Guest, Johannesburg, October 22, 1975: Your Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, I saw in the Bhagavad-gita where the Lord explains to the devotee Arjuna the yoga of His cosmic form. Arjuna, however, visualized an experience, this cosmic form of the Lord. I would like to know what divine grace impart unto Arjuna so that he could visualize the cosmic form of the Lord.
Prabhupada: God has His form. That I explained the other day. But His form is not like our form. His form is sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah [Bs. 5.1] His body is eternal, full of knowledge, and blissful. Our, this form is not eternal, neither full of knowledge, nor blissful. So it is not that God has no form. When it is described indirectly that “God has no form,” means He has no form like us. Don’t think that He has no form. He has no form, material form like us, which is not eternal, not full of knowledge, not blissful. So God has form. So God’s form is realized in three different stages. It is said in the Srimad- Bhagavatam,
vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate [Bhag. 1.2.11]
“That Absolute Truth is realized… They are one, but realized in three different phases.” Just like the example is given, I have given several times, that the sun, the sun globe and the sun-god. There is… Within the sun globe there is sun-god. His name is Vivasvan. As you refer to Bhagavad-gita, in the Bhagavad-gita you will find the predominating deity or the president of the sun globe. His name is Vivasvan. Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1] Krishna says that many millions of years ago He went to the sun globe and He preached this Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god, the president of the sun globe, Vivasvan. So there are living entities. The sun-god is the living entity. The difference is that the living entities there, the body is made of fire. As our body is made of earth, dirt, their body is made of fire. Therefore they are so glowing, everything. It is a fiery planet, airy planet, watery planet, earthly planet—five elements. So if we cannot imagine that, “Because we have got earthly body, there cannot be fiery body.” That is our lack of knowledge, poor fund of knowledge. In God’s creation there are varieties. So just like we can see in the water there are living entities. Their body is made of different…, not different, but different proportion of the material elements so they can remain within the water. Similarly, different proportion in every planet… In the sastra we see. It is not that, that all the planets are vacant only. This is not very good idea. Everywhere there are living entities. So all these living entities throughout the whole universe, they are possessing body of the material elements. But God has no such body. His body is different, sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah. Isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah [Bs. 5.1]. So that sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah, spiritual body, can be expanded, reduced. Anor aniyah mahato mahiyan. He can expand this body, spiritual body, bigger than the biggest, and He can reduce the body smaller than the smallest. That is God’s body. You cannot do that. Andantara-stha-paramanu-caya… God is within the atom. How He is within the atom? Then anor aniyah. He can become smaller than the smallest. He can become the bigger than the biggest. So Arjuna, when he saw the visvarupa, He showed him the bigger-than-the-biggest form. But His usual form is two- handed and two leg. Just like it is said in the Bible, “Man is made after the image of God.” So God has got two hands, two legs exactly. But He is the omnipotent, almighty. Our power is limited, His power is unlimited. Otherwise He has got form.
Full Lecture: http://causelessmercy.com/t/t/751022SB.JOH.htm
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