God Is Uncommon - The Wonder of His Transcendental Pastimes
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the Supreme Personality of Godhead can never be accurately measured by mundane calculations. When the Lord descends to the material world, He is not forced by the laws of karma; He comes by His own internal energy. Consequently, His appearance, His features, and His activities are always extraordinarily wonderful and entirely uncommon.
Transcendentally Wonderful Acts
The Vedic literatures are filled with historical accounts of the Lord displaying unimaginable strength and prowess. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights that these uncommon activities definitively separate the Supreme Personality of Godhead from any ordinary living being.
- The activities of the Lord are not common; they are all transcendentally wonderful and not able to be performed by any other living being.
- The Lord's activities are uncommon. For example, when He appeared as Lord Ramacandra, He performed uncommon activities like bridging the ocean. Similarly, when Lord Krsna appeared He raised the Govardhana Hill when He was only seven years of age.
- Lord Ramacandra constructed a bridge over the water with stone by making the stone float. This is proof of God's uncommonly wonderful power.
- When they (the demigods) saw the uncommon prowess of the Lord in keeping the earth on the surface of the water, they showered flowers on Him in appreciation of His transcendental activity.
The Bewilderment of Nondevotees
Because ordinary men possess tiny brains and imperfect senses, they often struggle to accept the unlimited power of God. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that atheistic scientists, asuras, and fools proudly dismiss the Lord’s uncommon pastimes as mere mythological stories.
- Among the innumerable planets in only one universe, the so-called scientists cannot understand even the moon and Mars, but they try to defy the creation of the Supreme Lord and His uncommon energy. Such men have been described as crazy.
- The asuras cannot recognize the existence of the Lord, although there are vivid descriptions of the Lord in the revealed scriptures, although the Lord incarnates and exhibits His uncommon strength and energy.
- Fools and rascals consider these uncommon activities of the Lord to be mythological but the pure devotee immediately becomes ecstatic upon hearing the uncommon activities of the Lord. This is the difference between a devotee and a nondevotee.
- The uncommon features symptomatic of the incarnation of Godhead can bewilder even the mind of Brahma.
The Ecstasy of the Pure Devotees
While nondevotees remain doubtful and critical, pure devotees find their ultimate satisfaction in witnessing and glorifying the Lord's supreme power. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how hearing about these uncommon deeds awakens spontaneous transcendental ecstasy in the hearts of the liberated souls.
- Devotees always want to see the Lord victorious in varied activities, and therefore, to please Himself and them, the Lord sometimes agrees to act as a human being and perform wonderful, uncommon pastimes for the satisfaction of the devotees.
- When the pure devotee, the liberated person, hears about these uncommon activities of the Lord, he immediately becomes ecstatic and exhibits the symptoms of chanting, dancing, and crying very loudly and jubilantly.
- Upon seeing this wonderfully uncommon deed of Your Lordship, all the great heroes and kings in the future will glorify You.
- Everything about the Lord - His activities, pastimes and uncommon features - should be accepted as is, and in this way, even in our present condition, we can understand the Lord.
The Mystery of His Forms and Attributes
God is not a formless void; He is a person possessing unimaginable beauty, color, and variety. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Lord's innumerable forms, such as Śyāmasundara and Nārāyaṇa, are profound mysteries that can only be understood through unalloyed devotion.
- The innumerable forms of the Lord, such as Syamasundara, Narayana, Rama and Gaurasundara; the colors of these forms (white, red, yellow, cloudlike syama and others) - these and innumerable other uncommon acts and attributes are all mysteries.
- His qualities, as the responsive Personality of Godhead to pure devotees and as impersonal Brahman to dry speculators - these and innumerable other uncommon acts and attributes are all mysteries, one aspect of which is presented in the scientific knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita.
- The Lord descends by His internal energy without any obligation to the laws of material nature, and thus His activities are also uncommon.
- The Lord's uncommon features, uncommon activities and uncommon beauty can be perceived even by an ordinary man.
Conclusion
A tiny drop of water cannot contain the entire ocean, and similarly, the tiny human brain cannot contain the unlimited greatness of the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is eternally situated far beyond the limits of material logic and empiric science. When the Lord performs uncommon pastimes—like Lord Rāmacandra floating stones on the ocean or Lord Kṛṣṇa lifting Govardhana Hill—He explicitly proves His supremacy and provides boundless joy to His pure devotees. Those who are envious or trapped in the darkness of ignorance mistakenly label these glorious events as mythology. However, by humbly accepting the authorized descriptions of the Lord's uncommon forms, colors, and acts, a sincere soul is immediately transported to the platform of pure spiritual ecstasy and regains their eternal loving relationship with the Supreme Person.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God Is Uncommon. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.