Category:Describing God's Form
Theme Analysis
A common misconception among less intelligent philosophers is that the Absolute Truth must be formless, or that if God has a form, it must be a temporary, material manifestation. Śrīla Prabhupāda vehemently refutes this impersonalist (Māyāvādī) illusion by pointing to the authorized descriptions of the Supreme Lord found throughout the Vedic literatures. The Vedas provide concrete, highly detailed descriptions of the Lord's various transcendental forms, including the localized Paramātmā measuring eight inches, the twelve distinct forms of Lord Viṣṇu, and the staggering universal form (virāṭ-rūpa) manifested for the materialists.
These descriptions are not products of human imagination or anthropomorphism. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that we cannot concoct the form of God; we must submissively accept the descriptions given in scriptures like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Brahma-saṁhitā. The form of the Lord is complete in eternity, cognizance, and bliss. When the Vedas occasionally describe the Lord as "formless," it simply means He possesses no mundane, material form. The actual, spiritual form of the Lord is exactly represented in the authorized arcā-vigraha (the Deity statue installed in the temple), allowing conditioned souls to focus their minds on absolute reality.
The process for realizing this transcendental form is aural reception. By hearing literature that is full of descriptions of the Lord's name, fame, and form, a neophyte devotee is cleansed of all material rubbish. If one reads and explains these authorized descriptions with great faith, their Kṛṣṇa consciousness gradually increases until the Lord's form is factually "televised" within their purified heart.
- The Reality of the Form: The Supreme Lord is not formless; He possesses an eternal, transcendental body that is completely distinct from mundane, material forms.
- Authorized Descriptions: We cannot imagine God's form; we must rely entirely on the concrete descriptions provided in authorized Vedic literatures.
- Rejecting Māyāvāda: Impersonalists who claim the Lord's form is a product of material goodness (māyā) are deeply mistaken and cannot achieve true purification.
- The Process of Realization: By faithfully hearing and repeating the scriptural descriptions of the Lord's form, the devotee's heart is cleansed, allowing them to perceive the Lord directly.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Describing God's Form - The Reality of the Transcendental Body.
Pages in category "Describing God's Form"
The following 41 pages are in this category, out of 41 total.
A
- A concrete description of the eternal form of the Lord is given here (in SB 3.28.1). The Lord's sole is depicted with distinctive lines resembling a thunderbolt, a flag, a lotus flower and a goad
- After aurally receiving such messages (the holy name and descriptions of the Lord's form, qualities, entourage and pastimes), one should memorize these vibrations and repeat them - kirtanam
- After describing the universal form of the Lord, Lord Brahma explained that his position and Lord Siva’s position are controlled by Lord Visnu
- As the universal elements are both within and without, similarly the Lord's name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage, etc., as they are described in the revealed scriptures, are factually being televised in the heart of the devotee
I
- I have already described the pastime and prakasa forms. Now please hear about the different personal expansions
- If one reads the description of this external form of the Lord with great faith or if one hears about it or explains it to others to propagate bhagavata-dharma, his faith & devotion in spiritual consciousness, Krsna consciousness, will gradually increase
- In that transcendental position, one can understand the SPG, Vasudeva, who in His subtler form is self-effulgent and beyond the modes of nature. O my (Pariksit's) lord, please describe vividly how that form, which covers the entire universe, is perceived
- In the eighteenth vilasa (of Hari-bhakti-vilasa) the different forms of Sri Visnu are described. The nineteenth vilasa discusses the establishment of the Deity and the rituals observed in bathing the Deity before installation
- In the original Islam the form is not accepted. That is Vedic description, form and formless. Formless means no material form and form means spiritual form, simultaneous
- It is clear from the available description of the body of the Lord (His universal form) that the form of the Lord is distinct from the forms of ordinary mundane conception
- It is definitely recommended here (in SB 3.28.13) that one concentrate his mind upon the form of Visnu. There are twelve different forms of Visnu, which are described in Teachings of Lord Caitanya
M
- Mayavadi sannyasis are impersonalist philosophers, and they describe the form of the Lord as maya, or false. How can one be purified by worshiping something false
- My (Sukadeva's) dear King (Pariksit), the body of the sisumara, as thus described, should be considered the external form of Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
O
- On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms and pastimes of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation - SB 1.5.11
- On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words
T
- That literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words
- The description of the transcendental form of the Lord is exactly represented in the arcā-vigraha, the statue in the temples
- The descriptions in verses 9-11 (SB 3.21) of the Lord in His transcendental, eternal form are understood to be descriptions from the authoritative Vedic version. These descriptions are certainly not the imagination of Kardama Muni
- The form of the Lord is described herein (SB 4.8.45). The Lord's face is perpetually very beautiful and pleasing in attitude. To the devotees who see Him, He appears never to be displeased, and He is always prepared to award benedictions to them
- The form of the unlimited eternal is sometimes conceived as the universal form, and in the Vedic literatures like the Upanisads the form of the limited eternal is vividly described
- The impersonalists recommend that one can arbitrarily concentrate one's mind on some form he imagines or which pleases him. But here it is said that the form which the Lord showed to Kardama Muni by His divine grace is described in the Vedic literature
- The Lord's name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage, etc., as they are described in the revealed scriptures or as performed in the Vaikunthalokas, far, far beyond the material cosmic manifestation, are factually being televised in the heart of the devotee
- The measurement of the localized Personality of Godhead is estimated to expand from the ring finger to the end of the thumb, more or less eight inches. The form of the Lord described in this verse (2.2.8) with distribution of different symbols
- The Patanjali system describes the form of the Lord as klesa-karma-vipakasayair aparamrstah purusa-visesa isvarah: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is a person who does not partake of a miserable material life
- The Personality of Godhead, speaking to Brahma, uses aham while describing His own transcendental form
- The tad-ekatma-rupa forms are also described in the Laghu-bhagavatamrta
- The transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is complete in eternity, cognizance and bliss. However, you describe this transcendental form as a product of material goodness
- The transcendental forms and pastimes of the Lord, as described in Bhagavad-gita, are difficult subject matters for those who are not devotees to understand. The Lord never reveals Himself to persons like the jnanis and yogis
- The word mayamayam, describing the Lord's form, should not be taken to mean illusion. Rather, the Lord's form is factual, and seeing this form is the result of perfect knowledge
- There are authorized descriptions of Visnu forms, and there are authorized representations of Deities in the temples
- They (materialists) are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, He is kind enough to demonstrate the virat feature of His transcendental form, and herein (SB 2.1.38) Srila Sukadeva Gosvami has vividly described this form of the Lord
- They (veda-vadi, or so-called strict followers of the Vedas) describe worship of the different forms or incarnations of the Lord as anthropomorphism
W
- We cannot concoct the form and attributes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We must simply accept the description given in Vedic literatures about the Lord's form and activities
- When the Lord is described as formless in the Vedic literatures, it is to be understood that all these forms, within the experience of universal knowledge, are different exhibitions of the Lord's transcendental potencies