God Is The Supreme Person - The Highest Realization of the Absolute
Śrīla Prabhupāda constantly reminds us of a simple yet profound logical truth: if we, as the sons and parts and parcels of God, are persons, then the Supreme Father must also be a person. The Vedic literatures systematically dismantle the illusion of a void or formless Absolute, revealing that the ultimate reality is the Supreme Person, who maintains, controls, and lovingly interacts with all living entities.
The Ultimate Absolute Truth
Many philosophers speculate about the nature of the Absolute, often concluding that it must be an impersonal energy or a void. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphatically rejects these ideas, explaining that the most authorized scriptures establish the Absolute Truth as the Supreme Person.
- In every verse Vyasadeva says, sri-bhagavan uvaca, "the Supreme Personality of Godhead said," or "the Blessed Lord said." It is clearly stated that the Blessed Lord is the Supreme Person, but Mayavadi atheists still try to prove that the Absolute Truth is impersonal.
- 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.
- The Buddhist theory is void and the Mayavadi theory is impersonal. But our philosophy is that God is originally the Supreme Person. Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. We have discussed this point many times.
- God means that as we are person, He is the supreme person. That is all. Just like you are also persons, you are also Australians, and the president of the Australian government, he is also a person. He is not imperson.
The Cause of All Causes
The universe is a staggeringly complex machine, and no machine runs without an operator. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that behind the workings of material nature stands the Supreme Person, who is the ultimate cause and director of all cosmic manifestations.
- Behind this big, gigantic machine, physical world, there is a living entity, a big, powerful living entity. He is God. We are simply sample of God, a small particle. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah jiva-loke sanatanah.
- My dear Lord, You are the only Supreme Person, the cause of all causes. Before the creation of this material world, Your material energy remains in a dormant condition.
- All these differentiated creations are being created automatically by the material force set in motion by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the ultimate cause is the Supreme Person.
- As stated in Brahma-samhita: He is the cause of all causes, the ultimate cause.
Qualitative Oneness, Quantitative Difference
A drop of ocean water shares the salty quality of the ocean, but it cannot carry ships. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that while the minute living entity and the Supreme Person are both spiritual, their power and capacities are eternally different.
- The difference between the Supreme Person and our personality is that He is all-powerful, we are limited. Our power is limited. Everything our, limited. Anu, prabhu. He is great; we are small.
- Such a person cannot understand that the Supreme Person is the original great fire, whereas the living entities are simply small fragmental parts of that Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- The Supreme Godhead is always awake. In the conditioned stage we forget things because we change our bodies, but because the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not change His body, He remembers past, present and future.
- The living entity, without knowledge of the Supreme Person and His agent the material energy, thinks that he is the doer. In fact, he is not at all the doer.
The Incomplete Stages of Realization
Understanding that God is an all-pervading energy is only a partial realization. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the absolute reality is realized in three phases: Brahman, Paramātmā, and ultimately, the Supreme Person, Bhagavān.
- The Absolute Truth may be realized in three phases, but is one nondual truth. Brahman, the glowing effulgence, localized Supersoul, and Bhagavan - the Supreme Person - are three features or aspects of God.
- Although the impersonal effulgence, the brahma-jyotir, is the first realization, one must enter into it, as mentioned in the Isopanisad, to find the Supreme Person, and then one's knowledge is perfect.
- The impersonalists do not merge into the existence of the Supreme Person but into His personal bodily luster, which is called the brahma-jyotir.
- One who sees the Supreme Person can automatically realize the other features, namely the Paramatma and Brahman features of the Lord.
The Transcendental Form and Opulences
Because we inhabit bodies of flesh and blood, we mistakenly assume that all forms must be material. Śrīla Prabhupāda dispels this myth, explaining that the Supreme Person possesses an eternal, blissful, and completely spiritual form.
- All the forms of that Supreme Person are eternal. The Supreme Person has a form, with hands and legs and other personal features, but His hands and legs are not material.
- He is the source of everyone's opulence, and no one can equal Him in opulence. Being full of all opulences, namely wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, certainly He is the Supreme Person.
- The Supreme Person has an eternal spiritual body. If one tries to distinguish between the body and the soul of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he commits a great offense.
- That Supreme Person is not impersonal and therefore is distinctively a nara, or person. Therefore the transcendental water created from the Supreme Nara is known as nara. And because He lies down on that water, He is known as Narayana.
The Perfection of Devotional Service
The Supreme Person cannot be conquered by vast intelligence or mental gymnastics; He is captured only by love. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that the sole path to understanding and associating with the Supreme Person is unalloyed devotional service.
- Bhaktya mam abhijanati: factual understanding of the Absolute Truth, who is the Supreme Person, cannot be obtained by any process other than devotional service.
- Devotional service is the only path by which one can achieve the Supreme Person. This is the only perfection accepted by all Vedic literature.
- Yogis - real yogis - see the form of Visnu within the heart by meditation. The devotees, however, meet the Supreme Person face to face, just as we meet face to face and speak face to face.
- A devotee who is fully engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord is protected by the Supreme Person.
Conclusion
A painting implies a painter, and a complex machine implies an engineer. Śrīla Prabhupāda logically demonstrates that the vast, perfectly ordered cosmic manifestation implies a supreme creator with unparalleled intelligence—the Supreme Person. The Māyāvādī philosophy, which reduces the Absolute Truth to a formless energy, completely ignores the dynamic, personal nature of the Lord. While the all-pervading Brahman and the localized Paramātmā are genuine spiritual realizations, they are merely the effulgence and the partial expansion of Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. God is a person, just as we are, but He is infinite, infallible, and the supreme controller, whereas we are infinitesimal and subordinate. By abandoning the futile attempt to understand God through mental speculation and instead fully engaging in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, the sincere soul is eventually elevated to the spiritual sky, where they can associate with the Supreme Person face to face.
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