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Four Kinds of Devotees

In Gita 7.16-19 the Lord says that four things turn people to Him: distress, a wish to know, a want and wisdom. All four are welcome, and nearest is the one who comes for Him alone.

In brief

Four reasons bring people to the Lord: distress, a wish to know, a want and wisdom; all four are called good and noble (7.16, 7.18).
The wise devotee is nearest, always joined to the Lord and devoted to Him alone; the love runs both ways (7.17).
The Lord calls the wise one His very Self, and the great soul who knows that Vasudeva is everything is rare (7.18, 7.19).

Is it wrong to remember God only in trouble? Is asking for something less than devotion? These four verses of chapter 7 answer both questions.

The Lord says that four kinds of people worship Him: the one in distress, the one who wants to know, the one who wants something and the wise. All four are called good, and all four noble (Gita 7.16, Gita 7.18). Nearest is the wise one, who is always joined to the Lord and asks nothing else of Him (Gita 7.17). The Lord calls him His own Self, and such a great soul is rare (Gita 7.18, Gita 7.19). Whatever the reason a person turns, the turning is what these verses count as merit.

This topic is the third stop on The Path of Devotion. The stop before it is The Illusory Energy and Surrender, which shows why turning to the Lord is the way across illusion. What follows is about worship that is tied to a wish.

There are three ways to read this topic. A simple reading starts from an everyday question. A detailed reading takes the verses in order. A deeper reading raises the hard questions, answers them and sets out the streams of commentators.