God's Informing Provides the Ultimate Spiritual Education
Human society relies heavily on information. We build massive universities, launch satellites, and read countless books simply to gather data about our temporary surroundings. However, despite all this material research, humanity remains completely in the dark regarding the soul, the purpose of life, and what happens after death. The Vedic literatures explain that flawless, transcendental knowledge cannot be gathered by the blunt material senses; it must be received directly from the supreme source. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is fully cognizant of everything, and out of His boundless compassion, He personally descends to inform the conditioned souls about the actual reality of existence. Śrīla Prabhupāda masterfully explains how the Lord informs us about the miseries of the material world, reveals the glories of the spiritual sky, acts as the original guru, and shares intimate information with His surrendered devotees.
Information About the Two Natures
People often harbor the illusion that if they just make enough technological adjustments, they can create a perfect, happy life on earth. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Lord shatters this illusion by explicitly informing us that the material world is inherently miserable, while simultaneously giving us hopeful information about the superior, anti-material nature.
- Lord Krsna, in the Bhagavad-gita, also informs us that this material world is full of miseries in the shape of birth, old age, disease and death. Even in the topmost planet of the material universe, Brahmaloka, these miseries are present.
- The Personality of Godhead, who is fully cognizant of everything in His creation, informs us in our best interest that we must desire to get rid of this material existence. We must detach ourselves from everything material.
- To give hope to foolish conditioned souls who waste their energy in this temporary material world, the Lord gives information that there is another nature, which is eternally existent without being occasionally created or destroyed.
- The Supreme Lord, who is the controller of both material and antimaterial energies, descends out of His causeless mercy and gives us complete information of the antimaterial world. In this way we can know what the antimaterial world is.
The Supreme Instructor (Guru)
Conditioned souls suffer primarily because they have forgotten their eternal relationship with God. Because no mundane philosopher can solve this problem, Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that the Lord Himself descends—in forms such as Lord Kṛṣṇa or Lord Kapila—to personally inform and instruct humanity on how to return home.
- Krsna knows the cause of the distressed condition of the conditioned soul. He therefore descends from His original position to instruct the conditioned soul and inform him about his forgetfulness of his relationship with Krsna.
- Therefore God comes again to inform these rascals that "Now you have tried so much, better give up this, come to Me again."
- One may conclude that from the Bhagavad-gita alone one can have the essence of the Vedas, for it is spoken by Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who descends upon this material world from the antimaterial world in order to give complete information of the superior form of energy.
- She (Devahuti) said, - My dear Kapila, You have come as my son, but You are my guru because You can inform me how I can cross the ocean of nescience, which is the material world.
Intimate Information for the Devotees
While the Lord gives philosophical information to the general public through the scriptures, He reserves a special, intimate type of communication for His pure devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals how the Lord beautifully informs His surrendered servants through dreams, guides their personal lives, and verbally expresses His deep affection for them.
- Sometimes the Lord informs the devotee through dreams. These exchanges of feelings between the Deity and the devotee are not understandable by atheists, but actually the devotee enjoys them.
- The Lord informed Kardama Muni, "The girl who is coming to be married with you is a princess, the daughter of Emperor Svayambhuva, and so just suitable for your purpose." Only by God's grace can one get a nice wife just as he desires.
- Lord Krsna then asked all the boys to go again, but this time to the wives of those brahmanas engaged in sacrifices. He also informed them that these wives were great devotees.
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu called all His devotees together and, holding them by the hand, humbly informed them, "You are all more dear to Me than My life. I can give up My life, but to give you up is difficult for Me."
Informing the Universal Managers
The governance of the universe is a complex affair managed by powerful demigods and great kings. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that even these exalted personalities rely entirely on the Supreme Lord's informing power. The Lord personally guides them, granting them subtle knowledge and revealing His divine purposes.
- The Lord informs Brahma that knowledge of Him, the Supreme Absolute Truth, as it is stated in the revealed scriptures, is very subtle and cannot be understood unless one is self-realized by the grace of the Lord.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, informed Lord Brahma that Lord Krsna would personally descend to mitigate the suffering on the earth.
- Lord Visnu informed Prthu Maharaja that although the sacrificial performances set an example for ordinary people, there was no need for such sacrificial performances as far as his personal self was concerned.
- After thus informing the King of the demons, Krsna stopped speaking, and Bali Maharaja understood the Lord's purpose.
Conclusion
A systematic study of the Vedic literatures completely rescues the conditioned soul from the darkness of material speculation. As Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly explains, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original source of all perfect knowledge. Because He is fully compassionate toward the suffering jīvas who are needlessly wasting their energy trying to find permanent happiness in a temporary world, He descends to give them vital information. Through essential texts like the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord explicitly informs humanity that the material universe is a place of misery (duḥkhālayam), but He simultaneously provides glorious information about the eternal, anti-material spiritual sky. By taking on the role of the supreme guru, as He did when appearing as Lord Kapila to instruct His mother Devahūti, the Lord gives practical directions on how to cross the ocean of nescience. Furthermore, this informing process is not limited to mere philosophical instruction. The Lord maintains deeply personal communications with those who surrender to Him. For His pure devotees, the Lord provides intimate information, guiding their daily lives, interacting with them through dreams, and affectionately revealing how deeply He cherishes them, just as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu did with His associates. Even the most powerful administrators of the cosmos, such as Lord Brahmā or great rulers like Pṛthu Mahārāja and Bali Mahārāja, depend entirely on the Lord's direct information to execute their duties correctly. By humbly receiving the perfect information delivered by the Supreme Lord and His authorized representatives, the conditioned soul can finally end their futile material struggles and return to their original, blissful life in the spiritual world.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God's Informing. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.