Category:God's Cheating
Theme Analysis
The philosophical essence of this category explores the seemingly contradictory concept of the Supreme Personality of Godhead engaging in cheating or deception. In the material world, cheating is considered a vice, born of greed and illusion. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that because God is the Absolute Truth, everything He does is completely absolute and perfect. Therefore, God's cheating is actually supreme goodness. The Lord cheats for two primary reasons: to bewilder the atheistic demons and to glorify His pure devotees. When the Lord appeared as Lord Buddha, He cheated the degraded, animal-killing populace by denying the existence of God while simultaneously compelling them to worship Him, the Supreme Lord. When He appeared as the enchanting Mohinī-mūrti, He cheated the demons out of the nectar of immortality to protect the universe. Conversely, when the Lord appeared as Vāmanadeva to cheat Bali Mahārāja out of his entire kingdom, it was not to punish him, but to elevate him to the highest platform of pure devotion, proving that even when the Lord seemingly deceives His devotee, it is the ultimate benediction.
- The Absolute Nature of Cheating: Because God is completely good and absolute, His cheating is also good. His divine trickery is compared to a loving father who cheats a foolish child solely for the child's ultimate benefit and protection.
- Cheating the Atheists: The Lord incarnates specifically to trick the atheistic class of men. Lord Buddha cheated the animal killers by denying God's existence, yet He cleverly established their worship of Him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- Bewildering the Demons: The Lord uses illusion to defeat those who are envious of Him and His devotees. As Mohinī-mūrti, the Lord used the disguise of a beautiful, sweet-talking woman to directly cheat the demons and distribute the nectar to the demigods.
- Glorifying the Devotee: When the Lord cheats a pure devotee, it is to increase their spiritual glory. Lord Vāmanadeva cheated Bali Mahārāja by asking for only three steps of land and then covering the entire universe, eternally establishing Bali Mahārāja's fame as a surrendered soul.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God's Cheating - The Absolute Trickery of the Supreme Lord.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
Pages in category "God's Cheating"
The following 23 pages are in this category, out of 23 total.
A
- Although Bali Maharaja was cheated (by Visnu), his reputation as a great devotee able to give anything and everything in charity is still glorified throughout the three worlds
- Although I cheated him in My incarnation as Vamana, taking away his dominions throughout the universe, and although I still criticized him for not fulfilling his promise, I have just now seen him in his kingdom, and he feelingly expressed his love for Me
B
- Bali Maharaja said to God: Because You were working on behalf of Your devotees, You do not regard this as cheating. Never mind. I cannot be considered a devotee
- Bali Maharaja said to God: On behalf of the demigods, You disguised Yourself to cheat me, saying that You wanted only three paces of land, but later You expanded Your body to such an extent that with two footsteps You covered the entire universe
- Being the SPG, Lord Rsabhadeva possessed a transcendental, spiritual body. Since the general public could not appreciate His behavior and mystic yoga practice, they began to disturb Him. To cheat them, He behaved like crows, cows and deer
- Buddha knew everything because He is incarnation of God. But He had to cheat the people in that way because they are not intelligent enough. Why not intelligent? Because they were killers of animals, they lost their intelligence
H
- He (Krsna) told them not to be overwhelmed and in this way pacified them. But when He failed to come back with Nanda Maharaja, it appeared that He either cheated them or could not keep His promise
- He (Lord Buddha) is the incarnation of God, but he is preaching amongst people who don't believe in God. So he is cheating in this way that, - Yes, there is no God. You hear me
- His (Lord Buddha's) business is to cheat the atheist class of men. That cheating is not cheating. It is for the good. Just like the father sometimes cheats the small child. You see? So that does not mean father is cheater
M
- Mohini-murti resembles Lord Buddha, who appeared sammohaya sura-dvisam (SB 1.3.24) - to cheat the asuras. The word sura-dvisam refers to those who are envious of the demigods or devotees
- My lord, surely I have been solidly cheated by the insurmountable illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for in spite of having obtained your association, which gives liberation from material bondage, I did not seek such liberation
S
- Sometimes an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cheats the atheists. Thus we see here (in SB 8.9.11) that although Mohini-murti was speaking factually to the asuras, the asuras took Her words to be facetious
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then said, "Nityananda has cheated Me. He has brought Me to the bank of the Ganges and told Me that it was the Yamuna"
- Sukracarya wanted to tell Bali Maharaja how he would be cheated by Lord Vamana. "You have promised three steps," he said. "But with only two steps, all your possessions will be finished. How then will you give Him a place for His third step"
T
- The Lord's purpose was to cheat him, Bali Maharaja took pleasure in understanding how the Lord will cheat His devotee to glorify the devotee's position
- 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, who was pretending to be a woman, warned the demons against putting so much faith in Her, for She had appeared as an attractive woman ultimately to cheat them
- The words vancayann upasancaraih indicate that the Lord's whole policy was to cheat the demons simply by speaking sweet words. The Lord's intention was to distribute the nectar only to the demigods