Understanding the Supreme Detachment of God's Renunciation
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, renunciation is not a practice but an eternal opulence. By studying his instructions, we can understand how the Lord is defined by His detachment, how He remains aloof from material contamination, and how His incarnations perfectly exhibit this absolute standard of renunciation.
The Definition of the Supreme
The Sanskrit word bhagavān precisely defines the Absolute Truth by His possession of six specific opulences. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that to be accepted as the Supreme Lord, one must simultaneously possess all wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation in full.
- The Sanskrit word Bhagavan is explained by the great authority, Parasara Muni, the father of Vyasadeva. The Supreme Personality who possesses all riches, all strength, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge & all renunciation is called Bhagavan.
- The word Bhagavan directly refers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full of six opulences: wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. He is the Personality of Godhead in different spiritual skies.
- In defining the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we say that He is full in all six opulences - wealth, fame, strength, influence, beauty and renunciation.
- Tasmin bindusare 'vatsid bhagavan kapilah kila. It is noteworthy that in this verse Kapiladeva is referred to as Bhagavan, which indicates that He possesses all wealth, fame, knowledge, beauty, strength and renunciation.
The Perfection of Detachment
Mundane renunciation implies giving up what little one has, but God's renunciation is entirely different. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights that the Supreme Lord owns all the wealth in existence and is served by thousands of goddesses of fortune, yet He remains completely unattached to any of it.
- God is complete in six opulences, namely wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Since He possesses His six opulences, the Personality of Godhead is the ultimate truth in absolute knowledge.
- He (God) is called renounced because He is not attached to anything in this material world; He is specifically attached to the spiritual world and the living entities there.
- Supreme Being means everything supreme. In richness He is supreme. In bodily strength He is supreme. His knowledge is supreme. In beauty He is supreme. In renunciation He is supreme. That is the description, definition of God.
- It is said in the Brahma-samhita that the Lord is always served by many hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune in His Vaikuntha planet, yet because of His attitude of renunciation of all opulences, He is not attached to any one of them.
Effortlessly Aloof
Because the Lord is perfectly renounced, He does not have to struggle to maintain His spiritual position. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Lord is never forced to exert physical effort, for He remains fully self-satisfied and aloof while His energies effortlessly manage the cosmic creation.
- The SG personally has nothing to do. How is this? He has not to strive for wealth, for all wealth is His; nor for knowledge, for all knowledge is His; nor for power, for all power is His; nor for beauty, fame or renunciation, for they are all His in full.
- The Lord is full by His different potencies of wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, and thus He has no reason for physical exertion like the conditioned soul.
- 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.
- He (God) is the source of everyone's opulence, and no one can equal Him in opulence. Being full of all opulences, namely wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, certainly He is the Supreme Person.
Beyond Material Affliction
The material energy easily bewilders conditioned souls, but it can never touch the Absolute Truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that the Lord's absolute renunciation places Him eternally beyond the spell of māyā and all material afflictions.
- Because the Lord possesses in full the six opulences of wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, He alone is beyond the spell of material nature.
- He (God) is transcendental to all material afflictions because He is full with all six opulences, namely wealth, power, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, and thus He is the master of the senses.
- They (those who are in the modes of passion and ignorance and goodness) are bewildered before the Supreme Lord in His personal feature, which possesses all beauty, opulence, knowledge, strength, fame and renunciation.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is in a transcendental position, above everything created within this material world. His opulence, His riches, His beauty, His wisdom, His knowledge, His renunciation and His reputation are all universally purifying.
Exhibiting Renunciation
When the Lord descends into the material world, He practically demonstrates His transcendental qualities. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that whether descending as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rāmacandra, or Nara-Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi, the Lord fully exhibits His matchless renunciation for the benefit of human society.
- Nara and Narayana Rsis exhibited His (God's) renunciation.
- These six potencies (opulence, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation) are fully exhibited by Sri Rama and Sri Krsna when They descend before human beings.
- Although He (Krsna) exhibited His potencies as the Personality of Godhead in the six opulences of wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, the foolish persons of the world could not understand that He was the Supreme Lord.
- The prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead always contains six basic opulences, one of which is renunciation.
Identical with the Lord
The qualities of the Absolute Truth are not distinct from His actual self. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Lord's six opulences, including His perfect renunciation, are entirely spiritual and non-different from His personal form.
- Six kinds of opulences, namely wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, are all originally the different attributes pertaining to the Absolute Personality of Godhead.
- The opulences of transcendental knowledge, strength, opulence, potency, beauty and renunciation are all identical with the Personality of Godhead.
- The incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Sesa or Ananta has unlimited strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty and renunciation.
- Ultimately the Supreme Divine Being is realized as the supreme all-attractive person (Krsna) with full and inconceivable potencies of opulence, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda masterfully elevates our understanding of God from a vague, formless energy to the supreme all-attractive person, perfectly defined by the word bhagavān. To be God means to be the absolute master of all wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation. The Lord's renunciation (vairāgya) is particularly profound because it is not the forced austerity of a yogi trying to escape material entanglement; rather, it is the effortless detachment of the Supreme Proprietor who owns everything yet is bound by nothing. Though He interacts with the material world and is served eternally by countless goddesses of fortune in Vaikuṇṭha, His absolute renunciation ensures He remains completely aloof and untouched by the modes of material nature. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations descend into this world, They perfectly exhibit this supreme detachment, proving Their supreme position. Thus, by deeply understanding the transcendental opulence of God's renunciation, the conditioned soul is purified of mundane attachments and naturally drawn to surrender at the lotus feet of the Absolute Truth.
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 Renunciation. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.