Category:God's Attributes
Theme Analysis
The philosophical essence of this category completely dismantles the impersonalist idea that the Absolute Truth is a void or a formless energy devoid of qualities. Śrīla Prabhupāda meticulously explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of unlimited, completely spiritual attributes (such as wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation). Because God is the absolute Transcendence, there is no difference between His body, His soul, His name, and His attributes; they are all identically spiritual. Since these attributes exist far beyond the material creation (the mahat-tattva), they cannot be perceived by our blunt material senses, nor can they be concocted through mental speculation. We must learn of them through authorized Vedic literatures. Furthermore, Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals a precise spiritual science regarding the distribution of these qualities: while the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa possesses one hundred percent of all attributes, the individual living entities (jīvas) can possess up to seventy-eight percent of these attributes in minute, partial quantities. Ultimately, the only way to realize and appreciate the Lord's unfathomable attributes is by engaging in unalloyed devotional service, particularly through the offenseless chanting of His holy names.
- The Absolute Equivalency: In the spiritual realm, there is no duality. The Lord's name, form, pastimes, and attributes are identical to the Lord Himself. To associate with His attributes is to associate directly with Him.
- Beyond Material Senses: The transcendental attributes of Nārāyaṇa cannot be understood through mundane observation or academic calculation. Our blunt material senses are entirely incapable of grasping spiritual qualities.
- Prohibition on Speculation: We cannot whimsically imagine or concoct the attributes of the Supreme Lord. We must humbly accept the descriptions provided by exalted authorities like Brahmā, Nārada, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
- The Proportion of Qualities: The Supreme Lord possesses all attributes in infinite fullness. The tiny conditioned souls (jīvas) possess up to seventy-eight percent of these attributes partially, while Lord Brahmā possesses that same seventy-eight percent in full.
- Revelation Through Devotion: One cannot understand the Lord's attributes without engaging in pure devotional service. Simply hearing and chanting about His attributes (puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana) purifies the heart and eventually reveals His absolute nature.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God's Attributes - The Limitless Qualities of the Supreme Person.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
Pages in category "God's Attributes"
The following 52 pages are in this category, out of 52 total.
A
- After hearing from the mouth of their master about the extraordinary glories of the Lord and His name, fame and attributes, the Yamadutas were struck with wonder. Since then, as soon as they see a devotee, they fear him and dare not look at him again
- All of His (God's) forms, names, pastimes, attributes, associates and energies are identical with Him because the Lord is the absolute Transcendence
- Although ritualistic atonement may free one from sinful reactions, it does not awaken devotional service, unlike the chanting of the Lord's names, which reminds one of the Lord's fame, qualities, attributes, pastimes and paraphernalia
- As confirmed in the Vedas, yato vaco nivartante/ aprapya manasa saha: the name, form, attributes and paraphernalia of the Lord cannot be ascertained through a material dictionary
B
- Being a reservoir of all auspicious attributes, Sri Advaita Acarya is all-auspicious for the world. His characteristics, activities and name are always auspicious
- Bhagavad-gita was imparted to the sun god and to Arjuna by Krsna, but nowhere is it mentioned that Bhagavad-gita was imparted to Krsna. Why? Complete knowledge means that He knows everything that is to be known. This is an attribute of God alone
- By offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy name of the Lord, one becomes acquainted with the transcendental form of the Lord, and then with the attributes of the Lord, and then with the transcendental nature of His pastimes
H
- He (the Absolute Truth) is causative, for He is the original designer of the cosmos. And He is locative: that is, everything is resting in His energy. These attributes are all clearly attributes of personality
- Hearing of the holy name gradually promotes one to the stage of hearing about His form, about His attributes, His pastimes and so on, and thus the necessity of the chanting of His glories develops successively
- His qualities, as the responsive PG to pure devotees and as impersonal Brahman to dry speculators - these & innumerable other uncommon acts & attributes are all mysteries, one aspect of which is presented in the scientific knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita
I
- I (Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami) have described my own story without reservations. The attributes of Lord Nityananda, making me like a madman, force me to write these things
- In the Visnu Purana (1.12.69) the Lord is addressed as follows: O Lord, You are the support of everything. The three attributes hladini, sandhini and samvit exist in You as one spiritual energy
- In the Visnu Purana it is said that all the qualities attributed to the Supreme Lord, such as knowledge, opulence, beauty, strength and influence, are known to be nondifferent from Him. This is also confirmed in the Padma Purana
- It is quite possible to have His association simply by following His instruction because the Lord and His instruction and the Lord and His name, fame, attributes and paraphernalia are all identical with Him, being absolute knowledge
O
- O Lord (Visnu), Your transcendental name and form are not ascertained by those who merely speculate on the path of imagination. Your name, form and attributes can be ascertained only through devotional service - SB 10.2.36
- One cannot have any clear conception of the Lord or His holy name, form, attributes, pastimes, etc., unless one is engaged in His transcendental loving service
- One serves the Lord by remembering His form, His attributes and pastimes. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that this is all possible simply by chanting the Lord's holy name because of the Lord's omnipotence
S
- Sanaka Muni addressed the Lord as follows, "Auspicious persons, who are fortunate enough to be engaged in glorifying Your attributes and who actually know what Your transcendental position is, do not even care to accept liberation offered by You"
- Simply by such glorification (of Supreme Lord's name, fame and attributes) one not only becomes purified, but also achieves the results of pious activities
- Since Narayana, Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is beyond the material creation, His form and attributes are not material
- 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
- Sri-visnoh sravane pariksid abhavad vaiyasakih kirtane (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.265). According to this verse, Maharaja Pariksit became liberated by fully concentrating his mind on hearing the Lord's holy name, attributes and pastimes
- Srila Madhvacarya describes the unlimited attributes of the Lord: Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate: (CC Madhya 13.65, purport) the Lord has innumerable potencies, all of which are unlimited
T
- The demons are always busy in trying to vanquish the Personality of Godhead, but factually as soon as the God appears, by either His transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, paraphernalia or variegatedness, the demon is at once vanquished
- The existence of Narayana, or the Personality of Godhead, is not within the jurisdiction of this mahat-tattva, and as such, the name, form, attributes, etc. of Narayana are beyond the jurisdiction of the material world
- The glories of Lord Nityananda's transcendental attributes are unfathomable. Even Lord Sesa, with His thousands of mouths, cannot find their limit
- The glory and attributes of Advaita Acarya are unlimited. How can the insignificant living entities fathom them?
- The innumerable forms of the Lord, such as Syamasundara, Narayana, Rama and Gaurasundara; the colors of these forms (white, red, yellow, cloudlike syama and others) - these and innumerable other uncommon acts and attributes are all mysteries
- The jivas, or the individual living beings in different statuses of life, possess up to the limit of seventy-eight percent of the attributes (of Krsna)
- The living beings, who are part-and-parcel entities of the Supreme Being, have all these attributes partially, up to the full strength of seventy-eight percent
- The Lord Himself and all His qualities, forms, pastimes and paraphernalia are also unlimited. Because Lord Visnu has unlimited attributes, He is known as Ananta
- The Lord is always present everywhere by His name, form, qualities, attributes and paraphernalia, and they all have equal power to protect the devotees
- The most perfect of living beings is Brahma, the supreme administrator of one universe. He possesses seventy-eight percent of the attributes in full
- The perfected living being, by developing seventy-eight percent of the above attributes in fullness, can enter the planet of Krsnaloka after leaving the present material body
- The real success in life is ante narayana-smrti - remembering the holy name, attributes, activities and form of the Lord at the time of death
- The Supreme Lord has unlimited, variegated potencies of different names, which exist within Him as autonomous attributes and provide Him full knowledge, power and pastimes
- The tapasya of chanting and glorifying the name, fame and attributes of the Lord is a very easy purifying process by which everyone can be happy. Therefore everyone who desires the ultimate cleansing of his heart must adopt this process
- The transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, etc., of the Personality of Godhead are impossible to understand with the present material senses
- There is evidence in the Vedic literature that worship may be saguna and nirguna-of the Supreme possessing or not possessing attributes. BG 1972 purports
- There is no distinction between His (the Absolute Truth's) body and His soul. His form, name, attributes and pastimes, therefore, are completely distinct from those of the material world
- There's a Sanskrit word of all-attraction, Krsna. This is the explanation of the attribute of God. Similarly, if you've got similar name which explains the attributes of God, that is also God's name. I think Lord Christ said "God, hallowed be Thy name."
- This is a sign of the Lord's supreme controlling power. Although He comes within the material atmosphere, maya cannot touch Him. Therefore, no material qualities can be attributed to Him in any degree
- Those who are advanced in spiritual knowledge see unity in diversity. For such advanced persons, the Lord's bodily decorations, His name, His fame, His attributes and forms and the weapons in His hand are manifestations of the strength of His potency
W
- We can have some conception of the Absolute Truth, His form and His attributes simply by reading the descriptions given in Vedic literatures and authoritative statements given by exalted personalities like Brahma, Narada, Sukadeva Gosvami and others
- 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
- We cannot imagine or concoct forms and attributes of the Lord
- We cannot understand what is Krsna, or God - His name, His form, His attributes, His pastimes . . . we cannot understand by these blunt material senses. Then how it is to be understood? After all, this human life is meant for understanding God
- We therefore pray unto You, O Lord, for You are very affectionate to Your devotees. Please help us remember You and utter Your holy names, attributes and activities, which can dispel all the reactions of our sinful lives