God Is Bhagavan - The Ultimate Realization of the Absolute Truth
The search for the Absolute Truth leads spiritual seekers through various stages of realization. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that while realizing the all-pervading energy or the localized Supersoul is valid, the ultimate, complete, and highest understanding of the Absolute is Bhagavān—the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The Progressive Realization of the Absolute Truth
The Vedic literatures perfectly categorize the progressive realization of transcendence. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the one nondual Absolute Truth is perceived in three distinct phases: first as the impersonal Brahman, then as the localized Paramātmā, and finally as the Supreme Person, Bhagavān.
- The Absolute Truth is explained as Brahman, the all-pervading spiritual effulgence; as Paramatma, the localized Supersoul; or as Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord. Understanding these is what Vedanta-sutra means when it says, athato brahma jijnasa.
- According to one's capacity for understanding, the Absolute Truth is revealed either as the impersonal Brahman, as the localized Paramatma, or ultimately as Bhagavan.
- Brahman realization is not complete realization of the Absolute Truth. Neither Paramatma realization is absolute, or the complete understanding. When you realize Bhagavan, then you understand what is Paramatma, what is Brahman, and what is Absolute Truth.
- The Absolute Truth is realized in three features - impersonal Brahman, localized Paramatma and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan. The word apavarga means "liberation." pavarga means "material existence."
- The original, complete feature of the Absolute Truth is Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His plenary representation is Paramatma, Ksirodakasayi Visnu, who is situated in everyone's heart.
The Meaning of Bhagavān
The title Bhagavān is not casually applied; it carries a very specific, absolute definition. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the word refers to the supreme controller who possesses all six opulences in full and is therefore completely free from all material defects and illusions.
- The word bhaga means "opulence," and van means "one who possesses." All the opulences of the creation are present in Bhagavan.
- He (God) is bhagavan svayam, or the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, full with all opulences, all power, all knowledge, all beauty, all fame and all renunciation. No one is equal to or greater than Him.
- Bhagavan is not subject to the four deficiencies of the living entities. Being imperfect, living entities are illusioned and subject to commit mistakes. They also have the tendency to cheat others.
- Perfection is something totally different from what we find in the material world. Perfection means that there is no mistake, no illusion, no cheating, no imperfection. Therefore it is stated bhagavan uvaca, for Bhagavan is all-perfect.
- When we speak of Bhagavan, or when the sastras refer to Bhagavan, we refer to Him who is above material understanding.
The Folly of Claiming to be Bhagavān
Because the living entities are subordinate and prone to illusion, they can never become the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda heavily critiques those who artificially claim to be Bhagavān, pointing out that the true Supreme Controller is never subjected to the miseries of material nature.
- Caitanya Mahaprabhu has defined our original svarupa, our original identity, as that of eternal servant. People are artificially thinking, - I am independent. I am no one's servant. I have become God. I have become Bhagavan. I am this, or I am that.
- How can we become Bhagavan? If we are Bhagavan, we are actually the supreme powerful one. If this is the case, why are we in a miserable condition? Why are we under the influence of maya? Does Bhagavan come under the influence of maya? No.
- If I am creator of something, so I cannot be under that particular thing which is created. It is logical. So therefore, because the Supreme Brahman, or Bhagavan, is the creator of this material nature, He cannot be under the control of maya.
- It is not that one should render bhakti unto an imitation Bhagavan. If one says that he is Bhagavan, we should ask, - Are you present in everyone's heart? Can you tell me what I am thinking now.
- The Lord then presented Himself as a most fallen living entity, and He said, "If someone accepts a fallen conditioned soul as Visnu, Bhagavan, or an incarnation, he commits a great offense."
The Foundation of Bhakti
Devotional service is not an abstract meditation; it is a practical exchange. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that bhakti requires the existence of a supreme person to serve; if the Absolute Truth were merely an impersonal zero, the loving reciprocation between the Lord and the devotee would be impossible.
- Bhagavata-dharma is not cheating, for it is related to the Supreme Lord. Bhakti can be applied only to Bhagavan, and if there is no Bhagavan, there is no bhakti.
- Bhagavan is individual, bhakta is individual, and the reciprocation of dealings between two individuals, it is called bhakti.
- Bhakti means three things: bhakta, Bhagavan, and the service. That is bhakti. They're individual.
- If Bhagavan is zero, where is bhakti? Bhakti is the transaction between Bhagavan and the bhakta. Bhagavan is there, and the bhaktas are there, and the bhaktas address Bhagavan, feed Bhagavan, chant Bhagavan's names.
- Bhaktas invoke people to hear about Bhagavan, publish books about Bhagavan and worship Bhagavan, and in this way they are constantly absorbed in Bhagavan. This is the process of bhakti.
Perfect Knowledge from the Perfect Source
To escape the cycle of birth and death, one must receive infallible instructions. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that because Bhagavān is all-perfect, the knowledge He speaks—recorded in texts like the Bhagavad-gītā—is entirely free from mundane error and must be accepted submissively through the disciplic succession.
- As we have stressed over and over, we have to receive knowledge from the disciplic succession. Knowledge has to be received from Bhagavan, the perfect one. If we simply follow this system, we can become a guru for the whole world.
- If we take what Bhagavan says as perfect knowledge, we receive perfect knowledge. For receiving this knowledge, there is a disciplic succession - parampara.
- It is noteworthy that Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam never states that krsna uvaca ("Krsna says") or kapiladeva uvaca ("Kapiladeva says"). Rather, it states bhagavan uvaca ("the Supreme Personality of Godhead says"). This means that the version is perfect.
- We have to take our ideas from Bhagavan; then they will be perfect. We read Bhagavad-gita because it is perfect. There is no mistake in it; there is no illusion in it; there is no cheating in it. Nor is it delivered by one whose senses are imperfect.
- We should therefore take knowledge from Bhagavan or from one who speaks according to the version of Bhagavan.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda masterfully establishes that realizing God as Bhagavān is the ultimate pinnacle of spiritual knowledge. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam confirms that the Absolute Truth is progressively understood as the impersonal Brahman effulgence, the localized Paramātmā in the heart, and finally as Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The title Bhagavān denotes the supreme controller who possesses all six opulences in infinite measure and is eternally free from the four defects that plague conditioned souls. Because He is the supreme creator, He never falls under the control of His own illusory energy (māyā); therefore, any mundane individual who claims to be Bhagavān while suffering material miseries is simply a foolish imposter. Understanding God as a person is the absolute prerequisite for bhāgavata-dharma; without the Supreme Bhagavān, there can be no bhakta and no dynamic, loving exchange of bhakti. Furthermore, because Bhagavān is completely flawless, any instruction prefaced by bhagavān uvāca—such as the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā or Lord Kapila's Sāṅkhya philosophy—is absolute, perfect truth. By submissively receiving this infallible knowledge through the paramparā system and dedicating one's life to serving the Supreme Person, the conditioned soul successfully transcends material illusion and achieves eternal, loving association with Bhagavān.
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