God Certainly - The Assurances of the Absolute Truth
In a material world characterized by uncertainty, changing laws, and constant anxiety, the Vedic literature provides absolute guarantees. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead acts with infallible certainty, offering perfect assurance regarding His transcendental nature, His loving reciprocation, and His unwavering protection of surrendered souls.
The Certainty of His Transcendental Nature
The Supreme Lord is never subjected to the miseries and limitations of the material world. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphatically declares that God is certainly transcendental; He is completely free from material birth and death, possessing an eternal form of bliss and knowledge that remains unlimitedly all-pervading.
- Visnu is one, and yet He is certainly all-pervading. By His inconceivable potency, in spite of His one form, He is present everywhere. As the sun, He appears in many places at once.
- The Absolute Truth is beyond the expression and speculation of the material conception. He is certainly transcendental to all material conceptions. This is called nirvisesanam.
- Even the ordinary living entity never takes birth or dies. What then is to be said of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the chief of all living entities? He certainly never takes birth or dies.
- The meaningful appearance of the Lord is always distinct from ordinary birth. Even the pure devotees have no connection with the material body, and certainly God, who appears as He is, in His sac-cid-ananda (Bs. 5.1) form, is not limited by a material form.
The Certainty of His Protection
God is the supreme shelter for those who seek refuge. Śrīla Prabhupāda provides the absolute assurance that whenever devotees are disturbed by demonic forces or find themselves in distress, the Lord will certainly intervene to offer His supreme protection and eliminate the danger.
- The Lord appears in order to execute two kinds of activities - to kill the demons and to protect the devotees. When the devotees are too disturbed by the demons, the Lord certainly appears in different incarnations to give the devotees protection.
- You should simply approach that Supreme Personality of Godhead to get relief, for this Sudarsana cakra is intolerable even to us. Go to Lord Visnu. He will certainly be kind enough to bestow all good fortune upon you.
- This is the opportune moment to take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because He is naturally very kind and dear to the demigods, He will certainly bestow good fortune upon us.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead will certainly protect a devotee who does something sinful accidentally.
The Certainty of His Loving Reciprocation
Despite His absolute self-sufficiency, the Lord eagerly desires loving exchanges with His parts and parcels. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that because the Lord is bhakta-vatsala (very affectionate to His devotees), He is certainly satisfied by even the simplest offerings made with genuine devotion and a pure heart.
- Because He (The Lord) is very merciful and is bhakta-vatsala, very favorable to the devotees, He certainly eats whatever they offer Him with love and devotion. This quality should not be misjudged to be childish.
- O Lord, You are full in every respect. You are certainly very satisfied when Your devotees offer You prayers with faltering voices and in ecstasy bring You tulasi leaves, water, twigs bearing new leaves, and newly grown grass. This surely makes You satisfied.
- The Lord does not appear when the brahmanas become angry at someone, because the wrath of a brahmana is sufficient in itself. He certainly appears, however, when His devotee simply becomes sorry.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is certainly equal toward all living entities, but a devotee who fully surrenders at the lotus feet of the Lord is different from a nondevotee.
The Certainty of His Divine Management
The Supreme Lord orchestrates the material nature specifically to facilitate the spiritual advancement of the conditioned souls. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord certainly manages all material opulence; if wealth threatens a devotee's spiritual life, the Lord, out of causeless mercy, will certainly take it away.
- Certainly He (Lord) is indirectly responsible for the creation and maintenance of this material world, but He is never responsible for the different conditions of the living entities.
- The prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, certainly controls all living entities, so much so that the living entities have forgotten the aim of life.
- It is by the mercy of the Lord that one gets all material opulence, but if such material opulence causes one to become puffed up and forget the process of self-realization, the Lord certainly takes all the opulence away.
- The special mercy for the unalloyed devotee is that the Lord saves him from hard labor to achieve the results of religion, economic development and sense gratification. Of course, if one wants such benefits, the Lord certainly awards them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda definitively establishes that the activities and qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are matters of absolute certainty, free from any mundane speculation. Unlike the conditioned souls who are subjected to the dualities of material nature, the Supreme Lord is certainly transcendental, appearing in His eternal, spiritual form without ever being forced to take birth or die. His relationship with the living entities is perfectly balanced: while He is equal to everyone, He certainly extends special, unwavering protection to His surrendered devotees, descending whenever they are disturbed by demonic forces. Furthermore, because He is infinitely affectionate (bhakta-vatsala), He certainly accepts and relishes the humblest offerings of love, whether it be a simple leaf or a faltering prayer. In His divine management of the material creation, the Lord certainly controls all opulence and circumstances. If material success causes a sincere devotee to become puffed up and stray from the path of self-realization, the Lord's ultimate certainty is His supreme mercy: He will certainly take away that opulence to save His devotee, ensuring their safe return back home, back to Godhead.
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