God's Desires - The Supreme Will and the Perfection of the Soul
In the material world, everyone is driven by desire. From the tiny ant to the greatest cosmic administrator, living entities constantly scheme, struggle, and fight to fulfill their endless aspirations. Yet, despite immense effort, these material desires are frequently frustrated. The Vedic literatures reveal a stark contrast when describing the Absolute Truth: the Supreme Personality of Godhead is āpta-kāma, completely self-satisfied, and His desires are never thwarted. Because He is the supreme controller, whatever He desires manifests instantly and perfectly. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the original source of all our propensities is God Himself. By understanding how the Lord's desires orchestrate the creation, and by learning how to dovetail our minute, fragmented will with His supreme will, we can achieve the ultimate perfection of spiritual peace and eternal happiness.
The Omnipotent Will of the Lord
For an ordinary human being, building a house or starting a business requires immense planning, labor, and resources. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Supreme Lord is completely free from such endeavors; His potencies are so subtle and perfect that His mere desire instantly generates reality.
- When God has to create, as soon as He desires, "Let there be a creation," immediately creation. He hasn't got to think, make a plan, how to do it, how to execute it, where to get the ingredients. No.
- These are the Vedic information. God means na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate. He has nothing to do; He has simply to desire. I think in Christian Bible also it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." He has to simply desire.
- The Vedas say: It is natural for the Lord to be untinged by material qualities, and because everything is perfectly present in His spiritual energy, as soon as He desires something, it is immediately done.
- He (the Lord) has innumerable energies, and therefore He can do anything and everything as He desires, and these things take place immediately, with all perfection. His energies are like the heat and light that expand from a fire.
The Origin of All Propensities
We often wonder where our human tendencies—such as the desire to love, to compete, or even to fight—originate. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that the Supreme Lord is the origin of all traits; therefore, every desire we possess is simply a minute reflection of the unlimited desires present within God Himself.
- All the desires and propensities what God has got, we have also got. God has got this propensity to love Radharani. We have got also the same propensity to love another young girl or young boy. So originally it is there.
- The desires and life symptoms displayed by all living entities are simply reflections of the desires and life symptoms of the supreme father. In other words, our desires are born because He has desires.
- The Lord sometimes desires to fight. The fighting spirit also exists in the Supreme Lord, otherwise how could fighting be manifested at all.
- When He (The Lord) desires to fight with someone, He has to find an enemy, but in the Vaikuntha world there is no enemy. Therefore He sometimes comes to the material world as an incarnation in order to manifest His fighting spirit.
The Mechanics of Universal Creation
The entire cosmic manifestation, including the physical elements and the senses of the living entities, was not a random evolutionary accident. Śrīla Prabhupāda meticulously details how the Lord's specific desires sequentially activated every facet of the universe.
- When everything existed in darkness, the Lord desired to see Himself and all that was created. Then the eyes, the illuminating god Sun, the power of vision and the object of sight all became manifested.
- When the Supreme desired to speak, speeches were vibrated from the mouth. Then the controlling deity Fire was generated from the mouth. But when He was lying in the water, all these functions remained suspended.
- The nasal instrument, odor, and the controlling deity air, smelling, etc., all became manifested simultaneously when the Lord desired to smell.
- When there was a desire to think about the activities of His own energy, then the heart (the seat of the mind), the mind, the moon, determination and all desire became manifested.
Dovetailing with the Supreme
The root cause of all material suffering is the rebellious desire to lord over material nature independently. Śrīla Prabhupāda continuously emphasizes that true peace and spiritual liberation are achieved only when the living entity abandons personal whims and perfectly dovetails their desires with those of the Supreme Lord.
- Oneness with the Lord therefore consists of dovetailing one's desires with the desires of the Supreme Lord. That makes for the perfection of all desires.
- In such a position (of loving God) a yogi has no other thought than to serve the Lord. This dovetailing of the mind with the desires of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called nirvana, or making the mind one with the Supreme Lord.
- It does not matter if the reaction is good or bad; if our activities are not dovetailed with the desire of the Supreme Lord, or if we do not act in Krsna consciousness, then we shall be responsible for the results of all our activities.
- The living entity cannot be happy independant of the cooperation of the Supreme Lord because the eternal constitutional position of the living entity is to become subordinate to the desires of the Lord.
The Pure Devotee's Complete Surrender
An ordinary religious person often approaches God to ask for the fulfillment of material desires. A pure devotee, however, has absolutely no separate agenda. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights how pure devotees completely surrender their individuality to execute whatever the Lord wants.
- Devotees of the Lord never assert independent individuality; on the contrary, they utilize their individuality in pursuit of the desires of the Lord, and this cooperation of the devotees with the Lord makes a perfect scene of the Lord's pastimes.
- A pure devotee is never very anxious to go back to the kingdom of God. He entirely depends on the good will of the Lord. He is equally satisfied even if the Lord desires him to go to hell.
- The devotee is completely peaceful because he has no demand for himself and is always ready to serve the desire of the Lord. The conclusion is that God is for everyone because no one can achieve the result of his respective desires without His sanction.
- If the Lord desires, the devotees can accept all sorts of material facilities, and if the Lord does not desire this, the devotees can leave aside all sorts of facilities, even up to the limit of salvation.
The Ultimate Desire of the Lord
While the Lord manages the universe and punishes the demons according to His will, His deepest, most compassionate desire is directed toward the conditioned souls. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that God's ultimate desire is not to keep us trapped in illusion, but to reclaim us so we can return to the spiritual sky.
- The Lord does not want His sons, the living beings, to suffer the threefold miseries of life. He desires that all of them come to Him and live with Him, but going back to Godhead means that one must purify himself from material infections.
- The Supreme Lord gives the living entity a chance to enjoy in this material world as he desires, but He openly expresses His own desire that the living entity give up all material aspirations, fully surrender unto Him and return home, back to Godhead.
- He (God) descends to the material world to induce the nondevotees and rebellious living entities to return home, back to Godhead. He requests them to surrender unto Him because, unlimited as He is, He wants to increase His devotees unlimitedly.
- The Lord is the soul of all living beings, and He desires always to have all the living beings, in their svarupa, in their constitutional position, to participate in transcendental life in His association.
Conclusion
A profound study of the Vedic literatures thoroughly dismantles the illusion of human independence. As Śrīla Prabhupāda meticulously explains, "Man proposes, but God disposes." The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the absolute source of everything, and this includes all desires. The love, affection, and even the fighting spirit found in the material world are merely minute reflections of the unlimited desires originally existing within the Lord. However, unlike the conditioned souls who must struggle endlessly to achieve their goals, the Lord is āpta-kāma. Because He possesses inconceivable yogamāyā potencies, His mere desire instantly manifests reality—whether He desires to create the cosmic manifestation, generate the illuminating sun from His desire to see, or form the controlling deity of Fire from His desire to speak. Ignorance and suffering arise when the living entity attempts to compete with God by asserting independent, whimsical desires. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that the ultimate perfection of life—true nirvāṇa—is achieved only when the soul completely gives up its false ego and dovetails its desires perfectly with the Supreme Lord. A pure devotee is completely peaceful because they have no personal demands; whether the Lord desires them to accept vast opulence or go to hell, they are fully satisfied. Ultimately, the Supreme Lord's most profound desire is an expression of His boundless compassion. He does not want His parts and parcels to suffer in the material world. His ultimate, openly expressed desire is that every conditioned soul abandon their material aspirations, surrender to His divine will, and return home, back to Godhead, to eternally participate in His blissful pastimes.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God's Desires. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.