Category:God Is An Individual

Theme Analysis

The fundamental teaching of the Bhagavad-gītā establishes that both the living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are eternal individuals. According to Śrīla Prabhupāda, the individual identity of the soul and the Supreme Lord is never abolished under any circumstance. As Lord Kṛṣṇa explicitly explains to Arjuna, the Lord, the living entities, and all the assembled soldiers were individuals in the past, they are individuals at present, and they will continue to remain individuals in the future, even after attaining liberation.

While both God and the living beings are individuals, there is a vast and insurmountable difference in their capacities. The Vedas define the Supreme Lord as nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām: the chief eternal among all eternals, and the supreme conscious being among all conscious beings. God is the singular, supreme individual who maintains the plural, subordinate living entities. The living beings may create things using the material energies, but their creations can never equal or surpass the creations of the Supreme Lord.

Because God is an individual and the living entity is an individual, the perfection of spiritual life lies in their interaction. The ultimate goal of the monistic yoga system is to merge into the Absolute, effectively finishing one's personal existence. However, true liberation means retaining one's eternal individual existence to engage in a loving relationship with the Supreme Lord. This dynamic reciprocation between two individuals—the Supreme Bhagavān and the subordinate bhakta—is the very definition of bhakti.

Furthermore, the Supreme Lord's individuality is so perfectly absolute that He can expand Himself into countless other individual forms without losing His original identity. He is permanently situated as individual Personalities of Godhead, such as Lord Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, who resemble equally powerful candles lit from an original flame. Additionally, He expands as the localized Paramātmā, residing as an individual witness within the heart of every single living entity.

• Eternal Individuality: The individuality of the Supreme Lord and the living entities is never abolished; it exists eternally in the past, present, and future.
• The Supreme Among Subordinates: Although both are individuals, God is the supreme, singular individual who leads and maintains all other subordinate individuals.
• The Basis of Bhakti: Devotional service (bhakti) is the active loving reciprocation between two distinct individuals: the Supreme Lord and the devotee.
• Individual Expansions: The Lord expands Himself into permanent, individual forms like Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, and resides as an individual Paramātmā in every heart.

• Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Is An Individual - The Eternal Reality of the Supreme Person.