God Is The Predominator - The Supreme Master of All
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that in order to understand our actual identity and purpose, we must first understand our eternal relationship with the Absolute Truth. The Vedic literatures conclusively establish that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the absolute predominator, and every other living entity is naturally meant to be predominated by Him.
The Predominator and the Predominated
While the living entity and God share qualitative spiritual similarities, they are not equal in magnitude or position. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord is the infinite maintainer, and our eternal constitutional position is to be maintained and predominated by Him.
- One living being is providing, maintaining all other living beings. So our position is being maintained by God and God is maintainer. Our position is being predominated and God is predominator.
- The difference between the two (God and living entities) is that God maintains all the other living entities. That is a fact. We are maintained, and God is the maintainer. We are predominated - we are not independent - and God is the predominator.
- 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.
- We are predominated and God is the predominator. That is the difference. Otherwise He is a person, we are also persons. He is eternal, we are eternal. He is cognizant, we are cognizant.
The Illusion of Independence vs. Eternal Relationship
In the material world, the living entity falsely tries to act as the independent predominator of material nature. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that mental speculators often misinterpret this dynamic, but the true spiritual relationship is always one of subordinate service to the Supreme Lord.
- Our eternal relationship with God is sabhajana: God is great, and we are subordinate. He is the predominator, and we are the predominated. The duty of the subordinate is to please the predominator.
- Doubts about the eternal relationship of the Lord and the living entity are created by mental speculators in different ways, but the conclusive fact is that the relationship of God and the living entity is one of the predominator and the predominated.
- Prakrti is always subordinate, predominated by the Lord, who is the predominator.
- The Lord is the predominator of the external energy, maya, whereas the living entity is predominated by the same maya under the material condition.
The Spiritual Kingdom and Vaikuṇṭha
Unlike the temporary material universe where false lords vie for power, the spiritual sky is characterized by perfect harmony. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how the Supreme Lord eternally predominates on the countless Vaikuṇṭha planets.
- All planets in the material universe are temporary residences; the only permanent planets are the Vaikunthalokas. These are found in the spiritual sky, where the Personality of Godhead Himself predominates.
- In the spiritual world there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets, and on each one the Lord is the predominating Deity. A devotee can be promoted to one such Vaikuntha planet to live with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- The predominating Supreme Person residing within the spiritual nature is Krsna.
- In these spiritual planets the Supreme Lord as Narayana predominates, and the healthy, unconditioned living beings live there by rendering loving service to the Lord in the capacity of servant, friend, parents and fiancee.
The Joy of Being Dominated
While submission in the material world is often perceived as oppressive, submission in the spiritual world is the source of ultimate joy. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that the pure devotee relishes the blissful reciprocation of being dominated by the Supreme Lord.
- The devotees of the Lord are not ambitious to dominate a false and temporary phenomenon. On the contrary, a devotee wants to be dominated by the supreme predominator, the Lord.
- A desire to serve the Lord, the supreme predominator, is spiritual or transcendental, and one has to attain this purification of the mind and the senses to get admission into the spiritual kingdom.
- The self-expansions are predominators, and the separated expansions are predominated for reciprocation of transcendental bliss with the supreme form of bliss and knowledge.
- Liberated souls can join in this blissful reciprocation of predominator and predominated without materially concocted ideas. An example of such a transcendental exchange between the predominator and the predominated is the Lord's rasa-lila with the gopis.
Conclusion
The fundamental ignorance of material existence is the tiny living entity's attempt to artificially act as the supreme master and predominator of nature. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that this unnatural rebellion only leads to being crushed by the Lord's external energy, māyā. In stark contrast, the spiritual world is a realm of absolute harmony because all liberated souls recognize and celebrate their subordinate position. God is the eternal, supreme predominator, and the living entities are His joyful, predominated servants. When the conditioned soul gives up the futile ambition to dominate this temporary material world and instead desires only to be dominated by the loving will of the Supreme Lord, they immediately regain their natural spiritual consciousness. It is within this divine reciprocation of the predominator and the predominated that the soul tastes the highest transcendental bliss.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God Is The Predominator. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.