God Is The Absolute Truth - The Ultimate Supreme Personality
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the ultimate goal of all Vedic knowledge is to understand the Absolute Truth. While ordinary living entities are engrossed in temporary, relative truths, a spiritually advanced human being inquires into the eternal nature of the Supreme. The Vedic literatures systematically reveal that this Absolute Truth is not a void or a blind force, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead, possessing unlimited energies and a fully transcendental form.
The Three Phases of Realization
The Absolute Truth presents Himself differently according to the capacity and realization of the spiritual seeker. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramātmā, and the Supreme Person, Bhagavān, are simply three features of the identical Absolute Truth.
- Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan.
- The Absolute Truth is realized in three features - brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate.
- The Absolute Truth is always to be understood from three angles of vision as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. Unlike the objects of the material world, however, the Absolute Truth is always one and always the same.
- The Bhagavatam has enunciated that the Absolute Truth is present in three features - in the beginning as the impersonal Brahman, in the next stage as the Paramatma in everyone's heart, at last, as the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth, Bhagavan.
The Ultimate Source of Everything
The very definition of the Absolute Truth is that He is the primeval cause of all causes. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that everything in existence—both material and spiritual—emanates directly from the Supreme Lord and ultimately rests in Him.
- The first verse of the Brahma-sutra is athato brahma jijnasa: "We must now inquire into the Absolute Truth." The second verse immediately answers, janmady asya yatah: "The Absolute Truth is the original source of everything."
- Janmady asya yatah. This means that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Supreme Person, Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is the source from whom everything emanates.
- The Vedas state that everything is generated from the Absolute Truth, everything is maintained by the Absolute Truth, and, after annihilation, everything enters into the Absolute Truth.
- The entire cosmic manifestation emanates from the Absolute Truth, rests upon the Absolute Truth and after annihilation again reenters the body of the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The Supreme Personality and Form
Mundane thinkers often mistakenly assume that because the Lord is infinite, He must be formless. Śrīla Prabhupāda vigorously refutes this, establishing that the Absolute Truth is a distinct person with perfect, spiritual senses and an eternal form.
- The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Absolute Truth is a person like us, but He is the Supreme Person. That is the Vedic information. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam.
- Here the word vigraham, "having specific form," is very significant, for it indicates that the Absolute Truth is ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is explained in the Brahma-samhita.
- The Lord is the Supreme Brahman, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead appearing like a man, but Uddhava had doubts whether He could have so many transcendental activities.
- This means that the Absolute Truth is not without mind, intelligence and senses. In other words, He is not impersonal.
Refuting the Māyāvādī Conception
Philosophers of the Māyāvāda school claim that only the Absolute Truth is real, while the material world is entirely false (mithyā). Śrīla Prabhupāda corrects this error by explaining that because the universe emanates from the Absolute Truth, it is also a reality, albeit a temporary one.
- Mayavadi philosophers have propagated the slogan brahma satyam jagan mithya, which declares that the Absolute Truth is fact but the cosmic manifestation and the living entities are simply illusions.
- God created this world, and He is true, so how can His creation be false? Because this is the creation of God, and God is the Absolute Truth, this creation is also true. We simply see it otherwise due to illusion. The world is a fact, but it is a temporary fact.
- The transformation of the Absolute Truth has been explained by Mayavadi philosophers as false, but it is not false. It is only temporary.
- The Mayavadi philosophers maintain that the Absolute Truth is the only truth and that this material manifestation known as the world is false. Actually this is not the case.
The Reality of the Inconceivable Energies
The Supreme Lord is never alone or inactive. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how the Absolute Truth continuously acts through His diverse, inconceivable energies, effortlessly managing both the material and spiritual creations.
- From Vedic literatures we understand that the Absolute Truth has varieties of energy and that the living entities and the cosmic manifestation are but a demonstration of His energies.
- The Absolute Truth has inconceivable energies, as confirmed in the Svetasvatara Upanisad, and the entire cosmic manifestation is evidence of these different energies of the Supreme Lord.
- The energy of the Absolute Truth is exhibited in three ways: spiritual, material and marginal.
- The Absolute Truth is so perfect that although innumerable energies emanate from Him and manifest creations which appear to be different from Him, He nevertheless maintains His personality. He never deteriorates under any circumstances.
The Inadequacy of Mental Speculation
The Absolute Truth is unlimited, while the human brain is tiny and defective. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the ascending process of mental speculation or scientific research can never successfully reach the Absolute Truth.
- By the mental speculation of the greatest mundane thinkers, the Absolute Truth cannot be understood.
- The knowledge the conditioned soul gains by mental speculation, however powerful it may be, is always too imperfect to approach the Absolute Truth.
- The Lord tells Arjuna that basically there is no possibility of understanding the Supreme Truth, the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, simply by speculating.
- If we speculate, we shall never reach the Absolute Truth. That is not possible. Because our power is very limited. How long I shall speculate? This is called kupa-manduka-nyaya.
The True Purpose of Human Life
Unlike animals, whose lives are restricted to eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, human beings possess advanced intelligence. Śrīla Prabhupāda stresses that this intelligence must be used to inquire into the nature of the Absolute Truth.
- Scripture says that human life is not meant only for these four principles of life, bodily demands. There is another thing - a human being should be inquisitive to learn what is Absolute Truth. That education is lacking.
- Lower than human being - animals, birds, beasts, trees, aquatics, insects - they have no privilege to inquire about the Absolute Truth. It is in the human form of life one can inquire about the Absolute Truth. Athato brahma jijnasa.
- Human being should be still more advanced in knowledge. That knowledge is not comprising only eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That knowledge is to understand the Absolute Truth, God.
- That is real human life, when he inquires about the Absolute Truth. Otherwise, it is animal life.
Realization Through Devotional Service
Since mental speculation is useless, how can one know the Absolute Truth? Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that only through the process of bhakti-yoga—unalloyed devotional service—can the Supreme Lord be perfectly understood and directly approached.
- Bhaktya mam abhijanati: factual understanding of the Absolute Truth, who is the Supreme Person, cannot be obtained by any process other than devotional service.
- The Absolute Truth is realized in full by the process of devotional service to the Lord, Vasudeva, or the Personality of Godhead, who is the full-fledged Absolute Truth.
- The process of bhakti-yoga, devotional service, is the main river flowing down towards the sea of the Absolute Truth, and all other processes mentioned are just like tributaries.
- One's search for the Absolute Truth by dint of speculative knowledge is complete when one comes to the point of understanding Krsna and surrenders unto Him. That is the real point of perfectional knowledge.
Conclusion
To fulfill the true mission of human life, one must abandon the animalistic pursuit of bodily comforts and urgently inquire into the Absolute Truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that this Absolute Truth is not an empty void, a formless energy, or a mythological concept, but rather Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the primeval cause of all causes, possessing inconceivable spiritual and material energies. While impersonalists and jñānīs waste their time trying to reach Him through imperfect mental speculation, the Lord reveals Himself entirely to those who surrender to Him. By adopting the process of bhakti-yoga and hearing submissively from authorized Vedic sources, the conditioned soul transcends all material illusions, perfectly realizes the Absolute Truth, and re-enters an eternal, blissful relationship with the Supreme Person.
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