Category:God Cannot
Theme Analysis
The concept of what God "cannot" do serves to highlight both the absurdity of atheistic logic and the supreme, loving nature of the Absolute Truth. According to Śrīla Prabhupāda, mundane philosophers, Māyāvādīs, and nonbelievers constantly try to impose their own material limitations upon the Supreme Lord. They argue that God cannot incarnate, cannot have a personal form, cannot hear, or cannot see. Śrīla Prabhupāda exposes this as foolish rascaldom; to claim that the all-powerful creator is subjected to human rules and regulations is a direct denial of His supremacy. When a demon like Hiraṇyakaśipu asked for every imaginable benediction to avoid death, he foolishly forgot to ask that God could not kill him, proving that no material intelligence can outsmart the Supreme.
In reality, the true things that God "cannot" do are reflections of His absolute perfection. Because the Lord is by nature joyful and spiritual, He cannot be forced into a material body subject to painful conditions. Because He is the supreme controller, He cannot be overpowered by māyā (illusion). Furthermore, the Lord's potencies and pastimes are so unlimited that even He Himself, in the form of Lord Anantadeva with thousands of mouths, cannot reach the end of describing them.
The most beautiful limitations of the Supreme Lord, however, are those born of His pure love. The Lord cannot forget His pure devotee for even a moment. He cannot tolerate offenses committed against the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. And, in the sweetness of transcendental reciprocation, the invincible Lord sometimes willingly accepts defeat; Mother Yaśodā found she could not bind Kṛṣṇa, but ultimately, Kṛṣṇa agreed to be bound by her love. Even in His descent as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Lord demonstrated that when overwhelmed by the chanting of the holy name, He cannot restrain Himself from crying, dancing, and acting like a madman in ecstatic love.
- Refuting Mundane Logic: Foolish nonbelievers try to limit God by claiming He cannot incarnate or possess a form, projecting their own material limitations onto the Supreme.
- Absolute Perfection: Because God is completely spiritual and all-powerful, He cannot be subjected to a material body, painful conditions, or the bewildering influence of māyā.
- Unlimited Potencies: The Lord's qualities and pastimes are so infinite that even Lord Anantadeva, with thousands of mouths, cannot finish describing them.
- Conquered by Love: The invincible Lord cannot forget His devotees, cannot tolerate offenses against them, and willingly allows Himself to be defeated by their pure affection.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Cannot - The Transcendental Limitations of the Absolute.
Subcategories
This category has the following 27 subcategories, out of 27 total.
A
G
M
Pages in category "God Cannot"
The following 48 pages are in this category, out of 48 total.
A
- A good example in this regard (the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be partial; He is always equal to everyone) is that an electrician connects both a heater and a cooler to the same electrical energy
- A living being and the Lord cannot be distinguished simply by the difference in the magnitude of the body. So the answer depends on the specific significance of the body of the Lord, as distinguished from the body of the common living being
- A pure devotee cannot forget the Supreme Lord for a moment, and similarly, the Supreme Lord cannot forget His pure devotee for a moment. This is the great blessing of the Krsna conscious process of chanting the mahamantra, Hare Krsna. BG 1972 purports
- After hearing Lord Siva's prayer, Lord Krsna replied, "My dear Lord Siva, I accept your statements, and I also accept your desire for Banasura. I know that this Banasura is the son of Bali Maharaja, and as such I cannot kill him, for that is My promise"
- Although Lord Anantadeva is always describing the pastimes of the Lord with His thousands of mouths, He cannot reach the end of even one of the Lord's pastimes
- Although Lord Visnu, Siva & Brahma are always ready to help the demigods, headed by Indra, we have no reason to be afraid of them. As far as Visnu is concerned, He has already hidden Himself within the hearts of all living entities, He cannot come out
- "As a result of this chanting," the Lord (Caitanya) said, "I sometimes become very impatient and cannot restrain Myself from dancing and laughing or crying and singing. Indeed, I become just like a madman
- As it is said in the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Absolute Truth is the source of everything, so the Absolute Person cannot be devoid of the sentiments that are reflected in the temporary mundane world
I
- I (Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami) have briefly described only some of the followers and devotees of Lord Nityananda Prabhu. Even the thousand-mouthed Sesa Naga cannot describe all of these unlimited devotees
- I shall not die in the air. - "Yes." "I shall not be killed by any animal." "Yes." In this way, whatever intelligence he got, but he forgot one thing, that "God cannot also kill me." Because maya is there, he forgot it
- In the Upanisads it is clearly said that the SPG can never be known simply by working very hard and taxing the good brain, nor can He be known simply by mental speculation and jugglery of words. The Lord is knowable only by one who is a surrendered soul
- It is foolish to try to impose the limits of an ordinary living being upon the unlimited potency of Godhead and obstinately maintain that the Supreme Lord cannot descend
- It is said in the scriptures, brahma-saukhyam tv anantam: spiritual happiness is unlimited. Here it is said that even the Lord cannot measure such happiness. This does not mean that the Lord cannot measure it and is therefore imperfect in that sense
K
- Krsna appeared in the form of a devotee, but although He never disclosed Himself, Rupa Gosvami could understand His identity, for the Lord cannot hide Himself from a pure devotee
- Krsna was angry not that Hiranyakasipu was a demon or non-devotee; He was angry because that demon was teasing the devotee. For His personal account, He cannot be angry. What anyone can harm Krsna? He is so powerful
S
- Saying that there is no God is direct denial of God, and saying that God exists but has no head, legs or hands and cannot speak, hear or eat is a negative way of denying His existence
- Since Lord Ananta Himself cannot describe even a fragment of these pastimes, I (Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami) am simply pointing out the direction
- Sometimes He (the Lord) tells His devotee in a dream that His temple and His garden are now very old and that He cannot enjoy them very nicely. Thus He requests the devotee to repair them
- Sometimes people question that, "Why God should come?" So our answer is, "Why God should not come?" If He is all-powerful, who can check Him to come here? If we say that God cannot come, that means God becomes under our rules and regulation
T
- That same Lord Visnu, in the form of Lord Sesa, holds the planets upon His heads, although He does not know where they are, for He cannot feel their existence upon His heads
- The highest perfectional knowledge is knowledge of the Supreme Lord. He cannot be understood by any process of religion other than devotional service; therefore, the immediate result of perfect knowledge is achieved by executing devotional service
- The Lord certainly fulfills all desires in regard to transcendental loving service, but He cannot fulfill the whims of nondevotees, even when such casual devotees offer Him the best of prayers
- The monists and impersonalists who think only in terms of the oneness of the living entities with the Supreme Lord cannot give satisfactory answers to such questions. Such an imperfect reply can hardly satisfy the heart of a living entity
- The nondevotees, Mayavadis, who are interested in denying Krsna, say that God has no eyes, no legs, no hands, no ears and so on. This is indirectly saying that God is blind and deaf and that He cannot do this or that
- The potential expansions can never be calculated by anyone because even the Personality of God Himself, as the incarnation of Sesa, cannot estimate the potencies, although He has been describing them continuously with His one thousand faces
- The Supreme Lord cannot have any enemy, nor can a so-called enemy harm Him because He is ajita, or unconquerable. But still He takes pleasure when His pure devotee beats Him like an enemy or rebukes Him from a superior position
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be understood by any means except bhakti. The Lord confirms this in Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 11.14.21). Bhaktyaham ekaya grahyah: "only by executing devotional service can one appreciate Me
- The words caksur yasya na risyati mean that although we cannot see Him (The Supreme Personality of Godhead), this does not mean that He cannot see us. Nor does He die when the cosmic manifestation is annihilated
- Their (the Karma-mimamsa philosophers) opinion is that even if there is a God who gives man the result of his fruitive activities, there is no need to worship Him because unless man works He cannot bestow any good result
- These arguments (that God cannot incarnate Himself or that He has to accept a material body) are nullified if we accept the existence of the Lord's inconceivable potencies
- They (mother Yasoda and the other ladies) gave up the idea of binding Him (when they saw that Krsna could not be bound with all the ropes available in the house). But in competition between Krsna and His devotee, Krsna sometimes agrees to be defeated
- 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?
W
- We should always remember this (SB 10.2.39) distinction between the Lord and the ordinary living entity and not uselessly argue that the Lord cannot come
- When the milk and curd are kept high on a swing hanging from the ceiling and Krsna and Balarama cannot reach it - SB 10.8.30
- Why you compare your silly intelligence with God's intelligence? "I cannot do it; therefore God cannot do it. I cannot see God; therefore God cannot see me." This rascaldom is going on