God Is Like the Sun - The All-Pervading Luminous Lord
Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently compares the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the sun to help conditioned souls understand His all-pervasive and transcendental nature. Just as the sun remains in one location yet spreads its light everywhere, the Supreme Lord eternally resides in His spiritual abode while maintaining the entire cosmic creation.
The Sun and the Sunshine
To explain the relationship between God and the living entities, Śrīla Prabhupāda uses the analogy of the sun and the sunshine. While both are full of heat and light, the Supreme Lord is the massive sun globe, and the living entities are the infinitesimal molecules of sunshine.
- Both the sun and the sunshine are very brilliant. The Lord is like the full shining sun, and the living entities are like the small particles of that sun which constitute the all-pervasive sunshine.
- The Personality of Godhead is described herein (SB 3.5.23) as the master of all other living entities. He is like the sun disc, and the living entities are like the molecules of the sun's rays.
- The living entity is constitutionally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord; the Lord can be compared to the sun, and the living entities can be compared to molecules of sunshine.
- The living entity is like sunshine. There is heat and light in the sun, and there is heat and light in the sunshine, and thus they are qualitatively one. But one should not forget that the sunshine rests on the sun.
All-Pervading Through His Energies
Although God is a person who resides in a specific spiritual realm, He is simultaneously present everywhere. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that just as the sun distributes its rays throughout the solar system, the Lord pervades the entire universe through His infallible energies.
- Every living entity and everything is within Him (the Supreme Person), and yet He is without, all-pervading. How is that? He is just like the sun, which is situated in one place and yet is present all over by its rays.
- He (God) is full of all energies, He is all-pervasive in spite of His residing in Goloka Vrndavana, just as the sun, although situated in a particular place within the universe, is present by its sunshine throughout the universe.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is just like the sun, profusely distributes His energies while situated beyond the cloud of this material cosmic manifestation. He is the master of masters, and He is the Supreme of the supremes.
- From the Rk-samhita (1.22.20): The Personality of Godhead Visnu is the Absolute Truth, whose lotus feet all the demigods are always eager to see. Like the sun-god, He pervades everything by the rays of His energy. He appears impersonal to imperfect eyes.
Destroying the Darkness of Ignorance
The material world is often compared to a dark place of ignorance. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that wherever the Supreme Lord is present, either through His holy name or within the heart of a pure devotee, the darkness of material illusion is instantly destroyed.
- The Lord is just like the effulgent sun. Consequently, whenever the Supreme Personality of Godhead is present, there cannot be darkness or ignorance.
- The Lord is like the sun; the sun's appearance means immediate dissipation of darkness, or ignorance, and the Lord's appearance within the mind of the devotee can at once drive away the miserable material effects.
- The Lord is said to be the sun, and ignorance is called darkness.
- He (the Supreme Lord) is just like the sun, eternally luminous, but He is far, far beyond the darkness of this material world. His knowledge is transcendental.
The Transcendental Source of Light
Because the Supreme Lord is fully spiritual, He is never contaminated by the material world He creates and illuminates. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that just as the sun purifies infectious places without becoming infected itself, the Lord remains eternally pure and transcendental.
- The Lord is described here (in SB 8.3.10) as atma-pradipa. The Lord is like the sun, which illuminates everything and cannot be illuminated by anyone.
- The Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the source of light in all luminous objects like the sun, moon, stars, etc.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead can accept the reactions of anyone's sinful deeds and neutralize them because He is pavitra, pure, like the sun, which is never contaminated by any worldly infection.
- One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun and, being transcendental, is beyond this material nature.
Conclusion
To understand how God is like the sun is to unlock the mystery of the Absolute Truth's simultaneous presence and transcendence. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that just as the sun illuminates the universe and destroys all darkness, the Supreme Lord's divine presence within the heart purifies the soul and completely dissipates the dense ignorance of material existence.
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