Nirakara

Expressions researched:
"nirakara"

SB Canto 4

SB 4.29.3, Purport:

Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unknown to the conditioned soul, He is sometimes described in Vedic literatures as nirākāra, avijñāta or avāṅ-mānasa-gocara. Actually it is a fact that the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be perceived by material senses as far as His form, name, quality, pastimes or paraphernalia are concerned. However, when one is spiritually advanced, one can understand the name, form, qualities, pastimes and paraphernalia of the Supreme Lord.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.4.32, Purport:

Some say that the Absolute has no form (nirākāra), and others say that the Absolute has a form (sākāra). Therefore the word form is the common factor, although some accept it (asti or astika) whereas others try to negate it (nāsti or nāstika). Since the devotee considers the word "form" (ākāra) the common factor for both, he offers his respectful obeisances to the form, although others may go on arguing about whether the Absolute has a form or not.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.9.51, Purport:

The word nirguṇa is important. The Māyāvādī philosophers accept the Absolute Truth as nirguṇa or nirākāra. The word nirguṇa refers to one who possesses no material qualities. The Lord, being full of spiritual qualities, gave up all His anger and spoke to Prahlāda.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.3.2, Purport:

There is no difference between the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, and oṁkāra (praṇava). We should be careful to understand that oṁkāra does not indicate anything nirākāra, or formless. Indeed, this verse immediately says, oṁ namo bhagavate. Bhagavān is a person. Thus oṁkāra is the representation of the Supreme Person. Oṁkāra is not meant to be impersonal, as the Māyāvādī philosophers consider it to be. This is distinctly expressed here by the word puruṣāya. The supreme truth addressed by oṁkāra is puruṣa, the Supreme Person; He is not impersonal.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.1.11, Purport:

In many places the Supreme Personality of Godhead is described as sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), possessing a spiritual, blissful body. His bodily feature is narākṛti, that is, exactly like that of a human being. Here the same idea is repeated in the words mānuṣam āśritya, which indicate that He accepts a body exactly like that of a man. Everywhere it is confirmed that Kṛṣṇa is never nirākāra, or formless. He has His form, exactly like that of a human being. There is no doubt about this.

SB 10.1.43, Purport:

This realization is sometimes explained as nirākāra, or formlessness. This formlessness, however, does not mean that the soul has no form. The soul has form, but the external, agitating form he has acquired because of material contamination is false. Similarly, God is also described as nirākāra, which means that God has no material form but is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). The living entity is part and parcel of the supreme sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, but his material forms are temporary, or illusory. Both the living entity and the Supreme Lord have original, spiritual forms (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha), but the Lord, the Supreme, does not change His form.

SB 10.3.24, Purport:

From the Ṛg Veda we understand, oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam: the original substance is the all-pervading Lord Viṣṇu, who is also Paramātmā and the effulgent Brahman. The living entities are also part and parcel of Viṣṇu, who has various energies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)). Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, is therefore everything. Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.8), ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me." Kṛṣṇa, therefore, is the original cause of everything (sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1)). When Viṣṇu expands in His all-pervading aspect, we should understand Him to be the nirākāra-nirviśeṣa-brahmajyoti.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 7.112, Purport:

It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1): "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, has a spiritual body which is full of knowledge, eternity and bliss." In this material world everyone's body is just the opposite—temporary, full of ignorance and full of misery. Therefore when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is sometimes described as nirākāra, this is to indicate that He does not have a material body like us.

CC Adi 7.112, Purport:

Māyāvādī philosophers do not know how it is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is formless. The Supreme Lord does not have a form like ours but has a spiritual form. Not knowing this, Māyāvādī philosophers simply advocate the onesided view that the Supreme Godhead, or Brahman, is formless (nirākāra). In this connection Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura offers many quotes from the Vedic literature. If one accepts the real or direct meaning of these Vedic statements, one can understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has a spiritual body (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)).

CC Adi 7.114, Purport:

The Māyāvādīs, who are not in agreement with the existence of the Lord, can be classified in two groups, exemplified by the impersonalist Śaṅkarites of Vārāṇasī and the Buddhists of Saranātha. Both groups are Māyāvādīs, and Kṛṣṇa takes away their knowledge due to their atheistic philosophies. Neither group agrees to accept the existence of a personal God. The Buddhist philosophers clearly deny both the soul and God, and although the Śaṅkarites do not openly deny God, they say that the Absolute is nirākāra, or formless. Thus both the Buddhists and the Śaṅkarites are aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32), or imperfect and unclean in their knowledge and intelligence.

CC Adi 7.114, Purport:

In simple language, it is the opinion of Sadānanda Yogīndra that since everything is nirākāra (formless), the conception of Viṣṇu and the conception of the individual soul are both products of ignorance. He also explains that the viśuddha-sattva conception of the Vaiṣṇavas is nothing but pradhāna, or the chief principle of creation. He maintains that when all-pervading knowledge is contaminated by the viśuddha-sattva, which consists of a transformation of the quality of goodness, there arises the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the omnipotent, omniscient supreme ruler, the Supersoul, the cause of all causes, the supreme īśvara, etc.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.2:

The material nature is the result of the transformation of the Lord's energies. Both the energies and the energetic are inconceivable, and they are simultaneously one and different. Hence the phrase sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma, ("Everything is Brahman") in fact declares that everything consists of transformations of the Supreme Lord's material and spiritual energies. The transformation of His energies neither increases nor decreases the Supreme Absolute Truth; hence Brahman is described as changeless. And the inferior energy, being only the reflection of Brahman, is nirākāra, impersonal.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 6, 1972:

Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa is not anything of this material world. Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu. The Absolute Personality of Godhead, He is not anything of this material world. When we use this word, nirākāra, that means His form is not anything of this material world. But He has got His form. That is a transcendental form. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Nirākāra means He, He has no such form, as we have got this material form. This material form is neither of the three transcendental bliss, sac-cid-ānanda. This is asat, acit, and nirānanda. This body, this material body is asat, acit, and nirānanda. Therefore, when in the Vedic literature or in authorized statement we find "nirākāra," that means His form does not belong to this asat, acit, or nirānanda. But He has His form.

Lecture on BG 2.8 -- London, August 8, 1973:

Actually I'm not this body. I'm spirit soul. But this is the covering of my real body, spiritual body. Similarly, spiritual body has spiritual senses. Not that nirākāra. Why nirākāra? It is a common-sense affair. Just like if you have got a hand, a or two, one or two hands, you have got two hands. Therefore when the hand is covered by some cloth, the cloth also gets a hand. Because I have got hand, therefore my dress has got a hand. Because I have got my legs, therefore my covering, dress, has got legs, pant. It is a common-sense affair. Wherefrom this body came? This body's described: vāsāṁsi, garments. So garment means it is cut according to the body. That is garment. Not that my body is made according to the garment. It is a commonsense affair. So when I have got hands of my shirt, this is my subtle body or gross body, therefore originally, spiritually, I have got my hands and legs. Otherwise, how it comes? How do you develop?

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

The, by arithmetic calculation the mathematicians say that "The point has no length and breadth." Oh, this is, this is, this is a disappointment. Because he cannot measure the length and breadth of the point, therefore he says like that. But point has length and breadth. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Therefore a certain class of philosophers, they are astonished simply by seeing the great magnitude of the Lord, but there is smaller, smallest, aṇor aṇīyān. These are much smaller than the atom, but that is beyond our experience. Therefore we say, nirākāra. Nirākāra means we cannot calculate the ākāra, the actual form. Nirākāra does not mean that it has no form. It has form. Just see. That they say, that the point has no length and breadth. Similarly, the soul has everything, length and... Within that point it has got his head, leg, everything, consciousness, everything there. And because it is beyond the calculation of our human knowledge, therefore they are disappointed: "Nirākāra, nirākāra, nirākāra." Not nirākāra. It has ākāra. But we are so, our senses are so blunt that we cannot calculate.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 18, 1972:

There is dimension of the living entity—one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. So it is very difficult with our, these material eyes. We are very much proud of our eyes. But here is the indication from the śāstra, the length and breadth of the living soul. Now, you find out, with your eyes, your microscope. That is not possible. Because they cannot find out, they say, nirākāra. Nirākāra. In one sense, it can be supported that we cannot ascertain the forms of the soul. And what, how we can ascertain the form of the Lord? Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān.

Lecture on BG 2.21-22 -- London, August 26, 1973:

Now the body has been compared herein as the garment. Just like coat and shirt. The tailor cuts the coat according to the body. Similarly, this material body, if it is shirt and coat, then this is cut according to the spiritual body. The spiritual body is not nirākāra, without form. If it is without form, then how the garment, the coat and shirt, has got hands and legs? It is common sense. The coat has got hand or the pant has got legs because the person who is using the coat, he has got hands and legs.