God Is Unlimited - The Inconceivable Potencies of the Lord
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the defining characteristic of the Absolute Truth is that He is ananta, or completely unlimited. In the material world, everything is restricted by the boundaries of time, space, and physical capacity. However, the Supreme Personality of Godhead exists entirely beyond these parameters. His names, forms, qualities, pastimes, and energies expand boundlessly, making Him the supreme, unlimited reservoir of all existence.
The Difference Between the Soul and the Supreme
A drop of ocean water shares the same chemical composition as the entire ocean, but its power is vastly different. Śrīla Prabhupāda uses this analogy to explain that while the individual spirit soul is qualitatively one with the Lord, the soul is eternally limited, whereas the Supreme Lord is infinitely unlimited.
- Because the living entity is the minute particle of God, mamaivamso jiva-bhutah, therefore his intelligence, his power, is also very minute. But God's power is unlimited. By unlimited power Krsna knows the past, future and present, everything.
- All the living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are as good as the Lord qualitatively, but quantitatively there is a great difference between them, for the Lord is unlimited whereas the living entities are limited.
- The personified Vedas therefore concluded, "O Lord, You are the unlimited eternal, and the living entities are the limited eternals."
- God is also a living being. That is said in the Oxford Dictionary. God means, "supreme being." So we are all beings, and God is the Supreme Being. We are limited by our power; God is unlimited by His power.
Refuting the Impersonal Misconception
Conditioned philosophers often struggle with the concept of an unlimited person. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that impersonalists incorrectly conclude that if God has a form, He must be limited, failing to grasp the inconceivable, spiritual nature of the Lord's body.
- Because we are limited and God is unlimited, the Mayavadis, or impersonalists, with their poor fund of knowledge, think that God must be impersonal.
- Making a material comparison, they say that just as the sky, which we think of as unlimited, is impersonal, if God is unlimited He must also be impersonal.
- The Mayavadis, they cannot conceive how immeasurable, unlimited. Therefore as soon as they take it that God is unlimited, immeasurable, they take it for impersonal.
- That is not the Vedic instruction. The Vedas instruct that God is a person. Krsna is a person, and we are also persons, but the difference is that He is to be worshiped whereas we are to be worshipers.
Beyond Mental Speculation
The finite cannot measure the infinite. Śrīla Prabhupāda warns that any attempt to calculate the greatness of the Supreme Lord through mental speculation or empiric science is an exercise in futility. The unlimited can only be understood if He reveals Himself.
- God is unlimited, and your speculative power is limited. So you cannot understand God without the mercy of God.
- We may say that we have understood God, but it is not possible to understand Him as He is, because we have limited senses, and He is unlimited.
- Mental speculators who want to understand the limit of the Unlimited are certainly nonsensical. Every one of them is captivated by the external potencies of the Lord.
- The Lord's knowledge is unlimited, and therefore one cannot touch where it ends, just as one cannot measure the ocean. What is the extent of our intelligence in comparison to the vast expanse of water in the ocean.
Unlimited Forms and Expansions
Unlike a material object that diminishes when distributed, the Supreme Lord expands Himself infinitely without losing His original identity. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how the Lord manifests innumerable incarnations and energies to manage and enjoy the cosmic manifestation.
- Krsna is the first Narayana. In the spiritual world there are unlimited numbers of Narayanas, who are all the same Personality of Godhead and are considered to be the plenary expansions of the original Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna.
- Lord Sesa in the spiritual world of Vaikuntha and, in the material world, Lord Ananta, who carries innumerable planets on His hoods, are two primary empowered incarnations. There is no need to count the others, for they are unlimited.
- Only by devotional activity can one understand the transcendental form of the Lord, which is perfect in all respects. Although His form is one, He can expand His form into unlimited numbers by His supreme will.
- All these universes are thus created by the exhalation of Maha-Visnu, and when Maha-Visnu inhales, they re-enter His body. The unlimited opulences of Maha-Visnu are completely beyond material conception.
The Infinite Opulences of the Lord
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Bhagavān because He possesses all opulences in full. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that no one can calculate the extent of the Lord's wealth, strength, beauty, fame, knowledge, and renunciation.
- The Sanskrit word vibhuh means the Supreme Lord who is full of unlimited knowledge, riches, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation. He is always satisfied in Himself, undisturbed by sinful or pious activities.
- The Supreme Lord, by His own potency, is unlimitedly more powerful than any yogi, He is unlimitedly more learned than any jnani, He is unlimitedly richer than any wealthy person, He is unlimitedly more beautiful than any beautiful living being.
- The Lord has six opulences - unlimited wealth, unlimited fame, unlimited strength, unlimited beauty, unlimited knowledge and unlimited renunciation.
- O Supreme Personality of Godhead, all contradictions can be reconciled in You. Since You are the Supreme Person, the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities, the supreme controller, Your unlimited glories are inconceivable to the conditioned souls.
The Boundless Mercy of the Supreme
Because the Lord is unlimited in every respect, His compassion and affection for the living entities are also boundless. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that the Lord continuously extends His causeless mercy to help the conditioned souls return back to Godhead.
- He descends to the material world to induce the nondevotees and rebellious living entities to return home, back to Godhead. He requests them to surrender unto Him because, unlimited as He is, He wants to increase His devotees unlimitedly.
- My devotee actually becomes self-realized by My unlimited causeless mercy.
- The Lord has unlimited numbers of transcendental qualities, and one of them is His affection for His unalloyed devotee. In the history of the mundane world we can appreciate His transcendental qualities.
- What capacity do we finite creatures have to love Krsna? But Krsna has immense capacity - unlimited capacity - for love.
Conclusion
The foundation of true spiritual knowledge lies in recognizing the staggering difference between the finite and the infinite. Śrīla Prabhupāda systematically destroys the illusion that the living entity can ever become equal to God or measure His greatness through mundane speculation. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, is completely unlimited in His forms, energies, pastimes, and opulences. The Māyāvādī conclusion that the Absolute must be formless simply to remain unlimited is a product of a tiny, conditioned brain. The Vedic truth is far more wonderful: God is a person, yet His personality accommodates infinite expansions, universes, and contradictory potencies without ever losing His original, perfect form. By recognizing our minute, limited position and taking shelter of the unlimited Lord through submissive hearing and chanting, we can connect our finite consciousness to the infinite reservoir of transcendental pleasure and experience the Lord's unlimited causeless mercy.
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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 Unlimited. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.