Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Personal nature

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 1 - 6

It is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth.
BG 4.10, Translation and Purport:

Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me—and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.

As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand how the Supreme can be a person. Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore, people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord. For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme. Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal. And because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens them.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

Not only are the worshipers of the demigods less intelligent, but those nondevotees who are engaged in Vedānta and speculation on Vedic literature without any tinge of true Kṛṣṇa consciousness are also less intelligent, and for them it is not possible to understand God's personal nature.
BG 7.24, Purport:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated that the Personality of Godhead cannot be understood simply by study of the Vedānta literature. Only by the mercy of the Supreme Lord can the Personality of the Supreme be known. Therefore in this verse it is clearly stated that not only are the worshipers of the demigods less intelligent, but those nondevotees who are engaged in Vedānta and speculation on Vedic literature without any tinge of true Kṛṣṇa consciousness are also less intelligent, and for them it is not possible to understand God's personal nature. Persons who are under the impression that the Absolute Truth is impersonal are described as abuddhayaḥ, which means those who do not know the ultimate feature of the Absolute Truth. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that supreme realization begins from the impersonal Brahman and then rises to the localized Supersoul—but the ultimate word in the Absolute Truth is the Personality of Godhead.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 3

Samādhi involves concentrating the mind upon the supreme cause of all, even if one is unaware of whether His actual nature is personal, impersonal or localized.
SB 3.8.21, Translation and Purport:

Thereafter, being unable to achieve the desired destination, he retired from such searching and came back again to the top of the lotus. Thus, controlling all objectives, he concentrated his mind on the Supreme Lord.

Samādhi involves concentrating the mind upon the supreme cause of all, even if one is unaware of whether His actual nature is personal, impersonal or localized. Concentration of the mind on the Supreme is certainly a form of devotional service. To cease from personal sense endeavors and to concentrate on the supreme cause is a sign of self-surrender, and when self-surrender is present, that is a sure sign of devotional service. Each and every living entity needs to engage in devotional service to the Lord if he wishes to understand the ultimate cause of his existence.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 12.7.13, Translation:

Vṛtti means the process of sustenance, by which the moving beings live upon the nonmoving. For a human, vṛtti specifically means acting for one's livelihood in a manner suited to his personal nature. Such action may be carried out either in pursuit of selfish desire or in accordance with the law of God.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

He comes in His original, superior, or higher, nature. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourselves. Here it is clearly said, prakṛtiṁ svām. Svām means own, personal, internal nature.
Lecture on BG 4.3-6 -- New York, July 18, 1966:

So similarly, if we think that Kṛṣṇa is like us, He is also assumed a material body and He is one of us, then it is a mistake. It is a mistake. That is explained. In the later chapters you'll find. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Oh, because I appear just like a man, the foolish man considers Me as one of them. But I am not as one of... I am not one of them." Here it is clearly said that "I appear, I appear." Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. "I appear in My own spiritual nature. I don't accept this lower nature, this material nature." So we are, when we appear... Just like we have appeared. We have appeared in this material world, accepting this material body, the lower nature. But when Kṛṣṇa comes, He does not accept the lower nature. He comes in His original, superior, or higher, nature. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourselves. Here it is clearly said, prakṛtiṁ svām. Svām means own, personal, internal nature.

When we try to impress people about the personal nature or the personal body of God, generally, we think, "God is a person like me."
Lecture on BG 4.7-10 -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Purport: "As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily concept of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand how the Supreme can be a person. Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is nonperishable, full of knowledge, and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord."

Prabhupāda: Yes. When we try to impress people about the personal nature or the personal body of God, generally, we think, "God is a person like me." Therefore they cannot imagine how God... Actually God is not a person like me, but He is a person. That is to be understood. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). He has got body, but He hasn't got body like me.

Just like in the Vedas it is stated, apāni-pādo javano gṛhītaḥ. In the Upaniṣads it is said that "God has no leg, but He can run faster than any one of us." Now, this is superficially contradiction. If He has no leg, then how He can run faster than me? So the adjustment is that He has got leg because He runs. Just like in another place, "God has no hands, but He can accept whatever we offer."

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

There are many persons who have faith in something superior or absolute, but they do not believe in the personal nature of God.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.254 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1968:

So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was a great logician. He was unfaithful. Not... He was moralist, but he had no faith in God, or impersonalist. There are many persons who have faith in something superior or absolute, but they do not believe in the personal nature of God. But here, from the Bhagavad-gītā, we can clearly understand, from Bhāgavata we can clearly understand, from Vedānta philosophy we clearly understand that God is person, a person like you and me. Take, for example, in the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The first sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now you have to understand what is Brahman, or what is the Absolute Truth." The next aphorism is, immediately, that "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates, the original source of all emanation." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Janma, janma means birth. Ādi means et cetera. But janma, where there is birth, there is death and there is existence.

Page Title:Personal nature
Compiler:Matea
Created:05 of Jul, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=2, SB=2, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=3, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:7