Wednesday 12 December 2012

A Personable God


Many Vaishnavas believe God has six special qualities : all knowledge, all power, supreme majesty, supreme strength, unlimited energy, and total self-sufficiency. So he's not just a transcendent undifferentiated mystical blur, but an actual divine person. Vaishnavas like to use one of the oldest Vedic names for God, Purushottama, which means " the ultimate person". Or, as the Hare Krishnas put it, " the Supreme Personality of Godhead".

For most Vaishnavas, the divine Self inside ourselves is the same as but no equal to Vishnu. Spiritual liberation means merging into God, but not in the same total sense that Shankaracharya taught. We merge in God without losing our individual nature, for we are meant to be his companions for all eternities. And even though we may enjoy his bliss when our awareness bathes in his, we do not share his infinite power. Only God can create a universe. We hang out in the worlds he places us in. We don't create new worlds ourselves.

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