God's Characteristics - The Supreme Personality of the Absolute Truth
In the pursuit of the Absolute Truth, human intelligence frequently falters by projecting material limitations onto the supreme creator. Because our experience is bound by temporary, flawed qualities, many philosophers conclude that the ultimate source of everything must be entirely devoid of any characteristics whatsoever. However, the Vedic literatures offer a much deeper, more scientific understanding. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not a blank void; He possesses unlimited, eternal, and perfectly spiritual characteristics. By understanding how to identify these divine traits according to scripture, we can distinguish the true Absolute from cheap imposters and experience the purifying joy of glorifying the Supreme Lord.
Transcending Mundane Descriptions
When certain sections of the Vedas describe the Absolute Truth as formless or without qualities (nirguṇa), they are establishing that God has no material characteristics. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Lord’s true identity is full of spiritual knowledge, beautiful features, and transcendental qualities.
- The impersonal descriptions in the Vedas intend to deny mundane characteristics in the Supreme Lord. They do not intend to establish the Supreme Lord as impersonal.
- The real identity of the Absolute Truth must be understood in terms of both His knowledge and His characteristics. Simply to understand the Absolute Truth to be full of knowledge is not sufficient.
- O my Lord, everything within material nature is limited by time, space and thought. Your characteristics, however, being unequaled and unsurpassed, are always transcendental to such limitations.
- All God's features were very beautiful and attractive for the devotees. One of the Lord's hands rested on His carrier, Garuda, and in another hand He twirled a lotus flower. These are personal characteristics of the Personality of Godhead, Narayana.
Recognizing the Authentic Avatāras
In the modern age, it is common for charismatic individuals to cheaply declare themselves to be God. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda stresses that an authentic avatāra (incarnation) never makes such boastful claims. Their specific characteristics—both primary (svarūpa) and marginal (taṭastha)—are already meticulously recorded in the śāstras.
- An actual incarnation of God never says 'I am God' or 'I am an incarnation of God.' The great sage Vyasadeva, knowing all, has already recorded the characteristics of the avataras in the sastras.
- At the time of Their appearance, the incarnations of the Lord are known in the world because people can consult the sastras to understand an incarnation's chief characteristics, known as svarupa and tatastha.
- Accepting the color yellow (pita), as well as other characteristics, the Lord incarnated as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This is the verdict of all Vedic authorities.
- Sanatana Gosvami said, "The color of the personality in whom the characteristics of the Lord are found is yellowish. His activities include the distribution of love of Godhead and the chanting of the holy names of the Lord."
The Supreme Controller and His Supreme Qualities
The Vedic science of God is incredibly precise. Śrīla Prabhupāda references the profound analysis of the Six Gosvāmīs, who calculated the exact percentage of divine characteristics present in various manifestations of the Lord, concluding that Kṛṣṇa alone is the complete, cent percent Absolute Truth.
- The Gosvamis, the six Gosvamis, they have analyzed Krsna's characteristic, Narayana's characteristic, Siva's characteristic, Brahma's characteristic. They have analyzed very scrutinizingly everything, and they have found it that Krsna is cent percent God.
- Seventy-eight percent. That is also very minute quantity of the characteristics and qualities of God. But Krsna is full-fledged, cent percent God. That Rupa Goswami has analyzed in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu.
- When everything is completely known, that is the perfection of Vedic knowledge. The fulfillment of Vedic knowledge is systematic knowledge of the characteristics of God. This is confirmed by Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita.
- As a wooden doll dances to the will of a puppeteer, everything is accomplished by the will of the Lord. Who can understand the characteristics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?
The Power of Hearing His Glories
Because the Supreme Lord is absolute, hearing and reading about His characteristics is completely nondifferent from associating with Him directly. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that this simple process of glorification is enough to liberate the soul from material bondage.
- There are two kinds of bhagavata: one is grantha-bhagavata and one is person bhagavata. A devotee, he is called bhagavata, and the book in which the pastimes or characteristics of Bhagavan is described, that is called Bhagavata.
- Bhagavad-gita is as good as the water of the Ganges because it is spoken from the mouth of the Supreme Lord. So it is with any topic on the pastimes of the Lord or the characteristics of His transcendental activities.
- O King Pariksit, anyone who aurally receives the narrations concerning the characteristics of Lord Ramacandra's pastimes will ultimately be freed from the disease of envy and thus be liberated from the bondage of fruitive activities.
- Gajendra said, "Pure devotees are always satisfied simply by glorifying Your auspicious characteristics. For them there is nothing else to aspire to or pray for."
Conclusion
A systematic study of the Vedic literatures dismantles the illusion that God is a formless, characterless void. Śrīla Prabhupāda meticulously explains that when the Vedas describe the Absolute Truth as impersonal, they are simply clearing away any mundane, material characteristics. In truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead possesses unlimited, beautiful, and eternally spiritual features. Understanding these specific characteristics is not a matter of blind faith, but a rigorous spiritual science. By consulting the śāstras, an intelligent person can easily identify a true incarnation of God by verifying their prescribed features, such as the yellowish complexion and saṅkīrtana mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that through the profound analysis of the Six Gosvāmīs in works like the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, we understand that while great demigods may possess a partial percentage of divine qualities, Lord Kṛṣṇa alone exhibits one hundred percent of the characteristics of the Supreme Lord. Ultimately, realizing the perfection of Vedic knowledge means becoming fully absorbed in these divine traits. By taking shelter of the two bhāgavatas—the book (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam) which describes the Lord's characteristics, and the pure devotee who lives by them—any conditioned soul can be freed from the disease of material envy. As the pure devotees beautifully demonstrate, there is no higher aspiration in life than to remain eternally satisfied simply by glorifying the unsurpassed characteristics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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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 Characteristics. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.