God Being - The Absolute Nature of the Supreme Lord
To understand the Supreme Lord, one must recognize that His qualities and actions are never restricted by the laws of the material world. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that because God is absolute, omniscient, and completely self-sufficient, every action He performs is a flawless expression of His transcendental supremacy and causeless mercy.
The Absolute Position of God
God is completely free from the dualities and contaminations of the material energy. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that because the Lord is absolute, there is no difference between His personal form, His name, and His service, and He can never be overpowered by illusion.
- God being absolute, His name, His form, His quality, His entourage, they are all the same, as good as God.
- If God were ever entrapped by maya, maya would be more powerful than God. Such men say that God is all-powerful, but they do not consider that if He is all-powerful there is no possibility of His being overpowered by maya.
- One should know with firm conviction that the Lord, being transcendental, is never subject to any curse or benediction. Only ordinary living entities are subjected to curses and the punishments of Yamaraja.
- It is simply foolish to think of the Lord as being originally impersonal but accepting a material body when He appears as a personal incarnation. Whenever the Lord appears, He appears in His original transcendental form, which is spiritual and blissful.
The Omniscient Supersoul
God is not a distant observer; He is intimately present within the core of every living entity. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord, being situated as the Supersoul, knows the past, present, and future of every soul and provides the exact intelligence needed for their spiritual journey.
- The Lord, being situated in the heart of every individual living entity, knows very well the tendency of such conditioned souls in terms of past, present and future, but the bewildered conditioned soul hardly can know Him in His eternal form.
- The Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone's heart, instructs the devotee regarding pure devotional service so that he may ultimately achieve the association of the Lord. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (10.10).
- The isvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone's heart, gives directions to everyone in terms of one's capabilities in taking the instructions.
- For the Supreme Lord, being fully wise and being situated in the heart of everyone, especially in the heart of the devotee, gives one intelligence by which one is sure never to fall into illusion.
The Supreme Neutrality
To the mundane observer, God sometimes appears to favor certain groups while punishing others. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Supreme Lord, being the original father and maintainer of all, is completely neutral; His apparent partiality is simply His perfect reciprocation with the individual's degree of surrender.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead being equal to everyone, no one can be His enemy, nor can anyone be His friend. Since everyone is a part or son of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord cannot be partial and regard someone as a friend and someone as an enemy.
- The less intelligent accuse the Supreme Lord of being partial and claim that this is why one enjoys in this material world and another suffers. But this verse specifically says that there is no such partiality on the part of the Supreme Lord.
- The demon Hiranyakasipu accused the Lord of being partial because the demigods worshiped Him, but in fact the Lord, like the government, is not partial at all.
- The Lord, being the source of all beings, is like the mother and the maintainer. As the mother is neutral to all different kinds of children, the Supreme Father (or Mother) is also.
The Perfection of Divine Mercy
God's absolute nature ensures that every action He takes toward His devotee is ultimately for their highest benefit. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights that the Lord, being perfectly omniscient, will often deny material benedictions to a sincere devotee, choosing instead to strip away their attachments to secure their spiritual liberation.
- A sincere devotee who is not very intelligent may ask some material benefit from the Lord, but the Lord, being omniscient, does not generally give material rewards but, on the contrary, takes away whatever material facilities are being enjoyed.
- Although Bali Maharaja was a devotee, he was attached to material possessions, and therefore the Lord, being very kind to him, showed him special favor by appearing as Lord Vamana to take away all his material possessions, and his mind as well.
- Prthu was engaged in performing the ordinary Vedic rituals and sacrifices according to karma-kanda, or fruitive activities, but the Lord, being so kind and magnanimous, was ready to award Prthu Maharaja the highest perfectional stage of life, namely devotional service.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone's heart, and especially in the hearts of His devotees, is always ready to help devotees in adversity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Vedic literatures consistently establish that the Supreme Personality of Godhead's actions can only be understood by recognizing His absolute, flawless nature. Because the Lord is absolute, there is no distinction between His personal form and His holy name, and it is a grave philosophical error to believe that He can ever be overpowered by the illusory energy (māyā). Being eternally situated beyond the material modes, the Lord is never subject to curses, exhaustion, or material conditioning. Furthermore, because He is omniscient and situated in the heart of every living entity as the Supersoul, the Lord perfectly understands the past, present, and future desires of all souls. He is the supreme, neutral father; any accusation that God is partial to the demigods or hateful toward the demons stems from a profound lack of spiritual intelligence. His apparent partiality is merely His perfect reciprocation with the individual soul's degree of surrender. For those who do surrender, the Lord's absolute nature manifests as supreme mercy. Being fully aware of what is truly beneficial, the Lord will often deny a sincere devotee's request for temporary material opulence. Instead, as He did with Bali Mahārāja, the Lord mercifully strips away material attachments and provides the divine intelligence necessary to bring the devotee back home, back to Godhead.
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 Being. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.