects. Cleanse the mind by loving only His names, form, pastimes, virtues and His Saints. Loving them purifies the mind. Once the heart is totally pure and clean [12], the Guru makes the mind divine and bestows divine love in it. Thereafter the soul will enjoy unlimited unending ever-increasing bliss.
कामना अटैचमेन्ट के कारण होती है और अटैचमेन्ट बार बार चिन्तन के कारण होता है॥
Desire is caused by attachment and attachment to any object is caused by repeatedly thinking of that object as the cause of happiness.
- Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj
Desire is caused by attachment and attachment to any object is caused by repeatedly thinking of that object as the cause of happiness.
- Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj