59: Very Far, Very Close

CHAPTER 13, TEXT 14: Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes, heads and faces, and He has ears everywhere. In this way the Supersoul exists, pervading everything.

When I finish cooking a dish, I scoop a portion onto a plate, place it in front of tiny carved effigies of Radha and Krishna in my kitchen, ring a bell, and murmur some prayers. I ask the Lord to please partake in what I have made. 

After a few minutes I transfer that food back into the pot or onto another plate. Maybe a take a sip/bite to check for salt or flavor to make adjustments. The understanding is that God just ate, and now I may eat.

How is that?

How can the Supreme Creator and God of Gods and the Supersoul who Pervades Everything eat a little plate of pasta from little ol' Bhakti lata's kitchen in the backwoods of Florida? 

This verse states clearly that God has hands, legs, eyes, heads, faces, and ear everywhere. The Supersoul pervades everything with senses that transcend our restricted notions. God is Supersoul within my heart, so of course he knows when I'm cooking and when I turn to Him to offer Him a little food. 

So "Although [God is] far, far away, He is also near to all" (13.16). God is simultaneously very far away - the Supreme Creator, the God of Gods who lives in the spiritual world far away from this earthly planet, He is also very near. 

He is within our own hearts. 

He can accept whatever little offering we make, even if it's some little plate of pasta we cooked up in a rush. Prabhupad writes that "In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that if anyone offers Him a flower, or a fruit, or a little water, He accepts it. If the Lord is a far distance away, how can He accept things? This is the omnipotence of the Lord: even though He is situated in His own abode, far, far away from earth, He can extend His hand to accept what anyone offers." In this verse of the Gita, Krishna is trying to paint a picture of that omnipotence, explaining that if one offers God a flower, He can still take it with His hand for they are everywhere. If one offers God a prayer, God can still hear it with His ears for they are everywhere. 

So yes, although Krishna is so far away in his own home, He is also right here with us, ready to receive and give love. 

Even if it's just a plate of pasta, made in haste. 

Full purport here: https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/13/16/

54: A Convenient, Joyful Process

CHAPTER 12, TEXT 5: For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.

This verse of the Gita underscores the fact that one who tries to understand God in His impersonal feature is duhkham - he is miserable. 

Meditating in silence and stillness on nothing / formless light / power is actually miserable. 

A key word of this verse is deha-vadbhih, which means "those who are embodied." To try and meditate upon a formless light when we ourselves are embodied is almost impossible. 

According to the Gita, we are all an eternal spirit soul, but we are housed within a material body. When the body dies, the eternal soul moves on to another body; "The individual soul is embodied since time immemorial." The soul has been traversing from body to body to body in a neverending ferris wheel in the cycle of samsara, the cycle of birth and death in this world. Thus "it is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not the body." This shows that theoretical understanding does not go very far. Since I am housed within a material body, naturally I identify with this body, no matter how much philosophy I read and agree with. 

I tend to believe that this body IS me. 

I can't see my soul. But I can see and feel and touch my body, so my body must be who "I" am. Prabhupad emphasizes that it is difficult for us to even understand theoretically that we are not the body - indeed, I understand somewhat theoretically that I am not the body, but that theory is hard to apply in practical, everyday life. I am typing these words with my fingers, I am seeing through these eyes, I am willing my body to move. 

I mean, the willing and the moving of my body is so seamless that I must be my body, right? 

And everyone else's body must be them, right?

Bhakti yoga does not demand that one should stubbornly refuse all connection to the body. In fact, there is the understanding that we all have an eternal form, a svarupa, in the spiritual world. 

What's more, God also has an eternal form, but he is also represented in an embodied form in this material world. Prabhupad writes, "The bhakti-yogī accepts the Deity of Kṛṣṇa as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied." This is so beautiful. God is meeting us where we're at; He knows that since we have been embodied since time immemorial, we're going to identify with our bodies and identify others as their bodies. 

Including God! 

We're going to believe that God in His material body IS Him. 

So presto - God gives us deity worship in order to apply our bodily conception of life. Through deity worship, we may all approach God easily and joyfully. By "[God's] incarnation as arcā-vigraha He can accept the services of the devotee, just to make it convenient for the man in conditioned life." Amazing  how Prabhupad uses the word "convenient" here. Not only is this process joyful, it is convenient. Deity worship is not meant to be miserable, like meditating on an impersonal void. In fact, for "the personalist, without any risk, trouble or difficulty, [he] approaches the Supreme Personality directly." So although this verses emphasizes the misery of attempting impersonal meditation, within the purport Prabhupad offers a solution that is simple, convenient, and direct. 

Personally, I find that when I visit the deity form of the Lord within a temple, my heart opens like a flower and love flows in my heart. I can bow down with my body, I can dance with my body, I can drink in God's form with my eyes. 

Way more accessible than sitting in silent and, well, miserable meditation. (Hey, Krishna Himself says it's miserable!) 

I'm an embodied soul, what can I say? I tend to believe that others are their bodies, including God. Ever since I was a little girl, when I would gaze up at the deity form of God, I simply understood, "This is God. God is looking at me." This process is so easy even a child can exchange love with God. This is bhakti yoga. 

Full purport here: https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/12/5/