Unchanging Reality of God's Remaining
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the Absolute Truth is never subjected to depletion or transformation. By studying his instructions, we can understand how the Supreme Lord remains complete despite unlimited emanations, how He remains aloof from the material creation, how He survives cosmic annihilation, and how He affectionately remains with His pure devotees.
The Complete and Undiminished Whole
In the material world, if we take something away from a source, that source diminishes. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead defies this logic; because He is absolute and complete (pūrṇam), He can expand into unlimited energies and still remain perfectly whole and unchanged.
- Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete by itself. Because He (the Personality of Godhead) is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance - Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad 5.1.
- How the Supreme Personality of Godhead remains as He is, never changing, is explained in the Isopanisad: purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate - Sri Isopanisad, Invocation.
- He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) always remains complete (Sri Isopanisad, Invocation). In our experience in the material world, if we have a bank balance of one million dollars, as we withdraw money from the bank the balance gradually diminishes until it becomes nil.
- By His inconceivable energies, the Supreme Absolute Truth can remain unchanged and yet produce this cosmic manifestation with all its living entities, just as touchstone can produce unlimited quantities of gold and yet remain unchanged.
Aloof from the Cosmic Manifestation
Although the Lord is the ultimate source of everything, He does not become entangled in His own creation. Śrīla Prabhupāda gives the example of the sky mixing with the air or a potter making a pot; the Lord creates and oversees the material world but remains eternally aloof from the modes of material nature.
- Although the Supreme Lord maintains everything created by His expansion of energy, He always remains separate. This is accepted even by Sankaracarya, the great advocate of the impersonal form of the Absolute.
- By His inconceivable power the Lord remains aloof from these hellish circumstances, just as the sky remains separate from the air although seemingly mixed with it.
- It is clearly stated here (in BG 9.10) that the Supreme Lord, although aloof from all the activities of the material world, remains the supreme director.
- The pot is produced under certain conditions of action and reaction of material energy, but the potter is not in the pot. In a similar way, the material creation is set up by the Lord, but He remains aloof.
Existing Beyond Annihilation
Everything within the material universe is temporary and doomed to eventually perish. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights that when the cosmic manifestation is entirely wound up and destroyed, the Supreme Lord alone remains in His eternal, spiritual form, proving His absolute supremacy.
- At that time (of cosmic annihilation), You (Krsna) alone remain, and You are known as Ananta Sesa-naga - SB 10.3.25.
- Devaki prayed - After the annihilation of the whole cosmic manifestation, You (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) alone remain with Your transcendental name, form, quality and paraphernalia.
- In the Vedic hymns it is stated that in the beginning there is only Visnu and that He alone remains at the end.
- The impersonalist's explanation of the word aham in the four verses of the original Bhagavatam - aham evasam evagre etc. - is refuted here (in SB 3.7.37). The Lord and His eternal associates remain after the dissolution.
The Constant Companion of the Soul
Conditioned souls are incredibly forgetful, changing bodies lifetime after lifetime and losing all memory of their past. Śrīla Prabhupāda assures us that the Lord is our supreme friend; He remains within the heart as the Paramātmā, silently witnessing our actions and patiently waiting for our return.
- After changing bodies, the living entity forgets his past deeds, but the Supersoul, as the knower of the past, present and future, remains the witness of all his activities.
- He (God as the Supersoul) remains with the jiva simply as sanction-giver and witness so that the living entity can receive the results of his activities, good or bad.
- The Supersoul is eternally the friend of the living entity and always remains with him.
- The living entity desires a particular type of material enjoyment, and thus the Lord supplies him with a body, which is like a machine. Just to keep him alive in that body, the Lord remains with him as the purusa - Ksirodakasayi Visnu.
Situated in the Supreme Abode
It is a paradox of spiritual physics that the Lord can be everywhere at once while simultaneously remaining in one place. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that through His inconceivable energies, the Supreme Lord pervades all universes, yet He eternally remains situated in Goloka Vṛndāvana enjoying His pastimes.
- The Lord always remains in Goloka, the topmost planet in the spiritual world. At the same time, He is all-pervading. This paradox is only possible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full of all opulences.
- The inconceivable energies of the Lord are spread throughout the creation. He is all-pervading, and by His energy He sustains all planetary systems, yet through His pleasure potency He remains situated in His personal abode known as Goloka.
- In each of His (God's) three features - Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan - the Lord is present everywhere in the material world. Yet He remains aloof, busy with His transcendental pastimes in His supreme abode.
- Demons cannot understand that God, by His multifarious potencies, can work so wonderfully that He can be present everywhere and still remain in His eternal abode, Goloka Vrndavana.
Eternally with His Pure Devotees
The most beautiful aspect of the Lord's character is His subservience to the love of His pure devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is so captivated by unalloyed bhakti that He chooses to remain eternally in the company of His devotees, sometimes even acting as their servant or doorman.
- Devotees like the Pandavas, the gopis, the cowherd boys, Yasoda, Nanda and all the inhabitants of Vrndavana do not need to practice conventional processes of meditation to attain the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for He remains with them through thick and thin.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead says: "I am not in Vaikuntha nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities." It is to be understood that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not leave the company of His devotees.
- The Lord said, "but from My side I have something for you. I shall remain always as an order carrier servant in your court." In this way the Lord became Bali Maharaja's doorman, and that was his return.
- The places are sanctified due to the presence of pure devotees; any place automatically becomes a place of pilgrimage if either the Lord or His pure devotee remains or resides there.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda profoundly establishes the absolute immutability of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In a material world characterized by constant flux, deterioration, and eventual annihilation, Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone remains the unchanging, complete whole (pūrṇam). Even after expanding into billions of universes and infinite living entities, the Lord's supreme balance is never depleted, nor is He ever contaminated by the material modes of nature He controls. When cosmic devastation wipes away all planets and demigods, the Supreme Lord alone remains in His original, spiritual splendor. Yet, despite this majestic supremacy and His eternal residence in Goloka Vṛndāvana, the Lord is never disconnected from His parts and parcels. Out of His causeless mercy, He remains as the Supersoul in the heart of every wandering conditioned soul, offering guidance and witness. And for His pure devotees, the Lord's remaining is an expression of pure, unadulterated love—He refuses to leave their side, preferring the sweet confinement of their devotion over the vastness of His own absolute independence.
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's Remaining. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.