Category:God Is Compared To
Theme Analysis
The Vedic literatures utilize profound analogies to help the conditioned soul comprehend the inconceivable nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda warns against the folly of mundane comparison. Demons, impersonalists, and Māyāvādīs often make the grave mistake of comparing the Lord to themselves or measuring His omnipotence against their own tiny material achievements. Because they study the personality of the Lord by comparing it to their own flawed personalities, they fail to understand His absolute supremacy. A true devotee knows that every living entity is completely insignificant in comparison to God.
To properly illustrate the relationship between the Supreme Lord and His energies, the scriptures provide appropriate transcendental comparisons. God is compared to the brilliant sun, which effortlessly dispels the darkness of ignorance and is never contaminated by anything infectious. He is compared to a great blazing fire, from which all living entities and demigods emanate like tiny illuminating sparks. Furthermore, He is compared to a vast gold mine, whereas the cosmic creations and living entities are like various objects—rings and necklaces—crafted from that original gold.
The Lord's all-pervading aspect, the Paramātmā, is also beautifully illustrated through Vedic comparisons. The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad compare the individual soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting together in the same tree of the material body. The Lord is also compared to the vast sky and the air—He is within every body and within reach of all, yet He remains completely different and detached from everything, much like a supervising officer at a temporary fair.
Finally, the unparalleled aesthetic beauty of the Lord is captured through poetic natural comparisons. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam compares the Lord's enchanting bodily hue to a fresh monsoon cloud. His exquisite face, hands, and feet are consistently compared to the lotus flower, which represents the ultimate standard of beauty in the material world. The Supreme Soul is also compared to the fixed, steady moon in the sky, while the struggling living entities are compared to the quivering reflections of the moon on the water. By meditating on these authorized comparisons, the devotee becomes perfectly satisfied and attracted to the Supreme Person.
- The Folly of Material Comparison: Demons and impersonalists foolishly compare the Supreme Lord to themselves, failing to recognize His absolute, transcendental position.
- The Supreme Source: God is compared to a blazing fire, a gold mine, and the sun, illustrating His role as the uncontaminated origin of all energies and living entities.
- The All-Pervading Supersoul: The Paramātmā is compared to the vast sky, the air, a supervising officer, and a friendly bird accompanying the soul in the tree of the body.
- Unrivaled Beauty: The Lord's bodily hue is compared to a new monsoon cloud, His supreme steadiness to the moon, and His exquisite features to the petals of a lotus flower.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Is Compared To - Vedic Analogies for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Pages in category "God Is Compared To"
The following 30 pages are in this category, out of 30 total.
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- He (God) is compared to a mine of gold, and the cosmic creations in so many different forms are compared to objects made from the gold, such as gold rings, necklaces and so on
- He (God) is the supreme controller Himself, and He cannot be compared to the ordinary living entities, who are controlled by the laws of material nature
- Here (in SB 10.2.30) the Lord is described as ambujaksa, or lotus-eyed. By seeing the eyes of the Lord, which are compared to lotus flowers, one becomes so satisfied that one does not want to turn his eyes to anything else
- Here, even the demigods, such as Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, and the prajapatis, such as Daksa, are said to be like illuminating sparks in the presence of the Supreme Lord, who is compared to a great fire
- His (The Mayavadi) mistake is that he compares the Lord to himself - and that comparison is also a material thought
- His (Visnu's) activities cannot be compared to anyone else's, and therefore the word urukrama is just applicable to Him only
I
- Ignorance in material existence is compared to darkness, and in all Vedic literatures the Personality of Godhead is compared to the sun. Wherever there is light there cannot be darkness
- It is very appropriate to compare a powerful king like Prthu to a lion. In India, ksatriya kings are still called singh, which means "lion."
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- The activities of the Lord are pleasing to experimental vision also, but impersonalists will not believe in His identity because they study the personality of the Lord by comparing their personality to His
- The beauty of the lotus feet of the Lord is compared to the petals of a lotus flower which grows in the autumn season
- The example given here (in SB 8.12.11) compares the Lord to the air, which is within the vast sky and within every body but still is different from everything
- The individual atma becomes polluted by sin, but the Lord is never contaminated by sins. The Lord is compared to the powerful sun. The sun is never contaminated by anything infectious because it is so powerful
- The Lord is compared to the sky because the sky is vast yet within the reach of all, not only of human beings but even of the animals. The Supreme Lord, in His Paramatma feature, exists as the best well-wisher and friend
- The Lord's bodily hue is just like a new monsoon cloud. He is compared herein (SB 1.11.27) to the cloud
- The paramahamsas are compared to royal swans who make their nests on the petals of the lotus flower. The Lord's transcendental bodily parts are always compared to the lotus flower because in the material world the lotus flower is the last word in beauty
- The Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is compared to a blazing fire, and the innumerable living entities are compared to sparks emanating from that fire
- The Supreme Soul, the Personality of Godhead, is compared to the moon in the sky, and the living entities are compared to the reflection of the moon on water. The moon in the sky is fixed and does not appear to quiver like the moon on the water
- The Supreme Whole is compared to the sun, which also exists in four features, namely the personality of the sun-god, the glare of his glowing sphere, the sun rays inside the sun planet, and the sun’s reflections in many other objects
- The tendency is there to want to become the greatest of all, but the fact remains that God is the greatest and the living entity is small compared to Him
- The Vedas aim at the understanding of the Lord, and the Lord is the Vedas personified. Devaki is compared to the meaningful Vedas and the Lord to their purpose personified
- The Vedas, like the Mundaka Upanisad, as well as the Svetasvatara Upanisad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. BG 1972 purports
- There are basic differences between the Lord and the living entities, in so many respects. No one can be compared to the Lord, as the Vedas declare - ekam evadvitiyam brahma, dvaitad vai bhayam bhavati
- There are two comparisons in this verse (SB 3.28.30): first the Lord's face is compared to a lotus, and then His black hair is compared to humming bees swarming around the lotus, and His two eyes are compared to two fish swimming about
- Thus the Lord's bodily features are compared to the clouds of the rainy season. The devotees enjoy the Lord's beauty because it is a collection of all kinds of beauties