God Is The Chief Living Entity - The Supreme Eternal Among Eternals
Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently corrects the misconception that the Absolute Truth is a formless energy or a void. By drawing from the foundational statements of the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, he explains that God is actually a living entity—a person with consciousness, intelligence, and sentiments. The true distinction between God and ourselves is not that He is impersonal and we are personal, but that He is the infinite, supreme chief living entity, while we are His infinitesimal subordinates.
Nityo Nityānāṁ: The Chief Eternal
The Vedic literatures explicitly define the nature of the Supreme Lord in relation to all other living beings. Śrīla Prabhupāda often quotes the aphorism nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām to establish that God is the singular, supreme conscious being among all conscious beings.
- As described in the Vedas, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam - He is the chief eternal of all eternals and the chief living entity among all living entities.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the chief living entity. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam.
- In the Vedas it is said, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam: both God and His creatures are living entities, though God is the chief.
- In the Vedas it is said, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam: the Lord is the chief individual living entity, the leader of the subordinate living entities.
The Maintainer and the Maintained
While God and the living entities share the same eternal nature, their capabilities are vastly different. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the one chief living entity is the maintainer who effortlessly supplies the necessities for the innumerable subordinate jīvas.
- Nityo nityanam: He is the chief of all living entities; He is one, but He maintains many, many living entities.
- What is the difference between God and ourself? God is also a living entity like us, but He's the chief living entity. He's maintaining all others. Therefore we have to ask God, "Give us our daily bread." He's the maintainer.
- In the Vedas it is stated that He is the chief living entity and that He bestows all the desired necessities of other living entities.
- God is the chief living entity amongst all living entities. God is the most intelligent personality than all of us. He is supplying the necessities of life to everyone. These are the Vedic injunction. That is the difference between God and ourself.
Qualitative Oneness
Because the living entities are minute parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, they share His conscious nature. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that God possesses all the sentiments and characteristics of a sentient being precisely because He is the original source of all living beings.
- God and we, we are qualitatively one. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. But He is the chief living entity.
- The Personality of Godhead has every sentiment of a sentient being, like all other living beings, because He is the chief and original living entity, the supreme source of all other living beings.
- There are innumerable living entities: nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. That is Vedic information. God is also a living entity, like us, but He is the chief living entity. And we are also living entity.
- 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 Predominator and the Predominated
The correct understanding of the Absolute Truth requires acknowledging the hierarchy between the Lord and the jīva. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that Bhagavān is the supreme predominator and the ultimate father, while all other living entities are His subordinate children.
- God is also living entity. He is the chief living entity, chief intelligent man or god, and we are subordinate. What is our relationship? God is the supreme father, we are all children.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Brahman or Parambrahman, the chief of all living entities. Both the Supreme Brahman, or the Personality of Godhead, and the living entities are persons, but the Supreme Brahman is the predominator, whereas the living entities are predominated.
- In order to distinguish the personality whom the individual soul must approach, it is described here that this purusa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the chief amongst all living entities.
- In the Sankhya-kaumudi it is stated that unalloyed goodness or transcendence is just opposite to the material modes. All living entities there are eternally associated without any break, and the Lord is the chief and prime entity.
Conclusion
To truly understand God is to recognize Him as the supreme person. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the chief eternal among all eternals and the chief conscious being among all conscious beings. While the countless jīvas are tiny, dependent, and prone to illusion, the supreme living entity is infinite, completely independent, and acts as the ultimate maintainer of all creation. By abandoning the false desire to become the predominator and embracing our natural, subordinate position as the predominated children of the supreme father, we re-establish our original relationship with Him. Engaging in loving devotional service to this chief living entity is the ultimate perfection and the only path to eternal, conscious bliss.
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