God Is The Supreme - The Absolute Controller of All
Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that spiritual life cannot begin until one accepts the absolute authority of God. The Vedic literatures repeatedly declare that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the highest truth, the supreme will, and the ultimate controller of both the material and spiritual worlds. He has no equal and no superior.
The Absolute Supreme Controller
Everything in the universe moves according to a master plan. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that behind the vast cosmic manifestation is the supreme will of the Lord, whose absolute authority cannot be challenged or matched by anyone.
- The manifested cosmic creation is created at a certain period by the will of the Lord, is maintained for some time and is finally annihilated by His will. Thus He is the supreme will behind all activities.
- He can annihilate everything merely by His will. That is His supremacy. If one argues, "Why does He act in this way?" the answer is that He can do so because He is supreme. No one can question His activities.
- We must always remember that the Lord is the Supreme Will, and He is not bound by any law.
- The Supreme is supreme, and He has no worshipable superior.
The Minute Subordinate Souls
A common philosophical error is the assumption that the soul is identical in every way to God. Śrīla Prabhupāda confirms that while we are qualitatively one with the Lord, we are quantitatively tiny fragments, making us eternally subordinate to the Supreme Whole.
- The living entities are eternally small fragments of the supreme spiritual whole. As a part can never be equal with the whole, so a living entity, as a minute fragment of the spiritual whole, cannot be equal at any time to the Supreme Whole.
- The individual soul, having become conditioned by material nature, is not supreme. The Supreme is different from the individual soul. The Supreme Lord can extend His hand without limit; the individual soul cannot.
- The living entities are always subordinate to the Supreme. Consequently their duty is to always seek the mercy of the Lord in order to be protected by Him in all circumstances.
- Since we act under the control of the Supreme according to our karma, no one is independent, from Brahma down to the insignificant ant.
The Three Features and Potencies
The Supreme Lord is not a static, inactive entity. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that God expands Himself through His varied potencies and can be realized in three distinct features according to the seeker's level of advancement.
- By seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead one simultaneously sees and experiences the Paramatma feature as well as the impersonal Brahman feature of the Supreme.
- Both the internal and external potencies are under the control of the Supreme, so He does not come under the control of either of these potencies.
- The Lord's supervision in connection with creation is mentioned even in the Bhagavad-gita (9.10), and it is clearly said there that material energy is a manifestation of one of many such energies of the Supreme.
- The Supreme has legs and hands distributed everywhere, and this cannot be said of the individual soul. Therefore that there are two knowers of the field of activity, the individual soul and the Supersoul, must be admitted.
Refuting Impersonalism and Monism
Many transcendentalists strive to lose their individual identity and merge into God. Śrīla Prabhupāda rigorously rejects this monistic idea, clarifying that true devotees never attempt the impossible feat of becoming the Supreme.
- A special distinction between devotees and the other transcendentalists, namely the jnanis and yogis, is that jnanis and yogis artificially try to become one with the Supreme, whereas devotees never aspire for such an impossible accomplishment.
- The most lamentable falldown of the impersonalist is due to his false and unreasonable claim of being one with the Supreme.
- The impersonalist adduces no activity in the Supreme, but in this discussion between Brahma and the Supreme Personality of Godhead the Lord is said to have activities also, as He has His form and quality.
- The theories of pantheism and monism are respectively applicable to these two conceptions of the Supreme as gross and subtle, but both of them are rejected by the learned pure devotees of the Lord because they are aware of the factual position.
Attaining Perfect Knowledge
Understanding the Absolute Truth requires more than theoretical study. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that perfect knowledge is achieved when one practically comprehends the boundless opulences of the Supreme and one's relationship with Him.
- Knowledge of the unlimited is actual brahma-jnana, or knowledge of the Supreme.
- When one factually knows the opulences of the Supreme, there is no alternative but to surrender to Him. This factual knowledge can be known from the descriptions in Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita and similar literatures.
- To understand that Brahman, the Supreme, is conscious is not sufficient. One must know how He consciously acts through His different energies.
- Such authorities can by nature understand the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but a conditioned soul not freed from the influence of material nature is unable to realize the Supreme.
The Supremacy of Devotional Service
The ultimate goal of realizing the Supreme is to actively engage in His service. Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly states that restoring our pure consciousness means returning to our constitutional position as the joyful servants of the Lord.
- If one wishes to engage in devotional service to the Supreme in order to be purified and to reach the goal of life - the transcendental loving service of God - then he should find out what the Lord desires of him.
- Pure devotees know that they are meant to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that all things that exist can be means by which one can serve the Supreme.
- The real identity of the living entity is that he is an eternal servant of the Supreme. As long as one does not come to this conclusion, he must be in ignorance.
- The mind is easily conquered simply by engaging it at the lotus feet of the Lord. Gradually, by such service, all the senses become automatically engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the way of merging into the Supreme Absolute.
Conclusion
A tiny drop of ocean water can never claim to be the vast ocean itself, despite sharing its chemical composition. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that, similarly, the living entity can never become equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. God is the absolute, independent, supreme controller of all material and spiritual energies. The impersonalist philosophy that advocates merging into the Supreme is a product of material illusion and false pride. The true perfection of human life is to thoroughly understand the Lord's majestic opulences and to recognize one's own eternally subordinate position. By abandoning the futile struggle to act as independent lords of the material world, and instead engaging fully in the unalloyed devotional service of the Supreme, the conditioned soul achieves perfect knowledge, profound peace, and eternal liberation.
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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 Supreme. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.