Category:Appreciating God

Theme Analysis

To appreciate God is the fundamental purpose of human life. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that a true human civilization is defined by its capacity to understand and appreciate the greatness of the Supreme Creator. Those who cannot appreciate God's wonderful jugglery behind material nature are described as deeply ignorant, driven by false prestige and experimental science that yields useless results. Because the Supreme Lord is purely transcendental, He cannot be perceived or appreciated by blunt, materially contaminated senses. True appreciation only awakens when one purifies the senses through submissive devotional service (bhakti) and complete surrender.

The development of this appreciation follows a distinct spiritual progression. According to authoritative Vedic scriptures, when a person first comes to the stage of appreciating Lord Viṣṇu, they are situated at the beginning of devotional service, known as śānta-rasa (neutrality). In this stage, the devotee is primarily struck by awe and veneration. They appreciate the Lord's immense creative energy, His localized Paramātmā feature, and His infinite greatness ("God is great"). However, Śrīla Prabhupāda points out a crucial theological distinction: simply appreciating the greatness of God is good, but it is not yet pure love.

As a devotee advances beyond śānta-rasa into servitude (dāsya) and higher mellows, their appreciation deepens and transforms. In places like Mathurā and Dvārakā, love for the Lord is mixed with an appreciation of His immense opulences. But in the highest realm of Vṛndāvana, the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is intentionally hidden. The cowherd boys and the gopīs do not relate to Kṛṣṇa by appreciating His Brahman effulgence or universal powers; they simply play with Him and love Him spontaneously. Thus, while historical figures like Bali Mahārāja beautifully appreciated the Lord's mercy in taking away his material opulences to make him a pure devotee, the ultimate goal of appreciating God is to cross the threshold of veneration and enter the eternal, blissful realm of unalloyed, intimate love.

• The Defect of Material Senses: Blunt material senses and experimental science cannot approach or appreciate the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He can only be realized through submissive bhakti.
• The Stage of Santa-rasa: The initial stage of devotional service is characterized by a profound appreciation of God's greatness, creative energy, and opulence, accompanied by awe and veneration.
• The Sign of Real Civilization: Śrīla Prabhupāda defines a true human civilization not by its technological competition, but by its dedicated process of developing the senses to appreciate God.
• Beyond Appreciation: While appreciating God's greatness is essential, it must eventually mature into spontaneous, intimate love, where awe and veneration are replaced by pure affection, as seen in Vṛndāvana.

• Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Appreciating God - From Awe and Veneration to Pure Love.