Category:Becoming One
Theme Analysis
This category addresses the philosophical controversy regarding the soul's ultimate destination. The concept of "becoming one" with the Absolute is central to many spiritual traditions, particularly the impersonal (Māyāvāda) school, which posits that liberation means merging into the Supreme like a river into the ocean. Śrīla Prabhupāda refutes this idea of losing individuality, explaining that the soul is eternally individual. Instead, he redefines "becoming one" as having a unity of interest. Just as a green bird enters a green tree but retains its identity to enjoy the fruits, the devotee enters the spiritual atmosphere to serve Kṛṣṇa, aligning their will perfectly with His.
- The Impersonalist View: The Māyāvādīs believe that ultimately the knower, the known, and knowledge become one homogeneous spirit. They use the analogy of a pot breaking, where the inner and outer sky merge. Śrīla Prabhupāda argues that this philosophy leads to a spiritual suicide where the "self" is lost.
- The Vaisnava View: Real oneness is not the destruction of individuality but the harmony of desire. "When our interest becomes one," Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, that is true oneness. The devotee does not act for a separate interest but acts solely for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction.
- The Green Bird Analogy: To counter the "river to ocean" analogy, Śrīla Prabhupāda uses the "green bird in a green tree" analogy. The bird appears to merge with the tree's color, but it retains its individuality to taste the fruits. Similarly, the soul enters the spiritual world to taste the nectar of service (bhakti-rasa), not to become void.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: What It Actually Means to Become One with God.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
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Pages in category "Becoming One"
The following 44 pages are in this category, out of 44 total.
1
A
- A father says, - I have begotten you separately to enjoy yourself. You remain separate, and I remain separate, and in this way we will enjoy. Now you are asking to become one with me. What is this nonsense
- Although Mayavadis may be honored at first as very learned scholars, ultimately they descend to physical activities of politics, social work, etc. Instead of becoming one with the Supreme Lord, they again become one with these material activities
O
- One can enter into the abode of the Supreme Lord in his individuality to engage in His association and render service unto Him. For instance, a green bird enters a green tree not to become one with the tree but to enjoy the fruits of the tree. BG 1972 p
- Oneness does not mean void, no. Oneness means when our interest becomes one. Real oneness means to be interested in Krsna. That is oneness. Other oneness will not stand
- Outside the pot there is sky, and within the pot there is sky. The separation is only due to the wall of the pot. When the pot is broken, the inside and outside become one. However, this example does not properly apply to the soul
S
- So taste of different classes are different. But one thing is that in whichever class we may belong, if you take to Krsna consciousness, then we become one
- Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a great acarya, maintained that all forms of material knowledge are merely external features of the illusory energy and that by culturing them one becomes no better than an ass. This same principle is found here in Isopanisad
T
- The devotee always desires to go back home, back to Godhead, just to become one of the associates of the Lord
- The devotee does not see anything separate between his own interests and those of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Both interests become one, for the devotee does not act for a separate interest
- The first sinful will of the living entity is to become the Lord, and the consequent will of the Lord is that the living entity forget his factual life and thus dream of the land of utopia where he may become one like the Lord
- The individual soul and the Supersoul do not become one, nor do they merge with matter
- The Lord says, "They do not aspire after the five liberated stages, which are 1) to be one with Me, 2) to achieve residence on My planet, 3) to have My opulences, 4) to possess bodily features similar to Mine and 5) to gain personal association with Me"
- The Mayavadi philosophers consider ananda-maya to be the state of being merged in the Supreme. To them, ananda-maya means that the Supersoul and the individual soul become one
- The Mayavadi philosophers' position is that at the ultimate issue the individual is lost, everything becomes one, and there is no distinction between the knower, the knowable and knowledge
- The Mayavadi theory is that after liberation everyone becomes one, one lump sum... What is called? Homogeneous spirit. No. Then Krsna is false. The Mayavadi theory accepted, that we become one lump sum
- The monists say that at the ultimate stage these three items (the knower, the knowable and the process of knowing) become one, but the devotees do not accept this. BG 1972 purports
- The senses can then become uncontaminated, being constantly in touch with bhakti-rasa. When the purified senses are employed in the service of the Lord, one becomes situated in bhakti-rasa life
- The theory of monism is very difficult to apply in this case (BG 2.24), because the individual soul is never expected to become one homogeneously. BG 1972 purports
- There are two kinds of devotees of Lord Siva: one class is the gross materialist seeking only bodily comforts from Lord Siva, and the other class desires to become one with him
- There is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause
- There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Srimad-Bhagavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society
- They (class of devotees of Lord Siva, who desire to become one with him) are mostly impersonalists and prefer to chant sivo'ham, "I am Siva," or "After liberation I shall become one with Lord Siva"
- They say ultimately the knower, knowable and the known becomes one. That is their philosophy. Monists. There is no more knower, no knowable, the knower... Simply knowledge. They say simply knowledge. Oneness
W
- When a green bird enters a green tree it does not become one with the tree: it retains its identity as a bird, although it appears to merge with the greenness of the tree
- When the pot breaks, the sky inside becomes one with the sky outside, and so the impersonalists say that the living being becomes one with God. This is their argument, but Madhvacarya says that such an argument is put forward by the lowest class of men
- When two birds enter a tree, one may foolishly think that the birds become one or merge with the tree, but actually they do not. Rather, each bird keeps its individual identity