The Universal Father - Understanding Our Eternal Relationship with God
In almost every spiritual tradition around the world, the Supreme Lord is addressed as the ultimate father. Śrīla Prabhupāda confirms this foundational truth but expands upon it with profound Vedic logic, explaining the vast implications of God's universal fatherhood and revealing how we can elevate our relationship with Him from one of dependency to one of pure, unmotivated love.
Seed-Giving Father of All Species
We are not products of random material combinations; we are spirit souls, eternal children of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord does not need physical interaction to create; He simply glances over material nature to impregnate her with the seeds of all living entities. Because we are His children, we naturally inherit His qualities. We possess a human form with two hands because our Supreme Father originally has two hands, and we possess minute free will because our Father possesses supreme independence.
- Every spirit soul is son of God, but materially we think somebody as father. But real father is God. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (14.4).
- The sruti mantras say that God impregnates material nature with the seeds of living beings simply by casting His glance at her. He does not need any other kind of intercourse with mother nature to beget the living beings in her womb and become their father.
- Because we are sons of God, therefore God has got two hands, you have got also two hands. Just like your father has got two hands and you have got two hands, so you are made according to the body of your father.
- Because you are son of God - God has got full independence, almighty - therefore you have acquired the quality of your father. You have got little independence. So God does not interfere with your little independence.
Father of the Lamb
Understanding God as the universal father drastically changes how we view other living entities. Śrīla Prabhupāda sternly warns that God is not only the father of human beings, but He is also the father of the animals, birds, and insects. Just as a human father would be devastated and outraged if his older child killed his younger child, the Supreme Father is deeply pained when humans slaughter animals. This revolt against the will of God inevitably brings severe punishment through the laws of material nature.
- As stated in Bhagavad-gita, every living entity - regardless of whether he be human, demigod, animal, bird, bee or whatever - is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord and the living entity are intimately related like father and son.
- God is not only your father, he's father of the lamb also. So if by your brute force you want to kill the poor lamb, then you'll be punished. This is natural. You have got your food, you produce your foodgrain and you eat.
- If we go on eating meat, then we revolt against the will of God, because God is the father of all living entities.
- When a man kills an animal, God, the affectionate father, is perturbed and is pained at heart. Thus the slaughterer of the animal is suitably punished by the material energy, just as a murderer is punished by the government through police action.
Most Affectionate Guardian
Despite our rebellion and our forgetfulness in this material prison house, the Lord's love for us never diminishes. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that God acts as the most affectionate guardian, kindly fulfilling even our childish, material desires while waiting for us to turn back to Him. In fact, the Supreme Father is always more eager to see His lost sons and daughters than we are to see Him.
- The Lord does appear before His devotee, for He is just like an affectionate father, who is more eager to see his son than the son is to see him. There is no contradiction in such a quantitative difference in affection.
- The almighty Lord, being very kind to the living entity, as the father is kind to the son, fulfills the living entity's desire for his childish satisfaction.
- Lord Ramacandra ruled His kingdom exactly as a father takes care of his children, and the citizens, being obliged to the good government of Lord Ramacandra, accepted the Lord as their father.
- Forgetting our father, forgetting our God, we are criminal within this material world. Therefore our only business is how to get out of this prison house and go back to home, back to Godhead.
Moving Beyond "Give Us Our Daily Bread"
While accepting God as our provider is a standard and pious religious step, it is not the perfection of spiritual life. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out a flaw in remaining stuck in the "God as a Father" mentality: children are constantly bothering their father, asking him to supply their necessities. The unique brilliance of Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that it encourages the devotee to accept God as their child. When God is viewed as a dependent child, the devotee no longer asks for anything; they only want to serve, give, and protect out of pure, selfless love.
- The Christian conception of God as the Supreme Father is not very perfect because if we conceive of God as a father, our position will be to take things from Him.
- Ordinary men want God as their father, but that is not very pleasing to Krsna because the son always bothers the father - Give me this, give me this, give me this.
- The conception of accepting God as child is better conception than to accept God as father, because from father we simply take away.
- One who is simply taking from father, "O God, give us our daily bread," and He is supplying, and eating and enjoying sense enjoyment, he is not real son. The real son is he who sacrifices his life for glorifying his father.
Conclusion
Recognizing God as our supreme father is the crucial first step out of material illusion. It establishes our eternal relationship with Him and obligates us to treat all of His children—humans and animals alike—with respect and compassion. However, to taste the highest sweetness of spiritual life, we must graduate from being demanding children who only seek their daily bread, to becoming selfless servants who sacrifice everything to glorify and please the Supreme Lord.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
The instructions of the pure devotee are our eternal guide. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God As a Father. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience the teachings in their direct, verbatim form.