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As the Vedic literature progressively explains, the fullest understanding of God is that the Absolute Truth culminates in the Supreme Person. All of creation comes from this Person. And the material creation is proof of the existence of this Supreme Personality.
After all, one of the questions that we can ask is, if God was merely an impersonal void or great energy only, how can the impersonal create the personal? How can a divine energy or force, or a non-entity, give birth to, or create, entities? How can that without a personality create the innumerable beings that have personalities and characteristics and idiosyncrasies?
So, if God was merely a nonentity, or without activities, there would be no need for Him to create His separated parts and parcels with whom He could have relationships or loving exchanges. Actually, there would be no need of beings of any kind, in which case there would be no need for a cosmic creation to allow the materially inclined living beings to engage in material relationships and activities.
We need to remember that one of the purposes of this creation is to allow the materially conditioned souls the freedom to express their individuality. If this individuality was not an intrinsic aspect of our nature, why would we have the propensity for self-expression or the need to chase after so many desires? And without it, once again, there would also be no need for a material manifestation. In other words, if the Ultimate Reality was but a void or great white light only, in which there is no activity, what need would there be for a cosmic creation in which the living beings are allowed to express so many desires or activities?
To explain further, it is said that variety is the spice of life, and that particular spice or enjoyment is found only in activities. Furthermore, activity is generally based on relationships of various kinds with others. If we were all one, or all merged into a void, there could be no relationships nor desires for such. Without individuality, there is no need for relationships, or activity, loving exchanges, nor any variety or fun. In such a case, the Lord would be inactive in a spiritual world that offered no variegatedness. There would also be no need for a material creation where so many relationships take place, or where the conditioned souls can chase after their own particular material desires. Actually, there would be no need for anything at all. However, we can plainly see all around us that such is not the case. There are innumerable living beings of many varieties of species, all determinedly engaged for self-preservation and expression, and the fulfillment of so many desires.
Therefore, the material creation is proof of the existence of God. It is proof of the personal form of the Supreme Being and the nature of His parts and parcels to long for and engage in a variety of activities and loving relationships, the highest of which is to engage in spiritual loving relations with the Supreme Lord. This is our natural constitutional position for which we have been brought into existence. This is the eternal nature of the soul, our real identity. That is why nothing will ever change our natural inclination toward varieties of activities, individual self-expression, and the need to love and be loved.
Published with the kind permission of Stephen Knapp
Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandanandana) is the President and Treasurer of the Vedic Friends Association (www.vedicfriends.org). He has been researching Vedic spirituality and comparative religious study for over 30 years in a variety of settings. He has directly engaged in those spiritual disciplines that have been recommended for hundreds of years. He continued his study of Vedic knowledge and practice under the guidance of a spiritual master to get the insights and realizations that are normally absent from the ordinary academic atmosphere. Through this process he has been initiated into the genuine and authorized spiritual line of the Brahma-Madhava-Gaudiya sampradaya, or disciplic succession, under the sanction of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. He has also extensively travelled throughout India to most of the major holy sights and more, and is known for his slide shows on his travels to the holy places and spiritual festivals of India (even nicknamed "the slide show acharya"), and for his lectures on the Vedic and Indian philosophy. He has written several books on the science and spiritual practice of Vedic culture and Eastern philosophy.
Visit his website, at: http://www.stephen-knapp.com.
You can email him at: Srinandan@aol.com.
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