There is no second means to understand God without this devotional service. Rest assured. Foolish creatures, they take this, that. They do not understand. They come to the, that impersonal, void, all the nonsensical conclusion and . . . because they do not take shelter of this, devotion, therefore they cannot have any conclusion. It is not possible. Therefore, more or less, they become atheists or after the voidness or impersonalism, and so many things there are. They create.
But because Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, cannot be understood by any other process, it is simply waste of time. If you want to know Kṛṣṇa, if you want to know God, then you have to take this process. That is a . . . Bhaktyaikayeśam, ābhajet tam bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā (SB 11.2.37); "He is the Supreme Lord, He is the Supersoul, and He is the supreme spiritual master." In this way. He's the supreme spiritual master within you. As soon as you will take to devotional service, He'll give you dictation, "You do this." What dictation? To go to hell? No. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam (BG 10.10). In the Bhagavad-gītā: "I give him intelligence." Why? What for? Yena mām upayānti te: "By which he can come back to Me." That buddhi-yogam. He'll help you.
If He think something . . . if He takes seriously about your case, if you are fully surrendered, then He'll direct you in such a way that you cannot go elsewhere except to Him, even sometimes you may find that "He is doing something against my will." I have got my personal experience. I never tried, never accepted that I shall become a sannyāsī. And I tried my best to keep myself in this material world. And He has, several times He has frustrated me and has brought me by force (to) this life. And now I am happy. I can understand that how much favor has Kṛṣṇa showed me. Yes. I did not understand in the beginning.
So sometimes, if Kṛṣṇa takes special care for you, He'll do in such a way that you will have no other way than to go back in. He'll take charge. Take charge. If we sincerely want Kṛṣṇa, if He sees that "Oh, here is a person. He wants Me, but he's a foolish. He wants Me—at the same time he wants to enjoy this material world. So crush this, crush this, his material propensities, and let him become simply devoted." Yes. Sometimes we see like that.
In the, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata there is a question by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, er, by Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Mahārāja Parīkṣit . . . because he understood that his grandfathers were put to so many difficulties, although Kṛṣṇa was their friend, personal friend. So everyone became astonished: "How is that? These five brothers, the big brothers . . . Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, he was the most pious man. Arjuna was the greatest warrior, and Draupadī, their wife, directly the goddess of fortune. And so much nice . . . and above all, Kṛṣṇa is their personal friend, and still, they were put into such difficulties. They lost their kingdom. They lost their wife. And they were put into so many . . . for thirteen years they had to undergo so many troubles." So this was astonishing. Even Bhīṣma, he cried that, "I cannot understand why these five brothers are put into so many difficulties in spite of their all these qualities."