Definition Of God

By Sri Suvyakta Narsimha Dasa Sri Parashara Muni, the father of the great Srila Vyasadeva, has given the definition of God thus in the Vishnu Purana: aishvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yashasah shriyoh, jnana vairagyayoshchaiva shannam bhagam itim gana - Bhagavan means one who possesses these six opulences in full: all riches, all strength, all fame, all wisdom, all beauty, all renunciation. This is a very simple but comprehensive definition of God or Bhagavan. In fact, the etymological meaning of the word Bhagavan is one who possesses all opulences (bhaga opulences; van one who possesses). It is a fact that anyone who possesses any one of the above mentioned six opulences to even some extent, becomes attractive in this world. The rich and the famous, the bold and the beautiful are all attractive. We are all enamoured by the rich, the beautiful, the intelligent, the powerful, the famous and the renounced people in the world. Everyone dreams of making it big in life like one of the people who possesses any of these opulences. Hence, it is obvious that these opulences make a person attractive. And according to the definition of God given in the Vishnu Purana, since God possesses all these opulences in full, He must be the most attractive person. Thus, if God can be given any name at all, it must be All attractive. In Sanskrit, the word for all attractive is Krishna. Hence Krishna is the prime name for the Supreme Lord, although He may have many names. Krishna declares in the Gita, aham sarvasya prabhavo, matthah sarvam pravarthathe I am the source of everything and everything emanates from Me. Thus the entire material creation along with all its planets and riches belong to the Supreme Lord Krishna. As such no one can equal the richness of Krishna since everything belongs to Him. And as far as the strength of Krishna is concerned, He demonstrated superhuman acts such as the lifting of the Goverdhan Hill and killing of Puthana and other demons even as a child. No one in history could ever match His strength. Further, Krishnas fame is spread all over the world. People in every part of the world know about Krishna, even 5000 years after He wound up His pastimes on this planet. Thus His fame outstrips that of any other. The Gita, which is nothing but the words of wisdom spoken by Krishna, is revered and studied by all the intelligentsia of the world such as Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein etc. While Krishnas wisdom is acclaimed all over the world, His beauty is legendary. It is said in the Brahma Samhitha that Krishnas beauty cannot be equaled even by the beauty of crores of Cupids combined together. The unique feature of Krishnas beauty is that He never grows old and always appears like a fresh youth. When Krishna was driving Arjunas chariot in the battlefield of Kurukshethra, He was about 90 years old. Yet He is seen like a twenty year old young man. Thus Krishna is described as nava yauvana One who is always a fresh youth and never grows old. Krishnas renunciation is demonstrated by the fact that although He has created this world, He is not attached to it. We are born in this world for a few years and during that temporary period, we claim many things as our own. Still Krishna does not interfere. Thus His renunciation is unparalleled and hence He is worshipped by great sages and renunciants. Thus by His activities, Krishna has demonstrated how He is the Supreme God. We, being parts and parcels of God, do possess some percentage of the qualities of God. All the qualities present in Krishna are present in us also to some extent. However, we cannot possess all the qualities of Krishna to the extent He does. Thus the Vedas describe Krishna as vibhu or great and the souls as anu or tiny. Being the qualitative tiny parts of Krishna, we can be situated in the greatest happiness and peace, in our constitutional position of rendering devotional service to Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead.