God's Ears - The Transcendental Senses of the Absolute Truth
When people pray to God, they naturally assume that He is listening. Yet, when confronted with the philosophical question of how the Absolute Truth actually hears, many mundane thinkers conclude that God must be a formless, impersonal energy without sensory organs. The Vedic literatures completely dismantle this misconception by introducing the science of the Lord's transcendental senses. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is not deaf; rather, His hearing is absolute, unlimited, and entirely free from material defects. Śrīla Prabhupāda intricately explains how the Lord possesses spiritual ears that can hear the prayers of every living entity simultaneously. By understanding the all-pervading nature of the Lord's ears, the breathtaking beauty of His personal features, and the absolute power of His transcendental body, we can confidently engage in devotional service, knowing that our sincere prayers never go unheard.
The Transcendental Nature of His Hearing
The Upaniṣads sometimes state that the Absolute Truth has no ears, which bewilders those with a poor fund of knowledge. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that this simply means the Lord has no temporary, material ears. His senses are purely spiritual, allowing Him to hear everything perfectly and even see with His ears.
- It is stated in the Svetasvatara Upanisad (3.19): Although the Supreme Lord is described as having no hands and legs, He nonetheless accepts all sacrificial offerings. He has no eyes, yet He sees everything. He has no ears, yet He hears everything.
- Although He (the Absolute Truth) has no material ears, He can hear everything and anything. Having perfect senses, He knows past, future and present. Indeed, He knows everything, but no one can understand Him.
- The Lord can see with His ears. The material ear can hear but cannot see, but we understand from the Brahma-saṁhitā that the Lord can also see with His ears and hear with His eyes. Any organ of His transcendental body can function as any other organ.
- The Christians pray in the church, "Oh, God, give us our daily bread." So God has got ear so that He will hear and supply. But His personality, His word, His hearing, they're all transcendental, nonmaterial.
The Omnipresent Ears of the Supersoul
To manage the universe and witness the actions of all living entities, the Lord expands Himself in an all-pervading feature. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that as the Paramātmā (Supersoul) and the virāṭ-rūpa (universal form), the Lord's ears are literally everywhere, encompassing all directions of space.
- A creator must possess an all-pervasive body, as pointed out in the Bhagavad-gita (3.14): Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes, heads and faces, and He has ears everywhere. In this way the Supersoul exists, pervading everything.
- In that body (of the transcendental form of the purusa) there are thousands of heads, ears, eyes and noses. They are decorated with thousands of helmets and glowing earrings and are adorned with garlands.
- Akrura continued, "My dear Lord, fire is Your mouth, the earth is Your feet, the sun is Your eye, the sky is Your navel, and the directions are Your ears."
- When the ears of the gigantic form became manifested, all the controlling deities of the directions entered into them with the hearing principles, by which all the living entities hear and take advantage of sound.
The Supreme Beauty of His Features
Beyond His expansive universal features, the Supreme Personality of Godhead eternally possesses exquisitely beautiful personal forms in the spiritual sky. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how the Lord’s face is beautifully adorned, completely defeating the impersonal idea that the Absolute Truth lacks distinct facial features.
- Upon being purified, Brahma could see the supreme form of the Lord. The impersonal Brahman cannot have heads, noses, ears, hands and legs. This is not possible, for these are attributes of the Lord's form.
- Such a person (jnanavan) can see the Personality of Godhead, and therefore he surrenders unto the Lord. The Lord's being symptomized by a face, nose, ears and so on is eternal. Without such a form, no one can be blissful.
- The Lord has four arms and an exquisitely beautiful face with eyes like lotus petals, a beautiful highly raised nose, a mind-attracting smile, a beautiful forehead and equally beautiful and fully decorated ears.
- The irises of His (Lord Rsabhadeva's) eyes were so pleasing that they removed all the troubles of everyone who saw Him. His forehead, ears, neck, nose and all His other features were very beautiful.
The Absolute Nature of His Manifestations
Everything pertaining to the Supreme Lord is absolute and perfect. Whether He appears in a terrifying form to protect His devotee or acts invisibly through His potencies, His features are always completely spiritual. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that acknowledging this leads us to dedicate our own senses to His service.
- I do not fear Your sharp, pinching teeth, Your garland of intestines, Your mane soaked with blood, or Your high, wedgelike ears. Nor do I fear Your tumultuous roaring, which makes elephants flee to distant places, or Your nails.
- Lord Brahma could then see You possessing thousands and thousands of faces, feet, heads, hands, thighs, noses, ears and eyes. You were very nicely dressed, being decorated and bedecked with varieties of ornaments and weapons.
- Thus the Vedic statements describe that the Absolute has no legs, no hands, no eyes, no ears and no mind, and yet He can act through His potencies and fulfill the needs of all living entities.
- Vidhi-bhakti, or regulated devotional service by the limbs of the body (namely the eyes, the ears, the nose, the hands and the legs, as already explained), is now stressed in relation to the mind, the impetus for all activities of the limbs of the body.
Conclusion
To understand the Absolute Truth completely is to recognize the supreme and flawless nature of His sensory perception. As Śrīla Prabhupāda systematically explains, when the Upaniṣads state that God has no ears or eyes, it is a definitive rejection of mundane, material senses, not a denial of His personal form. The Lord possesses a purely spiritual body (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha), and because His form is absolute, any of His senses can perform the function of another; He can see with His ears and hear with His eyes. Furthermore, as the all-pervading Paramātmā, the Lord maintains His presence in every corner of the universe, possessing ears everywhere to hear the cries and prayers of all living entities. In His spectacular universal manifestation (virāṭ-rūpa), the very directions of space serve as His ears. Yet, beyond these cosmic features, the Lord is an eternally beautiful person. Pure devotees who have cleansed their vision can see His lotus face, His highly raised nose, and His magnificently decorated ears. Even when He assumes a terrifying form like Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, with high, wedgelike ears and a roaring mouth, pure devotees like Prahlāda Mahārāja find immense shelter and beauty in His appearance. By comprehending the reality of the Lord's transcendental senses, the conditioned soul is inspired to stop misusing their own material senses for fleeting enjoyment. Instead, the ultimate perfection of life is to engage our own ears in vidhi-bhakti—the regulated process of devotional service—by constantly hearing the sweet, absolute glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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