Srila Prabhupada - Vedic Teachings

„So without a thing being existing in the Absolute Truth, how that can be manifested in this relative truth? This world is relative truth. So there is everything, but only one has to understand what is that everything. That everything is spiritual, and this is material. When it is said that He's sarvendriya-vivarjitam, that means He has no material senses. He has got senses. He has got eyes, He has got hands, legs, everything, but they are not material. But a man with poor fund of knowledge, they cannot understand that without material body, how there can be possible of possessing a body. Because we are accustomed to see the material things, we have no eyes to see spiritual, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Therefore Kṛṣṇa, to benefit us, to become merciful upon us, He appears in this form, arcā-vigraha, so that we can see Him. Because we have learned to see wood, stone, earth, some solid materials. We cannot see subtle things. Just like every

  „ So we do not know actually in truth what is God; therefore with our material conception we think that God is nirākāra. God is not nirākāra. He has ākāra, but we have no power to see Him. And because we have no power to see Him, therefore God takes the form like this. He's God, He's not different from God, but He's visible to our blunt eyes. Therefore we say sometimes, "It is idol." It is not idol. We are not worshiping idol, stone. Just like some rascal says that "If by worshiping stone, God is available, then I can worship the mountain." Pathar pūjā ke hari mile meita puje pahar. So this rascal does not know that this is not worship of pathar; it is worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead personally. But to show us mercy, because we cannot see the Supreme Personality of Godhead with these blunt eyes, He has assumed the form of a stone. This is called arcā-mūrti. It is His mercy. Therefore śāstra says, arcye śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇa

  TRANSLATION The transcendental form of the Lord, as it is, satisfies the mind's desire and at once erases all mental incongruities. Upon losing that form, I suddenly got up, being perturbed, as is usual when one loses that which is desirable. PURPORT That the Lord is not formless is experienced by Nārada Muni. But His form is completely different from all forms of our material experience. For the whole duration of our life we go see different forms in the material world, but none of them is just apt to satisfy the mind, nor can any one of them vanish all perturbance of the mind. These are the special features of the transcendental form of the Lord, and one who has once seen that form is not satisfied with anything else; no form in the material world can any longer satisfy the seer. That the Lord is formless or impersonal means that He has nothing like a material form and is not like any material personality. As spiritual beings, having eternal relations with that transcen

  TRANSLATION I desired to see again that transcendental form of the Lord, but despite my attempts to concentrate upon the heart with eagerness to view the form again, I could not see Him any more, and thus dissatisfied, I was very much aggrieved. PURPORT There is no mechanical process to see the form of the Lord. It completely depends on the causeless mercy of the Lord. We cannot demand the Lord to be present before our vision, just as we cannot demand the sun to rise whenever we like. The sun rises out of his own accord; so also the Lord is pleased to be present out of His causeless mercy. One should simply await the opportune moment and go on discharging his prescribed duty in devotional service of the Lord. Nārada Muni thought that the Lord could be seen again by the same mechanical process which was successful in the first attempt, but in spite of his utmost endeavor he could not make the second attempt successful. The Lord is completely independent of all obligations. He ca