Category:God Acting Like an Ordinary Human Being
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the profound mystery of the Supreme Personality of Godhead descending to the material world. To execute His supreme mission, reclaim the fallen souls, and reciprocate the pure love of His devotees, Kṛṣṇa and His various incarnations appear to take birth and act exactly like ordinary human beings. However, this is simply the display of His internal spiritual potency, or yogamaya. Although the Lord may play as a helpless child for Devakī and Vasudeva, or exhibit the behavior of a perfect human king like Lord Rāma, His body remains entirely transcendental and is never subject to the material laws of nature. Unfortunately, those who are less intelligent, the mudhas, are bewildered by His humanlike pastimes. Relying on mundane mental speculation and lacking the guidance of a bona fide guru, they foolishly deride the Lord, mistaking His eternal, spiritual form for a temporary material body.
- The Supreme Will: The all-powerful Lord descends by His own internal energy, never forced by the laws of karma that bind ordinary conditioned souls.
- Reciprocating with Devotees: To please His pure devotees and fulfill their parental affection, the Lord mercifully conceals His majestic four-armed form and plays as a human child.
- Exhibiting Exemplary Behavior: By acting like an ordinary human being, the Lord sets the perfect standard of character and religious principles for all of society to follow.
- The Transcendental Body: Despite appearing in human society, changing from a majestic form to a child, the Lord’s body is absolutely spiritual and eternal, free from all material contamination.
- Bewilderment of the Foolish: Atheists and mental speculators fail to understand the transcendental mystery of the Lord's descent, arrogantly assuming He is simply an ordinary mortal with superhuman abilities.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Descends as an Ordinary Human Being to Execute the Highest Mission.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
Pages in category "God Acting Like an Ordinary Human Being"
The following 51 pages are in this category, out of 51 total.
A
- A brahmana may be extremely fortunate in having achieved brahma jnana, but the Pandavas were so exalted that the Parabrahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was living in their house like an ordinary human being
- Acting just like an ordinary human being, You exhibit exemplary character to teach others how to behave. There is a touchstone that can be used to examine the quality of gold, but You are like a touchstone that can verify all good qualities
- Actually Lord Rsabhadeva had no material body, but due to yogamaya, He considered His body material, and therefore, because He played like an ordinary human being, He gave up the mentality of identifying with it
- Actually, the Lord does not give up His body, which is eternal, but as He can change His body from the form of Visnu to that of an ordinary human child, He can change His body to any form He likes. This does not mean that He gives up His body
- Although He (Krsna) appears in the same transcendental body and is Lord of the universe, it still appears that He takes His birth like an ordinary living entity. BG 1972 purports
- Although He (Lord Vamanadeva) pretended to be an ordinary human child, He actually wanted the land comprising the upper, middle and lower planetary systems. This was just to show the prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Although He (the Lord) may appear like an ordinary person, He remembers everything of His many, many past "births," whereas a common man cannot remember what he has done even a few hours before. BG 1972 purports
- As stated in Bhagavad-gita (BG 9.11), avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam: foolish men with insufficient knowledge deride the Personality of Godhead because He appears just like a human being
- Avataras descend of their own free will, and although they may act like ordinary human beings, they do not belong to this material world. Lord Krsna and His avataras can be understood only by the grace of the Lord
H
- He (God) incarnates Himself even as a fish, hog, tree and many other forms, but less intelligent persons who have no knowledge of Him deride Him even if He is in human society as a human being
- He (God) is the all-powerful, omnipresent Personality of Godhead, and by His supreme will He can not only create, maintain and annihilate the whole cosmic manifestation but also descend as an ordinary human being to execute the highest mission
- He (The Supreme Personality of Godhead) may assume the body of a human being, but that body is not material
- How can the all-powerful Lord take birth, seemingly like an ordinary man?
I
- I am surprised that You imitate the activities of ordinary human beings just to please Your devotee - Devaki prayed to the Lord
- I request You to conceal this four-armed form of Your Lordship, which holds the four symbols of Visnu - namely the conchshell, the disc, the club and the lotus flower - Devaki requested the Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child
- If Kamsa were to come, she (Devaki) thought, upon seeing the Visnu form he would immediately kill the child, but if he saw a human child, he might reconsider
- In other appearances also - the Lord said - I took the form of an ordinary child just to become your (Vasudeva and Devaki's) son so that we could reciprocate eternal love
- In the Bhagavad-gita God describes Himself. He says, "My appearance of taking birth just like an ordinary human being is actually transcendental."
O
- Ordinary people may have difficulty accepting the supreme controller, God, as a human being because they forget that He can do everything by spiritual energy - atma-mayaya
- Out of His supreme good will, the Lord became his son & dealt with everyone as if He were an ordinary human being. Thus King Nabhi began to raise his transcendental son with great affection, & he was overwhelmed with transcendental bliss, joy & devotion
P
S
- She (Devaki) requested the Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child
- She (Devaki) was anxious, thinking that if her neighbors heard that Visnu had appeared as her son, none of them would believe it. Therefore she wanted Lord Visnu to transform Himself into a human child
- Sometimes They (Krsna and Balarama) would imitate the voices of the animals. In this way They enjoyed sporting, exactly like two ordinary human children - SB 10.11.39-40
T
- The earth is revolving, and due to the different positions of the revolving earth, the sun appears to be rising or setting. In the same way, the Lord always exists, but for His pastimes as a human being He seems to take birth like an ordinary child
- The Lord (Krsna) is the all-prevailing Supersoul of all existence, & yet He appears in the form of a boar amongst the animals, in the form of a human being as Rama, Krsna, etc., in the form of a rsi like Narayana, and in the form of an aquatic like a fish
- The Lord deals with His devotees exactly like a human being, but this does not mean that the Lord is one of the human beings, for this is the conclusion of nondevotees (avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam) - BG 9.11
- The Lord had already taken birth, just like a human child, and was in the safe custody of Yasoda, everything was happening according to plan
- The Lord is not a prakrta-sisu, a child of this world, but by His personal energy He appeared like one
- The mental speculators compare everything from the standpoint of experimental knowledge of their own selves. Thus when the Lord is found to act like an ordinary person in matrimonial bondage, they consider Him to be like one of them
- 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 Personality of Godhead Sri Rama assumed the form of a human being and appeared on the earth for the purpose of doing some pleasing work for the demigods or the administrative personalities to maintain the order of the universe
- The SPG has no material birth, activities, name, form, qualities or faults. To fulfill the purpose for which this material world is created and destroyed, He comes in the form of a human being like Lord Rama or Lord Krsna by His original internal potency
- The Supreme Lord was also anxious, thinking that if He appeared as an ordinary child, she (Devaki) would not believe that Lord Visnu had appeared. Such are the dealings between devotees and the Lord
- The word amrta-bhuh is significant in this verse. The Lord sometimes appears like an ordinary child taking birth, but this does not mean that He is subject to birth, death or old age
- There are many controversies amongst the impersonalists and the personalists about the Lord's appearance as a human being. BG 1972 purports
- Therefore, whether one is a demigod or a demon, a man or a creature other than man, such as a beast or bird, everyone should worship Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears on this earth just like a human being
- This is an example set by the Supreme Personality of Godhead while acting like an ordinary human being so that others might learn from Him. He (Kapiladeva) could have stayed with His mother, but He indicated that there was no need to stay with the family
- This verse (SB 10.3.7-8) describes the inconceivable potency of the Lord, who appeared like the full moon. Understanding the special significance of the appearance of the SG, one should never regard Him as having taken birth like an ordinary child
- Those who are miscreants, they think that Krsna, or God, He is like an ordinary man but a superhuman being. That's all
- To discourage such imaginative speculation, He descends and exhibits Himself as He is, as Syamasundara. Unfortunately, the less intelligent deride Him because He comes as one of us and plays with us as a human being. BG 1972 Introduction
W
- When the Lord (Krsna) descends on this material world by His all-merciful energy, He plays like a human being, and therefore it appears that the Lord is partial to His devotees only, but that is not a fact
- When the Lord is found to act like an ordinary person in matrimonial bondage, mental speculators consider Him to be like one of them, without considering that the Lord can at once marry sixteen thousand wives or more
- When the Lord wants to take pleasure in pastimes, He comes down to this material world and acts like a human being, thus showing His wonderful, glorious activities to please the devotees