Chapter 2 - Attributes of God

‘The Supreme Spirit is devoid of the defining attributes of form, colour, etc. He is unchangeable, unborn, eternal, indestructible, imperishable and is always of one nature. He is pure and the repository of all blessed qualities.’—Vishnu-Purana.

God is described in different scriptures as a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, true, and one; the omnipotent and omniscient Creator and Governor of the universe, and the repository of all blessed qualities, such as justice, goodness, mercy, and love. If we ask a Christian, a Jew, a Mohammedan, a Parsee, a Hindu, or a follower of any other sect or creed, what is his conception of God, each one of them will quote passages from his Scriptures, giving the same attributes to the divine Being, whom they worship under various names, such as Father in heaven, Jehovah, Allah, Ahura Mazda, or Brahman. The names may vary, but the attributes of God are with each exactly the same.

A Catholic priest who bows down before the image of Jesus the Christ and prays to Him and burns incense and lights candles, a protestant clergyman who does not believe in bowing down before any image, a Mohammedan priest who is a fanatical inconoclast and denies all forms of God, or a Hindu priest who worships an idol in a temple, invariably agree with one another in describing the attributes of the God they worship. There is no difference between the God of a Christian, or a Mohammedan, or a Parsee, or a Hindu, because each of them believes that God is infinite and one.

How can there be many Gods, when their attributes are the same and identical everywhere? Yet a Christian calls the Hindu a heathen, and a Mohammedan calls a Christian an unbeliever, and each in turn quarrels with the other. Why is there so much persecution, if God is one? Because of the ignorance of His believers. They do not even try to understand the true meaning of any of the attributes which they give to God: their eyes are blinded by ignorance, fanaticism, and bigotry. Stimulated by false belief and superstition, they maintain that their God is the only true God, while the God of other nations is untrue, and they cannot see that everyone worships the same infinite Being. Fanatical Christians preach: ‘Beware of the God of the heathen, He cannot give salvation to His worshippers’, as if, there were two Gods.

Ignorance is the mother of fanaticism, bigotry, superstition, and of all that springs from them. Fanatics cannot realize that God is the common property of all, that whether He be worshipped by a Christian or by a Hindu, He is one, because His attributes are identical. Among those who are not so fanatical, there are many who give the same attributes to God without, however, understanding their true meaning. Ninety per cent of monotheists all over the world say: ‘God is infinite and one,’ but, at the same time, they think of some being with a human form sitting somewhere outside the universe. If we ask them the meaning of the word ‘infinite’, their answers are often full of illogical nonsense. They will make God as finite as possible and bring forward all sorts of fallacious arguments to support their position.

Those who believe in a personal God, give Him a human form, human attributes, and a human personality without realizing that they are making their Lord limited in power, personality, and attributes. Of course it is not their fault; it is quite natural that they should think of the Ruler of the universe as a human being, because we are all human beings, and the limit of our conception is a human being. Our world is a human world, our God must be a human God, and our explanation of the universe must also be human. As having seen the governor of a country, who is a human being with certain powers, we form a concept and keep it in our minds, so we conceive the supreme Being as the governor of the universe. Naturally, we give Him a human form and a human personality, only with this difference that the governor of the country is limited in power, size, and qualifications, while the Ruler of the universe is unlimited in power and immensely magnified in size and qualifications; yet, however great He may be, He must still appear more or less like a human being. In this way our explanation of the universe has become human, and our God has acquired a human form and personality. If a cow became a philosopher and had a religion, her conception of God would be in cow form, her explanation of the universe would be through that cow god. She would not be able to comprehend our Lord at all. Similarly, if a tiger had a god, his conception would be of a tiger form. If there be a being with a form different from ours, with a nature higher than ours, his God will be like himself. As we do not know what conception of God the people of Mars have, we cannot know their God; if they are not like human beings, their conception will differ from ours. So none of these pictures of God and none of these explanations of the universe can be complete in itself. It may be a partial truth, but not the whole truth. Therefore, all those conceptions of God, which we so often hear—that He is like a human being sitting, on a throne outside the universe and from there governing the universe by His powers, are incomplete and imperfect.

But ordinary people do not see this. Each is sure that his conception and explanation are the best. They cannot realize how there can be anything higher or greater than what they already believe. Yet, when they are asked, ‘what are the attributes of such a human God?’ they will say: ‘He is a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, true, and one; He is the omniscient and omnipotent Creator and the repository of all blessed qualities’. Thus they unconsciously make God finite and infinite at the same time. Can there be anything more absurd and self-contradictory than a finite infinite God! If He is finite, He is limited by time, space, and causation, must have a beginning and an end, and cannot be unchangeable. A finite God must be changeable and must perish like all mortal things. Are we ready to believe in such a perishable God? Not for a moment. We cannot give any form to God, because form means limitation in space by time. By giving a form to God, we make Him subject to time, space, and the law of causation; consequently, we make Him mortal like any other object of the phenomenal universe which has form. God with a form cannot be immortal and eternal, He must die. Therefore, we cannot say that God is finite or that He has any form.

He is infinite. But, let us have a clear understanding of the meaning of this word ‘infinite’, and use it in its proper sense. That, which is not limited by time and space and not subject to the law of causation, which is above time, space, and beyond all laws, is infinite. God is not limited by time or space, neither has He any cau.se. He is absolute. The infinite, again, must be one, otherwise it is finite. If there be any other thing beside that infinite, then it is no longer infinite; it is limited by that object; consequently, it has become finite. Thus, if we admit that God is infinite, we deny the existence of any other thing besides God; otherwise He would be limited by that thing, and be subject to time, space, and the law of causation.

If we say that matter exists separate from and outside of God, we have made Him limited by matter, we have made Him finite and perishable. If we think of ourselves as separate from God, as independent of His Being, then in our thought we have denied His illimitable nature. There is for the samereason, not a single particle of matter in the universe that can exist independent of God’s existence or outside of God; if Heis infinite and one, our bodies and everything of the universe, from the minutest atom to the largest planetary system, from the lowest animalcule to the highest Being, exists in and through that infinite Existence. This may be startling to many, but the fact cannot be denied. If we wish to be logical, if the word ‘infinite’ conveys any meaning at all, we cannot avoid the logical conclusion which must inevitably follow. If, on the contrary, we use the word ‘infinite’ meaning something finite, how foolish-and illogical shall we be! The conclusion is this: If God is infinite and one, then mind and matter, subject and object, creator and creation, and all relative dual existences are within that Being, and not outside of it. The whole universe is in God and God is in it; it is inseparable from God. I am in Him and He is in me; each one of us is inseparable from His being; if one atom of my body exists, that existence cannot be sepa-rated from His existence.

We have now understood the meaning of the two attributes infinite and one. Let us examine the meaning of other attributes. God is unchangeable, that is, He is always the same and never subject to any change whatsoever, because He is eternal, without beginning or end. That which has a beginning must have an end, and go through all the changes of birth, growth, decay, and death; everything that has a beginning must grow; decay, and die. That which is limited by time and space must go through all these changes, which, on the contrary, never affect the infinite Being.

God is a spirit. What is to be understood by spirit? It does not mean a shadowy form or an apparition. By this term is meant pure, self-luminous intelligence, the source of all consciousness, the basis and foundation of all knowledge, the background of mind and matter, of subject and object. Again, He is true. That which is not God is untrue or unreal; or, in other words, that which is finite, manifold, changeable, non-eternal, transitory, is untrue and unreal. Furthermore, God is omnipresent and omniscient, and upon Him depends the existence of mind and matter, of subject and object. Let us understand this a little more clearly. Whatever exists in the universe, whether mental or physical, subjective or objective, can exist only as related to a self-conscious intelligence. When we analyse our perceptions, we find that, that which is not related to any state of our consciousness does not exist in relation to us, because we do not know anything about it. Existence and knowledge or consciousness are inseparable.

As our small worlds of which we are conscious, exist in relation to our conscious being, so the phenomenal universe can only exist as being related to the knowledge of the cosmic knower or the universal Being; otherwise there cannot be any existence, because existence and knowledge, existence and consciousness are inseparable; therefore, God is called omniscient or all-knowing. Nothing exists without being related directly to the intelligence and knowledge of the infinite Being. As this infinite Being pervades the universe and interpenetrates every particle of matter, giving existence to everything, so the light of His knowledge pervades the universe; therefore, He is omnipresent and omniscient. If these various conceptions, obtained by analysing the attributes of God, be summed up, we shall learn that God is the absolute Being, eternal, true, and everlasting, the one infinite ocean of self-existence, self-luminous intelligence, which is the source of all consciousness. Nothing can exist outside of or independent of that one omnipresent and omniscient Being of the universe.

Here a question arises,—if there be no other being besides God, what will become of the diverse phenomena of the universe, which we perceive with our senses? Do they not exist? Yes, they do, but their existence depends upon God. They have no separate and independent. existence; they are like froth, bubbles, and waves on that infinite ocean of intelligence. As a wave cannot exist for a moment independent of the ocean, so the phenomena of the world depend for their existence upon the absolute Being.

This ocean of pure self-luminous intelligence and existence is described in Vedanta by the word Brahman, which means absolute Existence and Intelligence, the unlimited source of knowledge and of consciousness; while the power which produces these waves of phenomena is called maya. This inscrutable power of maya dwells in the infinite ocean of Reality or Brahman from eternity to eternity. It is as inseparable from the divine Being as the power of burning is inseparable from fire. Sometimes this power remains latent as undifferentiated cosmic energy, and sometimes it manifests itself as the various forces of nature. When that power is latent, all phenomena disappear, and dissolution or involution takes place; but, when it begins to express itself as natural forces, it produces the waves and bubbles of phenomena in the ocean of Brahman. Then the absolute Being seen through the active or manifesting power of maya or cosmic energy, appears as the Creator and Governor of the universe.

He is called in Sanskrit ‘Isvara’, which means also the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He is the first-born lord, or the cosmic ego. This cosmic ego, Isvara or Lord, is called the Creator of the universe. Here, let us understand clearly, in what sense God can be properly called the Creator of the world. Does He create it out of nothing, as described in the monotheistic and dualistic Scriptures of the Christians, the Jews, the Mohammedans, and the Parsees? No, He does not create anything out of nothing; He is not the creator in that sense. In the first place, we must not forget the truth, discovered and established by ancient and modem science, that something cannot come out of nothing; consequently, to a scientific mind, creation out of nothing has no meaning. The theory of a special creation of the world as we read in the Genesis has been proved to be an unscientific myth. Secondly, the doctrine of evolution is now so unquestionably established, that we can safely accept it in the place of the mythical story of special creation. Therefore, when we speak of God as the Creator of the universe, we do not mean one, who brought the world into existence out of nothing, as our forefathers understood by this expression; but, applying the light of science and being guided by the reasoning of the Vedanta philosophy, we must understand that Isvara is called the Creator, because, He projects out of His own being, the powers existing there potentially and makes them active. Thus the word creator means the projector of all forces and of all phenomenal forms which potentially existed as eternal energy in Isvara. That projection from the potential into the kinetic or active state takes place gradually through the process of the evolution of the maya or the cosmic energy which dwells in the Isvara of Vedanta. Vedanta teaches that, although Brahman or the absolute Being or Godhead is above all activity, still Isvara is full of power and action. He starts the evolution of the cosmic energy which, before the beginning of the cyclic evolution, held all phenomenal names and forms in its bosom. Isvara, according to Vedanta, is both the material and the efficient cause of the universe. He does not create matter, but matter is only a certain state or mode of motion of the universal divine Energy. When the dormant power of maya begins to manifest, all material forms commence to appear.

The next attribute of Isvara is that of Ruler or Governor of the universe. How does He govern? Does He govern the world from outside, as it is said in the Christian scriptures? No, He governs from within and never from without. He is the Antaryamin, the internal Ruler of the universe. As the soul is the internal ruler of the body, so Isvara, being the Soul of the universe, governs it from within and not from outside.

He is the repository of all blessed qualities, that is, all that is good, all that is great, all that is sublime; is but the expression of the divine power. But God Himself is above good and evil, beyond virtue and vice, above all relativity, and beyond all conditions. He loves all beings equally and impartially; He does not love one nation for certain qualifications and hate other nations, but He loves every living soul, whether human or animal, equally. Just as the sun shines alike upon the heads of sages and sinners, so the love of that divine Being touches the souls of all. Why does He love all beings equally? Because each individual soul is related to God as a part is related to the whole. As a part cannot exist independently, so our souls cannot exist independent of the soul of the universe. Therefore, we live and move and exist in and through the whole, or Isvara. God loves His parts, because He cannot help it. How can it be otherwise? How is it possible for a whole not to love its own parts? Love means the expression of oneness. At the bottom of all earthly love, exists this idea of oneness; the lover and the beloved must be one, one in spirit, in thoughts, in ideas, in everything; otherwise, there is no real love. Therefore God is all-loving. Thus, if we try, with the aid of the light of science and reason, to understand the true significance of the attributes of God, we are forcibly driven to the conclusions of Vedanta. With the help of Vedanta, we can realize the true relation which the universe bears to God, which the individual soul bears to the infinite Being.

If we once understand that God is the source of all existence and power and is the one Reality, that outside of God no existence is possible, then we begin to feel the presence of divinity everywhere. In every action of our lives, we realize that the divine power is working through us, and, at every moment of our earthly existence, we feel ourselves to be like so many instruments through which the divine will is manifesting itself and doing whatever He ordains. All the actions of our lives are, then, turned into acts of worship of the supreme Deity. Being dead to selfishness, we are, then, able to say from the bottom of our hearts, ‘O Lord, Thy will, not mine, be done.’

All fear then vanishes, all sins are redeemed, and the individual soul becomes free from the bondage of ignorance and selfishness. This realization leads to a still higher and closer union with the Divine. The soul gradually realizes spiritual oneness with the universal Spirit or Brahman. Thus, having attained to God-consciousness, which is the highest ideal of all religions, the individual soul becomes like Christ, and declares. ‘I and my Father are one.’