God Simultaneously - The Inconceivable Potencies of the Supreme
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that attempting to understand the Absolute Truth using limited human logic is a futile endeavor. In the material world, a person cannot be in two places at once, nor can an object be simultaneously identical to and different from its source. However, the Supreme Personality of Godhead possesses inconceivable potencies (acintya-śakti). By studying the Vedic literatures, we learn how the Lord effortlessly reconciles apparent contradictions, existing and acting simultaneously in ways that bewilder the mundane mind but enchant the pure devotees.
Simultaneously One and Different
The philosophy propagated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is known as acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, the principle of inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and difference. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord is the source of all energies, making Him one with the creation, yet He remains eternally aloof as the Supreme Person.
- For the Lord's existence there is no cause, for He is the cause of everything. He is in everything, He is expanded in everything, but He is not everything. He is acintya-bhedabheda, simultaneously one and different.
- The Vaisnavas following Caitanya stress the doctrine of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, which states that the Supreme Lord, being the cause and effect of everything, is inconceivably, simultaneously one with His manifestations of energy and different from them.
- Unless we accept the Absolute Truth as acintya-bhedabheda, simultaneously one and different, we cannot have a clear conception of the Absolute Truth.
- The whole creation is the Lord Himself, and the creation is also nondifferent from Him, but simultaneously He, as the original Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, is aloof from the created manifestation.
Localized and All-Pervading
Materialistic scientists and philosophers cannot conceive how God can have a personal abode while simultaneously managing the entire cosmos. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Lord never leaves His eternal planet, yet by His supreme potencies, He is present everywhere.
- Although Govinda is always present in His abode, He is simultaneously present everywhere. Nothing is unknown to Him, and nothing can be hidden from Him.
- It is very difficult to conceive that the Lord can be simultaneously localized and all-pervasive, because the materialistic philosophers and scientists think of everything in terms of their own experience.
- The Lord's omnipotency is displayed by His simultaneous presence in every place. He is present always in His eternal abode Goloka Vrndavana, and still He is present in everyone's heart and even within every invisible atom.
- The Lord is simultaneously both in Vaikuntha and everywhere within and without Vaikuntha.
Personal and Impersonal
Philosophers often debate whether God is a person or a formless energy. Śrīla Prabhupāda resolves this debate by demonstrating that the Supreme Lord perfectly harmonizes both features, existing as the ultimate person while expanding His impersonal energy throughout the universe.
- He is simultaneously personal and impersonal by His inconceivable potency, or He is the one without a second, displaying complete unity in a diversity of material and spiritual manifestations.
- One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction.
- Since His body is the complete whole of everything that be, one cannot assert that He is impersonal only. On the contrary, the perfect description of the Lord holds that He is both impersonal and personal simultaneously.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His original form, has not entered everything, but in His impersonal form He has entered. Thus He has entered and not entered simultaneously.
Killing Demons and Saving Devotees
The Supreme Lord is the master of supreme efficiency. When He descends to the material world, He does not need to perform separate actions to achieve different goals. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that the Lord's single action simultaneously delivers the pious and destroys the wicked.
- The Lord can fulfill many purposes through one action. Thus the killing of Hiranyakasipu and the saving of Prahlada were enacted simultaneously to prove the truthfulness of the Lord's devotee and the fidelity of the Lord Himself to His own purpose.
- When His incarnation is present on this planet or in this universe, the Lord kills the demons and protects His devotees simultaneously. Sometimes Visnu appears in His person as Lord Krsna or Lord Rama. All of these appearances are mentioned in the sastras.
- By such transcendental activities the Lord simultaneously becomes free from the charge of partiality and exhibits His pleasure with the devotees.
- The virat-rupa manifestation of the Lord is simultaneously a challenge to the atheist and a favor for the asuras.
Conclusion
A true understanding of the Absolute Truth requires one to step beyond the restrictive boundaries of mundane logic and accept the authorized statements of the Vedic literature. Śrīla Prabhupāda systematically establishes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master of inconceivable potencies. He effortlessly reconciles all dualities, existing simultaneously as the localized Supreme Person playing in His spiritual abode and the all-pervading Supersoul within every atom. He is simultaneously the personal source of all opulence and the impersonal Brahman effulgence. Following the profound philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, devotees understand that the Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His entire creation. Even His actions are multidimensional, as a single blow from His transcendental hands can simultaneously annihilate an envious demon and offer supreme loving protection to a surrendered devotee. By embracing these simultaneous truths, a sincere soul bypasses the confusion of material speculation and perfectly realizes the unlimited majesty of the Supreme Lord.
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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 Simultaneously. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.