Category:God Cannot Be Conceived
Theme Analysis
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is described in the Vedic literature as acintya, or inconceivable. According to Śrīla Prabhupāda, the tiny human brain, conditioned by the material modes of passion and ignorance, simply cannot conceive of the unlimited potencies of the Absolute Truth. Mundane scientists and philosophers attempt to explain the cosmic manifestation through vague laws, but they fail to understand how the Lord is the master of both manifest and potential powers. Because the Lord's actions defy mundane logic, less intelligent people dismiss the Vedic descriptions of Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations as mere mythology or imagination.
Furthermore, the Lord cannot be conceived by the blunt material senses. Although He is all-pervading and everything rests in Him, He remains invisible to those lacking spiritual vision. People situated in the inferior energy may vaguely conceive of God as an impersonal ruling power or the vast sky, but the true Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is situated in the transcendental position. Even the impersonal Brahman is a problem for perfect meditation and cannot be fully conceived by the materially absorbed mind.
Therefore, the only way to understand the Absolute Truth is to accept His inconceivability and approach authorized ācāryas, such as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. By abandoning false ego and following the disciplic succession, the conditioned soul learns that the Lord is never inactive, but is the supreme supervisor behind all phenomena. Since the minute living entity cannot conceive of the unlimitedness of the unlimited, one must humbly accept the Vedic version and engage in devotional service to realize the exalted position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- The Tiny Human Brain: The limited, conditioned human mind is completely incapable of calculating the contradictory and unlimited potencies of God.
- Beyond Material Senses: Although the Lord is all-pervading and everything rests in Him, He cannot be perceived or conceived by the blunt material senses.
- The Necessity of Transcendence: A person in the modes of passion and ignorance may conceive of an impersonal power, but the Personality of Godhead is only accessible from the transcendental platform.
- Accepting Authority: Because God is acintya, one must abandon independent speculation and accept the knowledge passed down by authorized ācāryas.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Cannot Be Conceived - The Limits of the Tiny Human Brain.
Pages in category "God Cannot Be Conceived"
The following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total.
I
- If we simply accept the Lord’s inconceivability, we can then adjust all things in Him. Nondevotees cannot understand the Lord’s inconceivable energy, and consequently for them it is said that He is beyond the range of conceivable expression
- In the above-mentioned verse from Bhagavad-gita (BG 9.4), it is said that although He (Govinda) is all-pervading, everywhere present, He is not conceivable by the material senses. But actually, although we cannot see Him, everything is resting in Him
T
- 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 impersonal Brahman can be conceived by persons who are already in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental position. BG 1972 purports
- The impersonal manifestation, either in this material world or in the spiritual world of the Supreme Lord, is a problem for meditation. Actually, one cannot perfectly conceive of the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth. BG 1972 purports
- The living entity cannot conceive of the unlimitedness of the unlimited
- The power behind the activities is the supervision of the Lord, and thus the Lord is never inactive as is wrongly conceived
- 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, I mean to say, favored with poor fund of knowledge, they cannot conceive about the Personality of Godhead. Therefore we have to approach authorities just like Lord Caitanya
W
- We can only imagine how highly exalted the actual position of a devotee is, and certainly we cannot even conceive how exalted is the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- When things are described about God which is not conceivable by us, they say, "It is mythology. It is imagination." But that is not the fact. The fact is that Krsna or Krsna's incarnation, They have got spiritual expansion