Category:God Exists Before Creation
Theme Analysis
The Vedic literature definitively refutes the idea that the Supreme Lord is a product of material evolution or human imagination. According to Śrīla Prabhupāda, the most fundamental truth of spiritual science is that God exists before creation. Before the cosmic manifestation was set into motion, there was neither cause nor effect, nor were there any material elements. During this pre-creation state, neither Lord Brahmā (the creator) nor Lord Śiva (the destroyer) existed. Only the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known variously as Vāsudeva, Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, existed in His eternal, transcendental abode of Vaikuṇṭha.
A critical point established by Śrīla Prabhupāda is that God existed before creation as a person. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Lord uses the word aham (I) to describe His pre-cosmic state: aham evāsam evāgre, meaning "Only I existed before the creation." When Lord Brahmā and Prajāpati Dakṣa saw the Lord, they saw Him in His beautiful, personal form. Because this form existed before the creation of material elements, it is an undeniable fact that the Lord's body is completely spiritual and untouched by matter. It is a severe error of less intelligent men to assume that the Lord's form is a subsequent material generation or an imagination of Brahmā.
Because the Lord existed before the material world, He is completely immune to its laws. He exists as the total energy before manifestation, diffuses Himself to create the universes, maintains everything within Himself, and remains perfectly intact after the cosmic annihilation. Therefore, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Absolute Truth in all circumstances—past, present, and future—and must be obeyed as the ultimate master of everyone.
- The Original Existence: Before the creation of the material elements and the demigods like Brahmā and Śiva, only Nārāyaṇa (Kṛṣṇa) existed.
- The Eternal Person: The Lord existed before creation in His personal, spiritual form, as indicated by the word aham (I).
- No Material Body: Because the Lord existed before matter was created, His form is completely transcendental and not born of material nature.
- The Absolute Truth: The Lord exists before creation, maintains everything during its manifestation, and remains unchanged after its dissolution.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Exists Before Creation - The Eternal Supreme Person.
Pages in category "God Exists Before Creation"
The following 24 pages are in this category, out of 24 total.
B
- Before the creation and after its dissolution, only the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His associates exist; there is no existence of the material elements. This is confirmed in the Vedic literature
- Before the creation or manifestation of the material cosmic world, the Lord exists as total energy (maha-samasti), and thus desiring Himself to be diffused to many, He expands Himself further into multitotal energy (samasti)
- Before the creation there was neither cause nor effect, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead existed with His full opulence and energy
- Before the creation there was none except Vasudeva. There was neither Brahma nor Sankara. Only Narayana was there and no one else, neither Brahma nor Isana
- Before the creation, Krsna was existing, and when there is creation, everything is resting in Krsna, and when this creation is finished, Krsna will remain. Therefore, He is Absolute Truth in all circumstances
- Before the creation, the Lord existed as a person, as indicated by the word aham. When Prajapati Daksa saw Him as a person, who was beautifully dressed and ornamented, he actually experienced the meaning of this word aham through devotional service
I
- In praying to the Lord, Daksa does not wish material names and forms to be the objects of his worship; rather, he wants to worship the Lord, who existed before the creation of material dictionaries and names
- In Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 2.9.33) the Lord also says, aham evasam evagre: "Only I existed before the creation"
- In the four verses it is first said that the Lord existed before the creation, and thus the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam includes the Vedanta aphorism janmady asya (SB 1.1.1)
- It is confirmed in the Vedic literature that before the creation there was only Narayana; neither Lord Brahma nor Lord Siva existed
- It is said that before the creation of the material universe there existed the Lord only, who is master of everyone. That Lord instructed Brahma in Vedic knowledge. That Lord has to be obeyed in all respects
T
- The form of the Lord, as seen by Brahma, existed before the creation of Brahma, and the material manifestation with all the ingredients and agents of material creation are also energetic expansions of the Lord
- The Maha-Visnu, throws His glance over prakrti, or material nature, but the Purusottama existed even before that. The Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad therefore confirms the statement of the Bhagavad-gita that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Person (Purusottama)
- The nature of the Lord's gigantic body is also explained in this verse (in SB 3.33.2). That body is transcendental, untouched by matter. Since the material manifestation has come from His body, His body therefore existed before the material creation
- The Personality of Godhead exists before the creation, and He exists with all transcendental variegatedness in the Vaikunthalokas
- This existence of the Lord before the creation is confirmed by the srutis. Because everything that be is an emanation from the Personality of Godhead, He always exists alone without a second
W
- We should note very carefully that God is addressing Brahma & specifying with great emphasis Himself, pointing out that it is He, who existed before the creation, it is He only who maintains the creation, & it is He only who remains after the annihilation
- When the creation awaited Brahma's activity, Brahma saw the Lord, and therefore the Lord existed in His personal form before the creation. His eternal form is not created by the attempt of Brahma, as imagined by less intelligent men