Category:God's Assuming
Theme Analysis
The philosophical essence of this category focuses on the absolute freedom and omnipotence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in "assuming" countless transcendental forms. Śrīla Prabhupāda strictly refutes the Māyāvādī (impersonalist) theory that God is originally formless and only assumes a temporary material body when He descends. On the contrary, the Lord’s original form is eternal and spiritual, and whatever form He assumes—whether it be a human, a boar, a fish, a dwarf, or even a beautiful woman—is entirely composed of His internal spiritual potency. He assumes these forms for specific, divine purposes: to protect His devotees, to annihilate demons in ways that bypass their material calculations (as Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva did with Hiraṇyakaśipu), to salvage the Vedas, or to teach spiritual science. Like an expert actor who changes costumes but remains the same person, the Lord remains the absolute, unchanging Supreme Person regardless of the magnificent or unusual form He assumes.
- Refuting Impersonalism: The most dangerous accusation against the Lord is that He assumes a material body when He incarnates. The Lord’s forms are never products of material nature; they are manifestations of His eternal, internal energy (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha).
- Purposeful Incarnations: The Lord does not assume forms whimsically. He assumes specific forms for specific purposes: as Lord Varāha to lift the earth, as Lord Matsya to save the Vedas, and as Lord Vāmana to trick Bali Mahārāja.
- Outsmarting the Demons: The Lord assumes forms that perfectly frustrate the meticulous plans of godless demons. Hiraṇyakaśipu thought himself invincible, but the Lord assumed a form beyond his imagination (half-man, half-lion) to kill him.
- The Supreme Actor: Just as an actor assumes different roles without losing his identity, the Supreme Lord assumes millions of forms (advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam) while remaining the singular Absolute Truth.
- Assuming Different Colors: Throughout the four yugas, the Lord assumes different body colors to establish the specific religious principles for that age. In Kali-yuga, He assumes a golden color as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to distribute the saṅkīrtana movement.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God's Assuming - The Limitless Incarnations of the Supreme Lord.
Subcategories
This category has the following 6 subcategories, out of 6 total.
Pages in category "God's Assuming"
The following 96 pages are in this category, out of 96 total.
A
- A devotee does not imagine something whimsical about the form of the Lord, nor does he ever think that the Lord is impersonal and can assume a form desired by the nondevotee
- According to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord is full in six opulences & the rascal impersonalists says that the Lord has no form & the most dangerous accusation for the Lord that He assumes a material form when he descends
- According to the sastra, in Kali-yuga the Lord would assume a golden or yellow color and would distribute love of Krsna and the sankirtana movement
- All glories to Lord Kesava, who assumed the form of a dwarf. O Lord of the universe, who takes away everything inauspicious for the devotees! O wonderful Vamanadeva! You tricked the great demon Bali Maharaja by Your steps
- All Your pastimes and incarnations certainly appear for the welfare of all living entities. Therefore, my Lord, I wish to know the purpose for which You have assumed this form of a fish
- Although the Lord sometimes assumes a fierce appearance to kill the duskrtis, the devotees worship Him. The devotee always takes pleasure in worshiping the Lord and glorifying the Lord in any form, either pleasing or fierce
- Apparently helpless before him (Hiranyakasipu), Prahlada Maharaja called on the Lord, who immediately assumed the gigantic form of Nrsimhadeva, half-lion and half-man, to kill the gigantic demon
- As there were two incarnations of Varaha, there were also two incarnations of fish. The Lord appeared as one fish incarnation to save the Vedas by killing Hayagriva, and He assumed the other fish incarnation to show favor to King Satyavrata
- Assuming such various forms, You have always punished the demons and Danavas. We therefore pray that Your Lordship appear today as another incarnation, if You so desire, to kill the great demon Vrtrasura
B
- Because everything was inundated by water, to save the Vedas it was necessary for the Lord to assume the form of a fish
- Because of the Supreme Lord's assuming the form of a beautiful woman to arouse the lusty desires of the demons, a description of Her complete beauty is given here - in SB 8.8.41-46
- Because we cannot see the Supreme Personality of Godhead with these blunt eyes, He has assumed the form of a stone. This is called arca-murti. It is His mercy
- Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has no material body, but He can assume any kind of body by His supreme will
- Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has no material body, but He can assume any kind of body by His supreme will. That is made possible by His internal energy
- Brahma said: When the unlimitedly powerful Lord assumed the form of a boar as a pastime, just to lift the planet earth, which was drowned in the great ocean of the universe, Garbhodaka, the first demon appeared, and the Lord pierced him with His tusk
H
- He (God) is the same person, with the same potency, the same eternity and the same spiritual existence, but He can simultaneously assume various forms
- He (Lord Siva) wanted to see the recent incarnation of Mohini-murti, which Lord Visnu had assumed to distribute the nectar generated from the churning of the ocean of milk
- He (The Supreme Personality of Godhead) may assume the body of a human being, but that body is not material
- He is never to be misunderstood to be other than the Supreme Lord because of His assuming the form of a boar to lift the earth. That is the understanding of sages and great personalities like Brahma and other residents of the higher planetary system
- Here the Lord is significantly described as yajnavayava. One should not consider the Lord to have the body of an ordinary boar. He can assume any form, and He possesses all such forms eternally
- His (God's) body is always transcendental in all circumstances; therefore, the assumption of the form of a boar is only His pastime. His body is all Vedas, or transcendental
I
- I request You to conceal this four-armed form of Your Lordship, which holds the four symbols of Visnu - namely the conchshell, the disc, the club and the lotus flower - Devaki requested the Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child
- If one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He appears in different incarnations and understand that He has not assumed a material body but is present in His own eternal, spiritual form, then one can understand the nature of the PG
- If the Personality of Godhead assumes a gigantic body to accommodate the universes or the planets of a particular universe, there is no difference in the principle of assuming or accepting a particular type of body in terms of necessity
- In every yuga, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, assumes the form of Siddhas such as Sanaka to preach transcendental knowledge and He assumes the form of great saintly persons such as Yajnavalkya to teach the way of karma
- In spite of that, my Lord, I am praying to You to kindly fulfill my desire. May I please be informed how, in spite of Your transcendental form, You assume the mundane form, although You have no such form at all
- In the Age of Kali, Lord Krsna assumes a golden color and, accompanied by His personal devotees, introduces hari-nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra. By this process He delivers love for Krsna to the general populace
- In the creation of the material world the Supreme Lord undoubtedly assumes a gigantic body, and living entities also get bodies, big or small, according to necessity
- In the fifteenth incarnation, the Lord assumed the form of a dwarf-brahmana named Vamana
- In the maha-kalpa the Lord assumes the first purusa incarnation as Karanodakasayi Visnu with all the potencies of the mahat-tattva and the sixteen principles of creative matter and instruments
- In the presence of His father and mother, He assumed the form of Vamana, a brahmana-dwarf, a brahmacari, just like a theatrical actor
- In the Svayambhuva millennium He (God as a Boar) assumed the color white, and in the Caksusa millennium He assumed the color red. Vidura had already heard about one of them, and he proposed to hear about the other
- It has been described in many places before this that the Lord assumed a gigantic body, like that of Karanodakasayi Visnu, from whose hair pores innumerable universes have generated
- It is in order to exterminate wicked fellows like you and to show His grace to the virtuous that He assumes His various incarnations like Varaha
- It is not that the goddess of fortune, being female, is the most beautiful. The Lord is so beautiful that He can excel any beautiful goddess of fortune by assuming a female form
- It is stated here (in SB 3.20.8) that the Lord assumed the form of a boar by His own potency. His form is not actually the form of a conditioned soul
L
- Lord Ramacandra, whose lotus feet are worshiped by Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, had assumed the form of a human being. Thus He performed the funeral ceremony of Jatayu, who was killed by Ravana
- Lord Siva is described in the Brahma-samhita (BS 5.38): Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, assumes the form of Lord Siva for the special purpose of material transactions. I (Brahma) offer my obeisances at Lord Govinda's lotus feet
- Lord Visnu, by His mystic power, would assume a form that would captivate even Lord Siva. Therefore Lord Visnu was grave and at the same time was smiling
M
- May the Lord, who assumes the body of a great fish, protect me in the water from the fierce animals that are associates of the demigod Varuna. By expanding His illusory energy, the Lord assumed the form of the dwarf Vamana
- Mayavada philosophy says that the Lord is originally impersonal but assumes a human form and many other forms when He descends. Actually, however, He is originally like a human being, and the impersonal Brahman consists of the rays of His body
- My dear Lord, You have assumed this body in order to diminish the sinful activities of the fallen and to enrich their knowledge in devotion and liberation
- My only cause of fear from my brother Kamsa is due to Your appearance. My Lord Madhusudana, Kamsa may know that You are already born - Devaki requested the Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child
N
- Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beyond this vyakta-avyakta, manifested and unmanifested material nature. This is the chief qualification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead when He assumes a particular incarnation
- Nor do they (pure devotees) falsely think of themselves as one with God, or argue that there is no existence of God separately, or that there is no God at all, or that living beings are themselves God or that when He incarnates He assumes a material body
O
- O Lord, You assume incarnations for the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic manifestation, and therefore we all take shelter of Your lotus feet because they always award remembrance and courage to Your devotees
- O my Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who have assumed the form of a tortoise. You are the reservoir of all transcendental qualities, and being entirely untinged by matter, You are perfectly situated in pure goodness
- One gopis said, "His (Krsna's) teeth are reddish, and so it appears that He has assumed a feature of anger"
- One who thinks that the Supreme Lord assumes a material body is not intelligent. He has to learn more about the Lord's position
- Ordinarily the body of a hog is considered impure, but one should not consider that the hog incarnation assumed by the Lord is also impure. That form of the Lord is the personified Vedas and is transcendental
S
- Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya thus offered his prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who had now assumed the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu just to teach people how to develop knowledge, become detached, and become pure devotees of Krsna
- She (Devaki) requested the Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child
- Since He had assumed the form of a boar, He began to search out the earth by smelling, just like a hog. The Lord can perfectly play the part of any living entity
- So the conclusion is that although the Lord may seem to assume a material body when He takes birth, like an ordinary being, in fact He does not, for there is no difference between Him and His body. Thus He remains the Absolute Truth
- Such is the symptom (God has assumed the form of a boar. The planet earth rested on His tusks, and it appeared like the moon engraved with spots) of an incarnation of the Lord
- Sukadeva Gosvami said: When King Satyavrata spoke in this way, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who at the end of the yuga had assumed the form of a fish to benefit His devotee and enjoy His pastimes in the water of inundation, responded as follows
- Suta Gosvami continued: Vidura, the descendant of Bharata, was delighted to hear the story of the Lord, who, having assumed by His own divine potency the form of a boar, had enacted the sport of lifting the earth from the bottom of the ocean
T
- The adjustment is that the Lord, being bhakta-vatsala, or one who wants to please His devotees, assumes such features so that devotees like Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and other demigods may be pleased
- The demigods addressed the Lord: All obeisances unto You! You are the enjoyer of all sacrifices, and You have assumed the form of a boar, in pure goodness, for the purpose of maintaining the world
- The demoniac followers of Maharaja Bali said: "This Vamana is certainly not a brahmana but the best of cheaters, Lord Visnu. Assuming the form of a brahmana, He has covered His own form, and thus He is working for the interests of the demigods"
- The fragment of God, the living entity, may fall down into the material world, but the Supreme Lord (Acyuta) never falls down. Therefore this assumption that the Supreme Brahman assumes the form of jiva is not acceptable. BG 1972 purports
- The Lord (Maha-visnu), although lying in the Causal Ocean, came out of it, and dividing Himself as Hiranyagarbha, He entered into each universe and assumed the virat-rupa, with thousands of legs, arms, mouths, heads, etc
- The Lord assumed one fish incarnation to save the Vedas at the beginning of the Svayambhuva-manvantara, and at the end of the Caksusa-manvantara the Lord again assumed the form of a fish just to favor the great king named Satyavrata
- The Lord assumed the incarnation of Nrsimhadeva, and just to finish the enemy of the demigods, the Lord killed Hiranyakasipu in a manner beyond the demon's imagination. Materialistic plans of godless demons are always frustrated by the all-powerful Lord
- The Lord assumed the shape of a boar to kill the demon Hiranyaksa and pick up the earth from the Garbha Ocean. Thus He became adi-sukara, the original boar
- The Lord can assume any form He likes, and in all circumstances He is the cause of all causes. Since His form is transcendental, He is always the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as He is in the Causal Ocean in the form of Maha-visnu
- The Lord can assume any form He likes, and in all circumstances He is the cause of all causes. Since His form is transcendental, He is always the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as He is in the Causal Ocean in the form of Maha-Visnu
- The Lord descends either as Kapila or Rama, Nrsimha or Varaha, and whatever forms He assumes in the material world are all manifestations of His own personal internal energy. They are never forms of the material energy
- The Lord simultaneously assumed different bodily expansions exactly matching each and every princess
- The Lord, as maintainer of the whole creation of the material world assumed the gigantic form of a boar with a proportionate snout and picked up the earth from within the water of Garbhodaka
- The Lord, assumed the incarnation of half-man and half-lion (Lord Nrsimhadeva), which was beyond the imagination of a materialistic demon like Hiranyakasipu, and thus, keeping pace with the benediction of Brahmaji, the Lord killed him
- The Mayavadi philosophers think that although all these forms are assumed by the Lord just as the devotees desire to see Him, actually He is impersonal. From Brahma-samhita, however, we can understand that this is not so, for the Lord has multiforms
- The Personality of Godhead assumed the incarnation of Nrsimhadeva in order to vanquish the great fears of the demigods
- The Personality of Godhead Sri Rama assumed the form of a human being and appeared on the earth for the purpose of doing some pleasing work for the demigods or the administrative personalities to maintain the order of the universe
- The primeval Lord, being all-powerful, can do whatever He likes, and therefore His assuming the incarnation of a tortoise or a fish for serving a particular purpose is not at all astonishing
- The real understanding of sukla, rakta and krsna is as follows. The Lord is always transcendental, but for the sake of creation He assumes the color rakta as Lord Brahma
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: When the demons took away the jug of nectar, I assumed the form of a beautiful woman to bewilder them by directly cheating them and thus to act in the interest of the demigods
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, who can counteract any unfavorable situation, then assumed the form of an extremely beautiful woman
- The theory of the impersonalists and so-called yogis is that the Supreme Lord assumes a particular form when He comes in touch with maya, although actually He has no form
- The word natah is significant. An actor changes dress to play different parts, but is always the same man. Similarly, the Lord assumes many thousands and millions of forms (advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam adyam purana-purusam)
- Therefore please precisely describe all the activities and pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who is full of self-desire and who assumes all these activities by His internal potency
- This child formerly had three colors according to the prescribed color for different millenniums. Formerly He was white, red and yellow, and now He has assumed a blackish color
- This path of self-realization, which is difficult to understand, has now been lost in the course of time. Please know that I have assumed this body of Kapila to introduce and explain this philosophy to human society again
- This prayer (O lord, you are) is actually offered to Lord Visnu, the purusa, who in His incarnations as the guna-avataras assumes the names Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara
- Thus the Lord of the universes maintains all planets inhabited by demigods, men and lower animals. Assuming the roles of incarnations, He performs pastimes to reclaim those in the mode of pure goodness
- To destroy the demons, the Lord becomes angry, and therefore He assumes the form of Lord Siva. In summary, the SP of Godhead is always beyond the material qualities, and we should not be misled into thinking otherwise simply because of sense perception
- To help the demigods (churning the milk ocean) God assumed the incarnation of a gigantic tortoise, swimming in the milk ocean. At the same time, the mountain scratched His backbone as He was partially sleeping and thus relieved His itching sensation
W
- We should not forget that the potencies of the Almighty Lord are always the same and do not decrease because the Lord assumes the form of a lower animal
- When the Lord descends to this earth, He assumes a form by His own internal potency. The form of the Lord, therefore, can never consist of material energy
- When the Supreme Personality of Godhead assumed the form of the beautiful woman Mohini-murti, the demons were certainly captivated, but the demigods present were not