God Is The Supreme Godhead - The Complete Absolute Person
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the ultimate goal of all Vedic knowledge is to understand the Absolute Truth in its most complete feature. While many transcendentalists are satisfied with realizing the all-pervading spiritual energy, true spiritual perfection requires knowing the original source of that energy: the Supreme Godhead.
The Definition of the Supreme Godhead
What defines God as supreme? Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Godhead is the singular, absolute person who possesses all opulences in full and maintains all other living entities.
- The Lord, or the Supreme Godhead, who is one without a second, is a fully cognizant and eternally joyful personality with a full sense of His identity. No one is equal to Him or greater than Him. This is a concise description of the Supreme Lord.
- No one is richer, more famous, stronger, more beautiful, wiser or more renounced than He. These qualifications make Him the Supreme Godhead, the cause of all causes.
- There are innumerable living entities, but there is one living entity who is the Supreme Absolute Godhead. The difference between the singular living entity and the plural living entities is that the singular living entity is the Lord of all.
- Many verses can be quoted from the Upanisads and Vedas which prove that the Supreme Godhead is not impersonal. In the Katha Upanisad it is also said: He is the supreme eternally conscious person, who maintains all other living entities.
Distinguishing the Lord from the Living Entity
A common philosophical error is to equate the tiny living entity with the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that while we share a spiritual nature with God, our position is eternally subordinate, and we are vulnerable to illusion, whereas the Supreme Godhead is not.
- The difference between the living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is that the living entity is prone to be subjected to material nature, whereas the Supreme Godhead is always transcendental to material nature as well as to the living entities.
- The Mayavadis maintain that everyone is God, but even if this philosophy is accepted, no one can maintain that everyone is equal to the Supreme Godhead in every respect. Only unintelligent men maintain that everyone is equal to God or that everyone is God.
- Maya is under the control of the Supreme Godhead, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita. Maya is under His superintendence; maya cannot overcome the Lord.
- Since our position is subordinate to that of the almighty Visnu, the Supreme Godhead, we can enjoy only what comes from Him as a token of His kindness. We must not enjoy anything that is not offered by Him.
The Incomplete Stages of Realization
Understanding the Absolute Truth is a progressive journey. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that realizing the impersonal Brahman or the localized Paramātmā is a significant achievement, but it falls short of knowing the Supreme Godhead.
- The understanding of the effulgent rays of the body of the Supreme Godhead is not the perfect stage of brahma-siddhi, or Brahman realization. Nor is the realization of the Paramatma feature of the Supreme Person perfect.
- In the Bhagavad-gita also the Supreme Godhead says, I am the resting place of Brahman.
- The various descriptions of paramatma, isvara and puman indicate that the expansions of the Supreme Godhead are unlimited.
- The Supreme Godhead is the Supreme Person; He is not impersonal.
Achieving the Perfection of Life
When one finally understands the supreme position of the Lord, the natural result is devotional service. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that fixing the mind on the form and pastimes of the Supreme Godhead is the guaranteed path to spiritual perfection.
- If by studying the form, name, qualities, pastimes and paraphernalia of the Supreme Godhead one is attracted to the Lord, he can execute devotional service, and the form of the Lord will be impressed in his heart and remain transcendentally situated there.
- The flow of the Ganges water cannot be stopped by any condition; similarly, a pure devotee's attraction for the transcendental name, form and pastimes of the Supreme Godhead cannot be stopped by any material condition.
- By practicing this remembering, without being deviated, thinking ever of the Supreme Godhead, one is sure to achieve the planet of the Divine, the Supreme Personality.
- Those who are confident that they are not the material body, that they are spiritual parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are therefore engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Godhead, have nothing to fear. Their future is very bright.
Conclusion
A drop of ocean water shares the salty quality of the ocean, but it can never claim to be the ocean itself. Śrīla Prabhupāda utilizes this understanding to dispel the confusion surrounding the Absolute Truth. The individual souls are indeed spiritual and qualitatively equal to God, but only Lord Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu is the Supreme Godhead. He is the absolute controller (īśvara), forever immune to the covering of the material energy (māyā), while the minute souls are prone to illusion. To consider the Supreme Godhead as merely an impersonal force or an ordinary man is a symptom of gross ignorance. The true perfection of human life is to transcend these incomplete philosophies and fully engage in the loving service of the Supreme Person. By hearing about His transcendental pastimes, constantly chanting His holy names, and taking complete shelter at His lotus feet, the sincere soul is guaranteed a return to the eternal, blissful realm of the Supreme Godhead.
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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 Godhead. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.