Category:God's Personal Features
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that while the Absolute Truth can be realized in three phases—impersonal Brahman, localized Paramatma, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead—the ultimate goal is the realization of God's personal features. These features are eternal, spiritual, and completely devoid of mundane material qualities. They cannot be understood through empiric philosophical research, mental speculation, or word jugglery. Instead, they are revealed exclusively through pure devotional service, or bhakti. Even great impersonalists ultimately became captivated by the personal features of the Supreme Lord once they received the mercy of pure association, proving that personal realization is the supreme climax of all spiritual inquiry.
- The Ultimate Goal of Transcendence: While the Absolute Truth is realized as impersonal Brahman and localized Paramatma, realizing the personal feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the highest spiritual achievement.
- Beyond Empiric Speculation: One cannot understand the personal features of the Lord through dry philosophical research, mental speculation, or a jugglery of words.
- Revealed Through Pure Devotion: The transcendental form and personal features of the Lord are only revealed to a sincere soul engaged in loving devotional service.
- The Transformation of Impersonalists: Even great impersonal philosophers like the four Kumaras and Sukadeva Gosvami were ultimately captivated by the personal features of the Lord after receiving pure spiritual association.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Realizing God's Personal Features Through Pure Bhakti.
Subcategories
This category has the following 10 subcategories, out of 10 total.
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G
K
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Pages in category "God's Personal Features"
The following 60 pages are in this category, out of 60 total.
A
- A hard worker can present a jugglery of words before an audience, but can never know the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His personal feature
- A person who is situated in Brahman realization, if he is put into association with devotees in pure devotional service, will immediately become attracted to the personal feature of the Lord
- After all, both the impersonal and the personal feature of the Supreme Lord are beyond our material conception
- All the forms of that Supreme Person are eternal. (Maha-varaha Purana) The Supreme Person has a form, with hands and legs and other personal features, but His hands and legs are not material
- Although impersonal Brahman, Paramatma Brahman and Brahman as the Supreme Person are all on the same transcendental platform, the personal feature of the Supreme Brahman is the ultimate goal and last word in transcendence
- An appreciation of the greatness of the Lord is called santa-rati. This is attachment not to the personal feature but to the impersonal feature. Generally, one in this stage is attached to the Paramatma feature of the Supreme
- As clearly stated here (in SB 8.5.45), asmat-karana-gocaram: the personal feature of the Lord can be directly perceived by our senses
B
- Because the Kumaras were sons of Brahma, they had the opportunity to learn Vedic knowledge from the disciplic succession, and therefore, in spite of their impersonalist beginnings, they became, in the end, direct seers of the personal feature of the Lord
- Because they (the four Kumaras) were sincerely searching for the Lord, they finally saw His personal feature directly, which corresponded with the description given by their father. They thus became fully satisfied
- Both the son and the father (Sukadeva Gosvami and Vyasadeva) were completely cognizant of transcendental knowledge in Brahman, and afterwards both of them became absorbed in the personal features of the Supreme Lord
- By His (God's) ultimate personal feature He is the object of transcendental loving service by His fortunate associates the pure devotees
- By His (Visnu's) all-pervading features He is everywhere present as the Supreme Truth, and in His personal feature He is always present in His transcendental abode of Goloka Vrndavana, where He displays His transcendental pastimes in all variegatedness
- By the empiric process of philosophical research, one can possibly distinguish the metaphysical subjects from the physical objects; but unless such seekers of truth can reach the personal feature of the AT, they gain only dry, impersonal knowledge of Him
- By the will of the Lord, the impersonalist, even after knowing the Brahman and Paramatma features of the Lord, remains ignorant of His eternal personal feature as ever-existent Narayana, transcendental to all material creation
E
- Even when the Lord’s transcendental existence is disguised by space, time and thought, however, pure devotees of the Supreme Lord can see Him in His personal features beyond space, time and thought
- Everything about the Lord's activities and personal features is revealed to the devotee only through his loving service attitude
H
- He Himself is not under the control of the external energy; in His personal feature He is completely devoid of the variegated manifestation of material qualities, and He is under no illusion of false identification
- His (God's) becoming the associate neighbor of the inhabitants of Vrndavana, as the son of Nanda-Yasoda, the friend of Sudama, Sridama and Madhumangala, or the lover of the damsels of Vrajabhumi, etc. That is part of His personal features
I
- Impersonal appreciation of the Absolute Truth is one-sided and incomplete. One should also accept the other side, the personal side - Bhagavan
- In all circumstances, the Lord and the living entities are individual personalities, and the personal features of both the Lord and living beings are never abolished
- In his prayers, Lord Siva concentrated upon the personal features of Parabrahman, described in personal terms as snigdha-pravrd-ghana-syamam - SB 4.24.45
- In the Bhagavad-gita the personal feature of the Supreme Lord is especially mentioned, so much so that the last portion of the great literature has emphatically stressed that one should surrender unto the Personality of Godhead to be saved
- In the Koran there are descriptions of fruitive activity, speculative knowledge, mystic power and union with the Supreme, but ultimately all this is refuted and the Lord's personal feature established, along with His devotional service
- In the Twentieth Chapter the Lord's meeting with Sanatana Gosvami is described. The Lord described the personal features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in depth
- It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita that the impersonal way of self-realization is more troublesome because it reaches the goal in an indirect way, although the impersonalist also becomes obsessed with the personal feature of the Lord after a long time
- It is due to their (conditioned entities') misguided way of living, complicated by sins and virtues. Some of them who are virtuous by deeds begin to reestablish the lost relation with God, but they are unable to understand the personal feature of God
K
- Kardama Muni fixed his mind on the Supreme Brahman and realized Him through bhakti, or devotional service. This indicates that he fixed his mind on the personal feature of the Lord
- King Pariksit's question was, Which is the ultimate target of Vedic knowledge - this concentration on the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth or concentration on the personal feature
N
- No one can be situated in the personal feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without being situated at least in santa-rasa
- Nonetheless He (God) keeps Himself distinct from such creation as the purnam (or complete), and so no one should wrongly think that His personal feature is not existent due to His impersonal unlimited expansions
O
- Once one is associated with impersonalists, he can never understand the personal feature of the Lord and His transcendental pastimes
- One should not be satisfied simply by understanding the Brahman feature of the Personality of Godhead. One must also know the Lord’s personal feature. That is complete understanding of the Absolute Truth
R
T
- The devotee has an advantage over the impersonalist philosopher. The impersonalist is doubtful about the personal feature of the Lord, and therefore he always tries to meditate upon something which is not objective
- The four sages Sanat-kumara, Sanatana, Sanandana & Sanaka are described as actually sincere devotees. Although they had heard from their father, Brahma, about the personal feature of the Lord, only the impersonal feature - Brahman - was revealed to them
- The impersonal expansion is a manifestation of His (God's) energy, and He is always in His personal feature despite His innumerable unlimited expansions of impersonal energies
- The impersonalist always tries to misrepresent the personal feature of the Lord, not knowing the science of this great knowledge, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is in pursuance of the Vedas and scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead
- The impersonalist philosophers of the Mayavada school accept only the Lord's impersonal activities and reject His personal feature
- The jnana-yoga system aims at the impersonal Brahman effulgence, and the hatha-yoga system aims at the localized personal aspect, the Paramatma feature of the Absolute Truth
- The Lord has both impersonal and personal features. The impersonalists have no idea of the personal feature of the Lord, but Lord Brahma and the members of his disciplic succession want to see the Lord in His personal form
- The Lord is not impersonal in His abode, which is always nirasta-kuhakam, as stated in the very beginning of the Bhagavatam. Therefore both the impersonal and personal features of the Lord are acceptable, as mentioned in the revealed scriptures
- The path of religion entails making progress on the path of spiritual advancement, ultimately reviving the eternal relation with Lord Visnu in His impersonal effulgence, His localized Paramatma feature, and ultimately His personal feature
- The personal features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are categorized in three cases - namely ablative, instrumental and locative
- The student who can enter into the heart of the sun planet is compared to those who realize the personal features of the Supreme Absolute Truth. BG 1972 purports
- The Vedic mantra maintains that the Absolute Truth has no legs and no hands and yet goes faster than all and accepts everything that is offered to Him in devotion. The latter statements definitely suggest the personal features of the Lord
- The Visnu Purana states, visnur brahma-svarupena svayam eva vyavasthitah: Brahman's real feature is Visnu, or the Supreme Brahman is Visnu. Svayam eva: that is His personal feature
- The whole matter is explained by the Lord Himself, and one who has no approach to the Lord in His personal feature can rarely understand the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam without being taught by the bhagavatas in the disciplic succession
- There (in the spiritual sky) the personal feature of Balarama called Maha-sankarsana is the shelter of the spiritual energy. He is the primary cause, the cause of all causes
- 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 (those who are in the modes of passion and ignorance and goodness) are bewildered before the Supreme Lord in His personal feature, which possesses all beauty, opulence, knowledge, strength, fame and renunciation. BG 1972 purports
- Those who are fortunate enough to have a view of the Lord from the front can realize His personal feature
- Those who are in the Vaisnava sampradaya of Brahma always want to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are eager to realize the Lord's personal feature, not the impersonal feature
- Those who are offenders or demons are never attracted to the Lord’s personal feature, even though they may visit the Lord’s temple many times
- Thus they viewed the Lord's transcendental body again and again, and so they finally achieved meditation on the Lord's personal feature
- To acquire such a qualification of God realization in the personal feature, the neophyte impersonalist is given a chance to realize the relation of the Lord in everything by the philosophy of pantheism