Category:Whole Spirit
Theme Analysis
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the complete spiritual whole, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, the form of eternal being, knowledge, and bliss, and the individual living entity is an eternal atomic particle of that spiritual whole. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches this truth as the foundational understanding of the relationship between the Supreme Lord and the living entity, drawing it from the Bhagavad-gītā and the entire body of Vedic knowledge. The individual soul is qualitatively identical with the Supreme Spirit Whole, possessing the same spiritual nature, eternal existence, and consciousness, yet quantitatively infinitesimal, incapable of ever equaling or merging into the whole as the Māyāvādī philosophers incorrectly propose. Māyāvāda philosophy, which holds that the whole spirit is divided by illusion into individual souls who must ultimately merge back and lose their individuality, is firmly rejected by Śrīla Prabhupāda as philosophically untenable, for spirit, unlike matter, cannot be divided into fragments. The correct understanding is acintya-bhedābheda-tattva: the living entity is simultaneously one with and different from the Supreme Spirit Whole, and its eternal function, as a particle, is to serve the complete whole through loving devotional service.
- Kṛṣṇa as the Complete Spiritual Whole: Kṛṣṇa is the supreme spirit whole, fully complete in all His features, name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality, all of which are identical with Him and entirely spiritual in nature. Unlike the conditioned soul, Kṛṣṇa has no material body separate from His soul; He is spiritually whole, without division or differentiation between His form and His essence.
- The Living Entity as an Eternal Atomic Particle of the Spiritual Whole: The individual soul is an eternal atomic particle of the supreme spirit whole, qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord but quantitatively infinitesimal. Like a sunshine molecule that shares the qualities of sunlight but cannot be equal to the sun itself, the soul possesses the same spiritual properties as the Supreme but can never equal or replace the complete whole at any time.
- Refuting Māyāvāda - Spirit Cannot Be Divided: The Māyāvāda philosophy that the individual soul is a fragment broken off from the whole spirit by illusion is philosophically untenable, for spirit, unlike matter, cannot be divided into fragments. The individual soul was always an individual, eternally a particle; it was never part of an undifferentiated spiritual mass. The blissful aspect of spiritual realization is also absent from the impersonalist's conception, which cannot account for the rasas, or loving exchanges, between the individual soul and the Supreme.
- Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva - One in Quality, Different in Quantity: The perfect philosophy that reconciles the oneness and difference of the individual soul and the Supreme is acintya-bhedābheda-tattva: everything is simultaneously one with and different from the Supreme. The soul is one with the Supreme Spirit Whole in quality, sharing the same spiritual nature, but eternally different in quantity. In this understanding, the natural function of the particle is not merger but loving service to the complete whole.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Spiritual Whole and the Spirit-Soul as His Eternal Particle.
Pages in category "Whole Spirit"
The following 30 pages are in this category, out of 30 total.
A
- A living entity is eternally an individual soul, & if he wants to merge into the spiritual whole, he may accomplish the realization of the eternal & knowledgeable aspects of his original nature, but the blissful portion is not realized. BG 1972 purports
- All these qualifications of the atomic soul (everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same) definitely prove that the individual soul is eternally the atomic particle of the spirit whole. BG 1972 purports
- As a part can never be equal with the whole, so a living entity, as a minute fragment of the spiritual whole, cannot be equal at any time to the Supreme Whole, the absolute Personality of Godhead
- As far as the spirit souls are concerned, they are one qualitatively with the Supreme Lord. Therefore, the rasas were originally exchanged between the spiritual living being and the spiritual whole, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Atomic particles of the spirit whole are compared to the sunshine molecules. BG 1972 purports
I
- If such wonderful things (cities, highways, bridges, great buildings, monuments, and great civilizations) can be performed by the minute spirit spark, we cannot begin to imagine what can be accomplished by the Supreme Spirit Whole
- If they are accepted, however, as particles of the eternally existing spiritual entity - as part of You, who are the supreme spirit whole - we must conclude that they are always under Your control
- If we vibrate sound Krsna, then I am immediately in contact with Krsna, and if Krsna is whole spirit, then immediately I become spiritualized
- In actuality every living being is a spiritual spark, part and parcel of the complete spirit whole. The spiritual spark is the same in all, but it is covered by different dresses
- In the beginning he desires to become one with the Supreme. Thus, less intelligent transcendentalists cannot go beyond this conception of becoming one with the spirit whole, without knowing of the different rasas
- In the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, the Supreme Lord explained that a living entity is not the material body; he is a spiritual spark. And the Absolute Truth is the spiritual whole
- In this way (spreading supreme knowledge of Bhagavad-gita), people may realize their true spiritual nature and their relationship to the supreme spiritual whole
- Indirectly it is confirmed that the Supreme Being, the Lord, makes no such material changes of body. He is spiritually whole, with no difference between His body and His soul, unlike the conditioned soul
M
- Matter does not develop unless in contact with the superior spiritual, or antimaterial, energy, which is directly part and parcel of the spiritual whole
- Mayavada philosophy enunciates that the whole spirit exists, but a part of it, which is called the jiva, is entrapped by illusion. This philosophy, however, is unacceptable because spirit cannot be divided like a fragment of matter
T
- The individual soul is a particle from the very beginning. One should not think that because the individual soul is a particle, it is fragmented from the whole spirit
- The living entities are eternally small fragments of the supreme spiritual whole. As a part can never be equal with the whole, so a living entity, as a minute fragment of the spiritual whole, cannot be equal at any time to the Supreme Whole
- The living entities, who are molecular parts of the whole spirit, are separated from the Lord by the artificial covering of maya, illusory energy
- The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him
- The materialist does not believe in the existence of the spirit self, and empiric philosophers believe in the impersonal feature of the whole spirit without individuality of the living beings
- The minute particle of the whole spirit acquires this material body according to his work, and therefore observance of religious principles should be utilized. BG 1972 purports
- The philosophy of acintya bhedabheda tattva is perfect. Everything is simultaneously one and different from the Supreme. One in quality because the original source is the Spiritual Whole, and different in quantity
- The Supreme Lord is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, and we are qualitatively one with Him. Although very small, a drop of seawater is as salty as the sea, and although we are but spiritual atoms, we have the same properties as the supreme spirit whole