Category:God's Power
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda expounds upon the unlimited, inconceivable, and absolute nature of God's power. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the source of all power, possessing the ability to create, maintain, and dissolve the entire cosmic manifestation simply by His will. Unlike the conditioned souls, demigods, or even great mystics whose powers are minute and temporary, God's power is unlimited and eternal. He displays this power in various ways—from empowering His incarnations and pure devotees to effortlessly floating stones on water. Mundane scientists and atheists who attempt to imitate or defy this power are simply bewildered by māyā, for the Lord's power is completely beyond the estimation of any conditioned human brain.
- The Inconceivable Magnitude: The Supreme Lord’s abilities completely transcend human calculation, rendering all attempts to measure His omnipotence by mathematical or scientific means futile.
- The Display of Supreme Authority: Whether acting as an ordinary human child or incarnating as Lord Rāmacandra, the Supreme Lord effortlessly exhibits His godly powers to protect His devotees and bewilder the atheists.
- Empowering the Subordinate Entities: All power seen in the material world, including the abilities of great demigods like Brahmā and Śiva, or empowered incarnations like King Pṛthu, is simply a fractional delegation of the Lord's supreme energy.
- The Ultimate Shelter: By accepting and taking shelter of the unlimited power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the conditioned soul is freed from illusion and protected from all material calamities.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Understanding the Unlimited Manifestations of God's Power.
Subcategories
This category has the following 24 subcategories, out of 24 total.
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Pages in category "God's Power"
The following 123 pages are in this category, out of 123 total.
A
- A common brain in the conditioned state cannot conceive of how He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) is the master of both manifest and potential powers, and how contradictory potencies can abide in Him
- All the sages who were assembled there also praised the decision of Maharaja Pariksit and they expressed their approval by saying, "Very good." Naturally the sages are inclined to do good to common men, for they have all the qualitative powers of the Lord
- All this was possible by the unlimited power of the Lord, and therefore the Lord is described here as aprameya, for not even the best human brain can estimate His powers and potencies by mathematical calculation
- Although Krsna sometimes plays like an ordinary person, in fact He is not ordinary, and whenever necessary He displays the powers of God
- Although Maharaja Prthu was simply enthroned on the royal seat and was not at that time exhibiting his godly powers, the reciters like the suta, the magadha and the vandi understood that King Prthu was an incarnation of God
- Although the modes of material nature are entrusted to different manifestations like Brahma, Visnu and Siva, each of whom is particularly invested with different kinds of power, the Supreme Lord is completely aloof from such activities
- As already explained, Lord Visnu is the controller of maya. How, then, can He associate with maya? The conclusion is that the incarnation of Lord Siva or Lord Brahma indicates the absence of the supreme power of Visnu
- As far as Prthu Maharaja is concerned, it is indicated that his ruling power would extend all over the world. The Himalaya Mountains, from which the sunrise is first seen, are called udayacala or udayadri
- As far as the saktyavesa-avataras are concerned, they include King Prthu (the incarnation of administrative power), and Parasurama (the incarnation who subdues evil principles)
- As stated here (in SB 9.15.15), rajas-tamo-vrtam, bharam abrahmanyam: when the ruling class is influenced by the lower modes of nature, namely ignorance and passion, it becomes a burden to the world and must then be annihilated by superior power
- As we have discussed several times, it is to be understood that by the supremely powerful potency of the Lord, as described by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, everything is possible
B
- Balarama showed His power in such a way that all of Hastinapura trembled and would have been vanquished as if by a great earthquake. Then the matter was settled, and Samba married Duryodhana's daughter
- Because the living entity is the minute particle of God, mamaivamso jiva-bhutah (BG 15.7), therefore his intelligence, his power, is also very minute. But God's power is unlimited. By unlimited power Krsna knows the past, future and present, everything
- Being cursed by the brahmanas, the same two associates took birth again as Kumbhakarna and the ten-headed Ravana. These two Raksasas were killed by Lord Ramacandra's extraordinary power
- Brahma did not see Krsna as catur-bhuja, the opulent Narayana; rather, he simply saw an innocent boy. Nonetheless, he could understand that although Krsna was not demonstrating His power, He was the same Supreme person
- Brahma's stealing of calves & boys from Krsna may be a wonderful display of mystic power, but when Krsna exhibited His expansive power in so many calves & boys and maintained them without effort, Brahma could understand that his power was insignificant
- Brahma, Sambhu, Surya and Indra are all merely products of the power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is also true of the many other demigods whose names are not mentioned here - in the smrti Vedic literature
- By His appearance within the womb, the Lord encouraged the child (Pariksit) and gave him complete protection in a new body by His omnipotency. By His power of omnipresence He was present both inside and outside of Uttara and other members of the Pandavas
- By the power of the effulgence of the visnu-murtis, Lord Brahma, his eleven senses jolted by astonishment and stunned by transcendental bliss, became silent, just like a child's clay doll in the presence of the village deity - 10.13.56
- By their mercy, one can sharpen the sword of knowledge, and with the power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's mercy one must then conquer the enemies mentioned above
D
- Demigod worhsip by the general populace is also advised in the Vedic literature just so people can accept the superior power of God. The demigods are servants of the Lord deputed to look after the management of various activities of universal affairs
- Different persons, societies and communities, etc., worship some of the potent manifestations of the Lord, wrongly accepting the powerful object as God
- DS is so powerful that even if one falls down from the exalted position of a brahmana through sexual indulgence, he can be saved from all calamities if he chants the holy name of the Lord. This is the extraordinary power of the Lord's holy name
E
- Electrified by the power of the Lord, the material nature at once creates innumerable universes, just as in due course a tree decorates itself with innumerable grown fruits
- Even if one can travel all over the universe and show wonderful feats like Kardama Muni, he cannot be compared to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose power and inconceivable energy can never be attained by any conditioned or liberated soul
- Examples of direct or saksad-avataras are the Sesa incarnation and the Ananta incarnation. In Ananta the power for sustaining all planets is invested, and in the Sesa incarnation the power for serving the Supreme Lord is invested
F
- Fighting is always taking place between the demons and the power of the Supreme Personality. Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam - BG 4.8
- For one who does not understand the power of the Supreme PG or His diverse energies because of not knowing the relationship between the source of the energies and the energies themselves, there is always a chance of error, which is known as vivarta
G
- God is also a living being. That is said in the Oxford Dictionary. God means, "supreme being." So we are all beings, and God is the Supreme Being. We are limited by our power; God is unlimited by His power
- Gradation. Living entities, they are also parts and parcels of God. Siva is also part and parcel of God. Visnu is also part and parcel of God. But there are degrees of power
- Great asuras like Ravana, Hiranyakasipu, Kamsa, and others who were very powerful living entities were all killed by the Personality of Godhead. And the almighty Vasudeva has empowered His name with the powers of His personal Self
H
- He (Akrura) further informed Satadhanva, "Krsna and Balarama are so powerful that simply by willing They create, maintain and dissolve the whole cosmic manifestation"
- He (God) does not favor either of the unwanted administrators, but by His potential power He creates hostility between such unwanted administrators, as the air creates fire in the forest by the friction of the bamboos
- He (God) is above all; no one is equal to or greater than Him. Nor can anyone reach His level of perfection in any of the above powers by any amount of penance or yogic demonstrations. The yogis are dependent on His mercy
- He (God) is transcendental to all material afflictions because He is full with all six opulences, namely wealth, power, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, and thus He is the master of the senses
- He (Lord Ramacandra) made the stones even within this earth to be weightless and prepared a stone bridge on the sea without any supporting pillar. That is the display of the power of God
- He did not need the help of the earthly planet. Being the incarnation of Lord Visnu, Prthu Maharaja possessed the power of Sankarsana, which is explained by the scientists as the power of gravitation
- He is the best of all living entities, the controller of the three modes of material nature. By His own power, He creates this cosmic manifestation, maintains it and annihilates it also
- His (the Lord's) seeing power existed before the material creation; therefore His body is not material. His thinking, feeling and acting are all transcendental
- How is this (no longer obliged to anyone) possible? By almighty God's power. A man may be condemned to death, but if a president or a king excuses him, he is saved
I
- I (Sukadeva Gosvami) shall describe the uncommon activities He (Lord Vamanadeva) performed, His qualities, His power and how He took birth from the womb of Aditi
- I know that my father, at the time of his death, had already been purified by Your glance upon him, but because of his ignorance of Your power & supremacy, he was unnecessarily angry at You, falsely thinking that You were the killer of his brother
- I thank you very much for your appreciation of my association. This association is disciplic and as such all thanks are due to Lord Krishna Who infuses His powers through the bona fide disciplic succession
- "I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is impersonal Brahman,i.e, absolute, complete, unlimited & displays varieties of countless planets, in millions of universes."
- I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited - BS 5.40
- If a man knows swimming he can stay up. So if this much power has a man, what to speak of God
- If they become so dull-headed, then God's power will make him a tree: Stand here. Stand up here for three thousand years. That's all. You are so dull-headed that you have no sense, so become a tree so that even if you are cut, you cannot protest
- In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami says that as soon as one accepts the inconceivable potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, no great philosopher or scientist can put forward any thesis to contradict the Lord’s power
- In the eighteenth incarnation, the Lord appeared as King Rama. In order to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He exhibited superhuman powers by controlling the Indian Ocean & then killing the atheist Ravana, who was on the other side of the sea
- In the Upanisads it is said that, "When God sees, you can see." So your seeing is subordinate to the seeing power of God
- In this verse (in SB 4.19.3) the word saksat is significant. Prthu Maharaja was a saktyavesa-avatara incarnation of Lord Visnu. Actually Prthu Maharaja was a living entity, but he acquired specific powers from Lord Visnu
- It is fashionable for materialistic persons to compete with the power of God. When so-called scientists try to manufacture living entities in their laboratories, their only purpose is to defy the talent and ability of the SPG. This is called illusion
- It is foretold herein (SB 4.16.8) that if there would be a scarcity of rain, King Prthu would manage to counteract the deficiency by virtue of his godly powers. Such powers were also exhibited by Lord Krsna when He was present in Vrndavana
- It is not possible for us to imagine the breathing power of Maha-Visnu, who is but a partial manifestation of Lord Nityananda. This the author of the Caitanya-caritamrta explains in the ninth verse - CC Intro
- It is said in the Bible, "Man is made after the image of God." So God has got two hands, two legs, exactly. But He is the omnipotent, almighty. Our power is limited; His power is unlimited. Otherwise, He has got form
L
- Lord Ramacandra constructed a bridge over the water with stone by making the stone float. This is proof of God's uncommonly wonderful power
- Lord Siva holds almost all the powers of Lord Visnu, and he is also above the qualities of the living entity, but he is not exactly like Visnu, just as yogurt, although transformed milk, is not exactly like milk
- Lord Siva was already aware of the supreme power of Lord Visnu, but when he was actually put into bewilderment, he felt proud to have such an exalted master
- Lord Siva was supposed to be above all this attraction (between man and woman), but he was victimized by the captivating power of Lord Visnu
- Lord Visnu activates material nature by the power of His glance, and then the ironlike material nature becomes a material-supplying agent just as iron made red-hot becomes a burning agent
- Lord Visnu is the original personal expansion of Krsna, and Krsna is the original source of all incarnations. As far as power is concerned, Lord Visnu is as powerful as Lord Krsna because He possesses all the opulences
- Lord Visnu, the Supreme, cannot exhibit His power everywhere without His principal energy
M
- Mahat means bigger and more powerful, and nunam means there are less powerful. So everyone is less powerful than God. Then why don't you serve God? That is the perfection
- Manifesting a full effulgence and a fearsome countenance, Lord Nrsimha, being very angry and finding no contestant to face His power and opulence, then sat down in the assembly hall on the excellent throne of the king
- Material senses cannot have any estimation of the Supreme Lord, but by His inconceivable power, the Lord can incarnate Himself to the sense perception of the conditioned souls in a suitable manner through the agency of matter
- Monarchy was formerly present in every country, but because the kings rebelled against God and violated His laws, because they tried to usurp the power of God and did not act as His representatives, the monarchies of the world have nearly all disappeared
O
- One who has limited senses cannot believe that the Lord can eat by His transcendental power of hearing and can perform the act of sex life simply by seeing. The controlled living entity cannot even dream of such sense activities in his conditional life
- Out of His immensely charitable disposition He can award some temporary powers to the yogis because of the yogis hankering after them
S
- Since the argument (about Samba's release) was not settled, Balarama showed His power in such a way that all of Hastinapura trembled and would have been vanquished as if by a great earthquake
- So even though we have got all the qualities of God - not all, certain percentage, say seventy-eight percent - in minute quantity. Just like God has creative power, we have got also creative power. We have created the 747 flying machine
- Sometimes He appears as a saktyavesa-avatara like Lord Buddha. As explained before, these saktyavesa-avataras are incarnations of Visnu's power invested in a living entity
- Sometimes the Lord invests His power to rule in a king like Prthu and enables such a king to kill rogues and miscreants. He also invests His power in incarnations like Parasurama
T
- That is the special prerogative power of Lord Visnu. He can deliver anyone, in any condition of life. Prabhavisnave. That is extra, extraordinary, inconceivable power
- The conception of God as some ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman can be reached by persons who are in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental position
- The confectioner, who is always manufacturing sweetmeats, has very little desire to eat them; similarly, the Lord, by His pleasure potential powers, can produce innumerable spiritual beauties and not be the least attracted
- The cowherd men and women could not understand that the all-powerful Personality of Godhead was lying there as a baby and that He could do anything. Both the possible and impossible were in His power
- The devotees are also yogesvaras by the unlimited power of the Lord, just as a child is powerful by the strength of the parents. They do not try to protect themselves by any artificial means, but are saved by the mercy of the parents
- The direct Lords of the living beings are the purusa incarnations. But Your opulence and power are more exalted than Theirs
- The extension of power by the Lord and the Lord Himself personally are one in one sense, but at the same time the mahat-tattva is different from the Lord
- The glancing power of the Lord agitates the entire cosmic energy, and thus its actions begin at once
- The great sages said: The male is a plenary expansion of the power of Lord Visnu, who maintains the entire universe, and the female is a plenary expansion of the goddess of fortune, who is never separated from the Lord
- The Lord has the power to protect. Of the three deities Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara, the first has the power to create, the second has the power to protect, and the third has the power to destroy
- The Lord infuses the material ingredients with His own creative potency. Then, by the power of the Lord, creation takes place
- 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 Lord is within everything, and He creates everything by His different energies. Through His inconceivable powers He can appear at any place in order to favor His sincere devotee
- The Lord's lotus feet are described here (in SB 4.21.33) as kama-dughanghri-pankajam because they have all power to fulfill the desires of everyone
- The Lord's unlimited power is extended on and on by the unlimited expansion of the devotees and incarnations, and thus every devotee of the Lord and incarnations also can be equally surcharged with the potency of the Lord
- The Lord, by His pleasure potential powers, can produce innumerable spiritual beauties and not be the least attracted by the false beauties of material creation
- The most wonderful manifestation of the Lord's power is exhibited when the infinite Lord becomes visible to our eyes as one of us. Yet His activities are different from those of the finite beings
- The power, glory and potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can never be diminished. In the Isopanisad, the Lord is described as apapa-viddha, which indicates that He is never affected by anything materially considered sinful
- The quality of Krsna - knowledge, can be further extended into five subheadings, namely intelligence, gratefulness, power of understanding the circumstantial environments of place, object & time, perfect knowledge of everything, & knowledge of the self
- The reason is that I (God) reserve the power of not being exposed to the nondevotees by My mystic curtain. The less intelligent fools are unaware of My eternal form, which is never to be vanquished and is unborn
- The Sun, from millions of years giving us light, giving us heat, but he has not lost its power. If this is possible for a dead matter, then how God will be Form-less after creating unlimited universes with His power?
- 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 Supreme Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all knowledge, all potency, all strength, opulence and influence. There is no limit to His powers
- The Svetasvatara Upanisad (6.8) informs us: He (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 tumultuous thundering sound was proof of the Lord's presence. The demons like Hiranyakasipu could now realize the supreme ruling power of the Lord, and thus Hiranyakasipu became afraid
- The visnu-tattvas are living beings equally as powerful as the original form of the Personality of Godhead, and They display different categories of power in consideration of different times and circumstances
- There are many so-called scholars who contend that the Lord descends in a body made of matter, just like an ordinary living being. Not knowing His inconceivable power, such foolish men place the Lord on an equal level with ordinary men
- There are so many - incarnations - of God without the power of the Supreme Godhead. BG 1972 purports
- There is no necessity of God's coming here to settle up things. There is no necessity. He has got omnipotential power. He can do without His presence. But when His devotees become very much disturbed, He comes personally
- They (demigods) were afraid of Hiranyakasipu. Thus we can simply imagine how powerful Hiranyakasipu was in this material world. But even Hiranyakasipu was cut into small pieces by the nails of Lord Nrsimha
- They (persons who are engaged in destructive work) are all of the demoniac mentality, always challenging the supreme power of the Lord
- They say that God cannot come. But if I put the question: "Why God cannot come?" what is the answer? If God is all-powerful, why you are curtailing His power, that He cannot come? What kind of God is He? God is under your law, or you are under God's law?
- Those who are given a position by God but who want to usurp His power, which they actually cannot do, are rebellious fools and rascals who require punishment
- Those who are in direct contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they have no disregard for these demigods, but they know the ultimate supreme power is the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Those who are simply astonished by the powers of anything in the creation of the Lord, without any factual information of the Lord Himself, are known as saktas, or worshipers of the great powers
- To him (neophyte) a form means something of this material world, and therefore an opposite conception of the Absolute is necessary in the beginning to concentrate the mind on the power extension of the Lord
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- Visnu, is known as tri-yuga. Another explanation of tri-yuga is that He has three pairs of divine attributes, namely power and affluence, piety and renown, and wisdom and dispassion
- Vyasadeva, who is an incarnation of the power of Narayana, has compiled the Vedanta-sutra (nyaya-prasthana), but according to Sankara's commentaries, Apantaratama Rsi is also accredited with having compiled the codes of Vedanta-sutra
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- We cannot claim to be God without being able to display the powers of God. As far as Krsna is concerned, He proved that He was God by displaying so much power and by revealing His universal form to Arjuna
- When He (God) so descends He proves how much greater is His ability to enjoy, and He exhibits His power of enjoyment by (for instance) marrying sixteen thousand wives at once
- When the intelligence of the gigantic form separately became manifest, Brahma, the lord of the Vedas, entered into it with the partial power of understanding, and thus an object of understanding is experienced by the living entities
- When we speak of God, God means with His associates, with His energy, with His power, everything
- Without asking anyone's permission, she entered Nanda Maharaja's room, where she saw the child (Krsna) sleeping in bed, His unlimited power covered like a powerful fire covered by ashes - SB 10.6.7
Y
- You can create one small sputnik, and take credit. But God can create innumerable universes simply by breathing. So your energy, your power, is different from God's power. But in quality, you are one with God
- You cannot compare yourself with God. There is no comparison. But the rascaldom is going on. "Everyone is God. I am God, you are God" - then he's dog. You show the power of God, then you say. First deserve, then desire
- You just remain fixed up in devotional service, and all impediments that may come will be vanquished by the unlimited potency of the Lord. We should have faith in His Power, His Grace, and His Causeless Mercy