Category:God's Representations
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the vast and multifaceted nature of God's representations. Because the Supreme Lord is the Absolute Truth, He can represent Himself in countless ways to guide and interact with the living entities. He represents Himself as the sacred syllable oṁkāra, the holy name, the arcā-vigraha (Deity) in the temple, and the Supersoul within the heart. The spiritual master is the external representation of the Lord, while the demigods and kings are His empowered, qualitative representatives for universal management. Even the destructive time factor (kāla) and the entire phenomenal world are impersonal representations of His energy. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that while everything is a representation of God's energy, the highest perfection is to worship the original Supreme Personality of Godhead directly.
- The Sacred Sound Vibration: The syllable oṁkāra and the holy name of Kṛṣṇa are direct, transcendental sound representations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, possessing all His absolute potencies.
- The Deity Manifestation: To allow conditioned souls to serve Him with their physical senses, the Lord mercifully appears as the arcā-vigraha, His authorized physical representation in the temple.
- The External and Internal Guide: The bona fide spiritual master is the external representation of the Lord's mercy, working in harmony with the Paramātmā, who is the localized representation of the Lord in the heart.
- Universal Management: The various demigods, such as Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, and the sun-god, are empowered, qualitative representations of the Lord designed to manage the material universe.
- The Force of Time: For the conditioned soul, the invincible wheel of time is an impersonal representation of the Supreme Lord, reminding all living entities of His absolute control.
- The Phenomenal World: The entire material creation is simply a phenomenal representation of the Lord's diffused external energies, functioning entirely under His direction.
- Approaching the Original Person: While neophytes and materialists worship indirect representations, the advanced transcendentalist strictly worships the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
- Vedic Literatures: The vast bodies of Vedic knowledge, including the Upaniṣads and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, are potent literary representations of the Supreme Lord designed to guide humanity.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Perceiving the Absolute Truth Through God's Representations.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
Pages in category "God's Representations"
The following 72 pages are in this category, out of 72 total.
A
- A learned scholar or devotee, however, knows who is who. Therefore he directly worships the Supreme Lord and is not diverted by the material, qualitative representations
- A neophyte considers the arca-vigraha (the statue of the Lord) to be different from the original Personality of Godhead; he considers it a representation of the Supreme Lord in the form of a Deity
- According to the Vedic rites, even in the worship of some demigods like Indra, Brahma, Sarasvati and Ganesa, the system is that in all circumstances the representation of Visnu must be there as yajnesvara, or the controlling power of such sacrifices
- According to Vedic civilization, procreation should not be contrary to religious principles, and then the birthrate will be controlled. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (BG 7.11), sex not contrary to religious principles is a representation of the Supreme Lord
- According to Vedic culture, the king is honored as the Supreme Personality of Godhead because he represents Narayana, who also gives protection to the citizens. He is therefore natha, or the proprietor
- All the different demigods (like the sun-god, the moon-god, the air-god, Brahma and Lord Siva) are material representations of the Supreme Lord. By material activities one can approach only such demigods, as stated in Bhagavad-gita 9.25
- All these attachments (for His family members) of the Lord are manifestations of His internal potency, of which the external potency is only a shadow representation
- As already discussed, there are eight kinds of representations of the original form of the Lord. These representations can be produced by the use of clay, stone, wood, paint, sand, etc., depending upon the resources of the devotees
- As the sun arises, one should chant the Vedic mantra beginning with the Gayatri. The sun is the symbolic representation of the eyes of the Supreme Lord
B
- Balarama represents plowing the land for agriculture and therefore always carries in His hand a plow, whereas Krsna tends cows and therefore carries a flute in His hand. Thus the two brothers represent krsi-raksya and go-raksya
- By completely performing the ritualistic ceremonies mentioned in the Vedas and by worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead as represented by the sun-god, they attain the sun, which is a heavenly planet
- By His causeless mercy, He protects the demigods, who are always harassed by the demons. He is the supreme worshipable Deity of all living entities. He is the supreme cause, represented as the male and female creative energies
E
- Each incarnation (of the Personality of Godhead) is distinct from all the others. This is possible by the Lord’s inconceivable potency, by which He can simultaneously represent Himself as one, as various partial forms and as the origin of these forms
- Everyone is afraid of the activities of time, but a devotee who knows that the time factor is another representation or manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to fear from the influence of time
F
- For the fulfillment of material desires, the inhabitants of this tract of land worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead as represented by Lord Brahma. They offer prayers to the Lord as follows
- For those who are following the impersonal way to spiritual realization, the path is difficult. They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme through such Vedic literatures as the Upanisads. BG 1972 purports
H
- He (God) is described there as sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, which means that He is the eternal form fully representing transcendental existence, knowledge and bliss. As such, He does not require a separate body or mind, as we do in material existence
- He (Vyasadeva) says that the descriptions that are given of different incarnations are all parts of the representations of God. But Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself
- He is also represented by another energy - the living entities - and all these manifestations in the spiritual and material world combined are but representations of the different energies of the Lord
I
- I (Gajendra) offer my respectful obeisances unto You (God), who are the shelter of the Vedic knowledge contained in the sastras like the Pancaratras and Vedanta-sutra, which are Your representations, and who are the source of the parampara system
- If one actually understands that omkara is the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whether he chants omkara or the Hare Krsna mantra, the result is certainly the same
- In all the ancient literatures of devotional service the spiritual master is always considered either one of the confidential associates of Srimati Radharani or a manifested representation of Srila Nityananda Prabhu
- In everyone's heart there is the representation of the Superconsciousness, who gives memory to the partial consciousness of every living entity
- In Hebrew literature time is accepted, in the same spirit, as a representation of God. It is stated therein: "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets
- In the absolute world, the name Krsna is the transcendental sound representation of the Lord. There is no potential difference between His quality, name, form, etc. If we chant the name of the Lord, Hare Krsna, that has as much potency as the Lord Himself
- In the Bhagavad-gita (BG 8.13) the glories of omkara are described as follows: omkara, or pranava, is a direct representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore if at the time of death one simply remembers omkara, he remembers the SPG
- In the fifth vilasa (of Hari-bhakti-vilasa), one is instructed on how to make a place to sit for meditation, and there are descriptions of breathing exercises, meditation and worship of the salagrama-sila representation of Lord Visnu
- In the more recent songs of Srila Narottama dasa Thakura the spiritual master is always considered either one of the confidential associates of Srimati Radharani or a manifested representation of Srila Nityananda Prabhu
- In the more recent songs Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and other unalloyed Vaisnavas, the spiritual master is always considered either one of the confidential associates of Srimati Radharani or a manifested representation of Srila Nityananda Prabhu
- Indeed, this verse (SB 8.3.2) immediately says, om namo bhagavate. Bhagavan is a person. Thus omkara is the representation of the Supreme Person
O
- Omkara is the most auspicious representation of the Supreme Lord. Such is the description given by Mandukya Upanisad
- One should always remember the SPG in His localized representation as the Paramatma, who is situated in the core of every living entity's heart. Thus one should offer respect to every living entity according to that living entity's position
- Our senses are also controlled by different demigods; our senses are representations of various demigods, and the mind is the representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
S
- Sankaracarya says (sutra 43) that devotees think that Pradyumna, who is considered to represent the senses, has sprung from Sankarsana, who is considered to represent the living entities. But we cannot actually experience that a person can produce senses
- Since Sati was the representation of the external potency of the Lord, it was in her power to vanquish many universes, including many Daksas
- Some of the arca representations of the Lord situated in different places of pilgrimage are mentioned herewith. The Lord is present at Mathura (the birthplace of Lord Krsna) as Adi-kesava
- Sound representation of the Lord, in terms of His characteristics, is the complete form of the Lord, as was seen by Vasudeva and Maharaja Dasaratha, the fathers of Lord Krsna and Lord Rama
- Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that the living entities are representations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's marginal potency whereas the various bodies accepted by the living entities are products of the material energy
T
- The Bhagavatam in a nutshell, spoken by the Personality of Godhead in about half a dozen verses, which will appear ahead, is the science of God, and it is the potent representation of the Personality of Godhead
- The creation takes place by the diffusion of His (the Supreme Personality of Godhead's) different energies, and, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita, He is everywhere present by His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies
- The creation takes place by the diffusion of His (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) different energies, &, as is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, He is everywhere present by His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies. BG 1972 pur
- The demigod Surya, who is categorized as a very powerful jiva, or living entity, is a representation of one of the parts of His (the Supreme Personality of Godhead's) body
- The eyes which do not look at the symbolic representations of the Personality of Godhead Visnu (God's forms, names, qualities, etc.) are like those printed on the plumes of a peacock
- The eyes which do not look at the symbolic representations of the Personality of Godhead Visnu (His forms, name, quality, etc.) are like those printed on the plumes of the peacock
- The fire ceremony means fire is also representation of yajna-purusa, and through fire, the yajna-purusa eats, purusottama
- The form of Sad-bhuja, the six-armed Lord Gaurasundara, is a representation of three incarnations. The form of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is symbolized by a sannyasa-danda and a kamandalu, or waterpot
- The form of Sad-bhuja, the six-armed Lord Gaurasundara, is a representation of three incarnations. The form of Lord Sri Krsna is symbolized by a stick and a flute like those generally held by a cowherd boy
- The form of Sad-bhuja, the six-armed Lord Gaurasundara, is a representation of three incarnations. The form of Sri Ramacandra is symbolized by a bow in one hand and an arrow in another
- The gigantic universal form is represented by three, ten and one in the sense that He is the body and the mind and the senses, He is the dynamic force for all movements by ten kinds of life energy, and He is the one heart where life energy is generated
- The Gosvamis declare that pranava (omkara) is the complete representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they have analyzed omkara in terms of its alphabetical constituents
- The individual soul (jiva) accompanies the body. The Supersoul, a plenary representation of Lord Krsna, is called the Paramatma or adhiyajna and is situated in the heart. BG 1972 purports
- The Lord Himself comes to display His transcendental pastimes, typically represented at Vrndavana, Mathura and Dvaraka. He appears just to attract the conditioned souls back to Godhead, back home to the eternal world
- The lusty affairs of the gopis, which are different from mundane affairs, which in turn are symbolical representations of pure love for Krsna
- The quality of goodness is represented by Visnu, the quality of passion is represented by Brahma, and the quality of darkness is represented by Lord Siva
- The relative world is His (God's) phenomenal representation because it is nothing but an expansion of His transcendental energy. Although He is in His abode His energy is distributed everywhere, just as the sun is localized as well as expanded everywhere
- The spiritual master outside and the spiritual master within are both representations of the Lord. Unless one has contact with such bona fide representations, one cannot claim to be a spiritual master
- The time element is Your representation. My Lord, O Supreme, no one can conquer You. As for me, however, I am being crushed by the wheel of time, and therefore I surrender fully unto You. Now kindly take me under the protection of Your lotus feet
- There are many who worship the demigods like the sun, the moon and Indra, who are only material representatives of the Supreme Lord. These demigods are indirect, qualitative representations of the Supreme Lord
- They (the materialists) respect the many forms of the demigods as different representations or manifestations of the Lord. They are called bahv-isvara-vadis, or followers of thousands and thousands of gods
- This phenomenal world is impersonally the representation of Vasudeva because the ingredients of its creation, their interaction and the enjoyer of the resultant action, the living being are all produced by the external and internal energies of Lord Krsna
- This time factor is the impersonal representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who gives the living entities conditioned by material nature a chance to emerge from this nature by surrendering to Him
- Those who are egoistic in passion and ignorance cannot conceive of the Personality of Godhead. For them the sky is the symbolic representation of the Supreme Soul
- Those who are not so learned worship such qualitative, material representations, but their worship is unceremonious because it is irregular
- Time is a representation of the Lord, and it reminds us also that we must surrender unto the Lord. The Lord speaks to every conditioned soul as time
Y
- Yoga means to get into touch with the SL. The process, however, includes several bodily features such as asana, dhyana, pranayama and meditation, and all of them are meant for concentrating upon the localized aspect of Vasudeva represented as Paramatma
- Yogis can realize only the partial representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead