“And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities, and although I am everywhere, still My Self is the very source of creation.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.5)

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न च मत्स्थानि भूतानि पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम्
भूतभृन्न च भूतस्थो ममात्मा भूतभावन:

na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni
paśya me yogam aiśvaram
bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-stho
mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ

1. Fire

One person understands fire as something bright and shiny. To another person, fire is what keeps the camp warm during the cold nights. Yet another person thinks of fire in its potency to cook food. All the while, fire is unaffected.

2. The number four

One person thinks that three apples and one apple makes four. To another person, after they have spent three dollars of the seven their parents gave them, they have four dollars left. Another person can reach the number four by incrementing, in something like a loop. All the while, the concept of four is unaffected.

3. The sun

To one person the sun is that object high in the sky so bright that you cannot look directly at it. To another person, the sun is responsible for heat and light throughout the day. Another person desperately longs for the sun during the dark and depressing days of winter. All the while, the sun is unaffected.

4. The political leader

To one person, that political leader is the dread of their existence. They cannot believe such a foul-mouthed, obnoxious, and petulant person could become so wealthy and prominent. To another person, that same political leader is the greatest blessing for the country. They speak the truth, without fear, and so they automatically expose the cheaters through their influence. All the while, the political leader remains unaffected.

5. The Supreme Personality of Godhead

The argument from the skeptic is that devotees following the Vaishnava tradition rely too much on analogy. There is such a striking overabundance on its use that the implementation creates a de facto dependency. That is to say, the person skeptical of the idea of a Supreme Divine Being, a central controller, a singular authority figure, supports their claim by considering the use of analogy to be a weakness.

The logic follows that if I need to explain the concept of the imperishable soul through the example of changing clothes, then the clothes are the basis upon which the truth rests. The truth cannot stand on its own, you see. In that sense, the principle must be devoid of merit.

In return His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada argues that the analogies have no dependency with the principles in question. Namely, the highest principle of all is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is one way to define the concept. If we are not yet decided on which tradition of spirituality to follow, which deity to worship, or which path to accept, we can at least define the target objective, the repository of the effort in worship, as the highest truth of them all.

मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्
किञ्चिद् अस्ति धनञ्जय
मयि सर्वम् इदं प्रोतं
सूत्रे मणि-गणा इव

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva

“O conquerer of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.7)

That this same concept is already described in Bhagavad-gita of the Vedic tradition should help sway the undecided. They can at least begin with that understanding and then work their way towards a higher realization, which is known as vijnana.

We use analogy to explain higher concepts because that is the way out of ignorance. It is the mechanism by which education takes place. The children in school first learn the alphabet. They then start to blend the sounds together to eventually form words and sentences.

Those sentences are used to describe objects, to convey emotions, to communicate with others. The events described have no dependency on the letters or the formal instruction. The events and feelings exist independent of any means used to understand them.

In the same way, God is not dependent on analogies. He describes this concept many times within Bhagavad-gita. All beings are in Him, but He is not in them. He distributes His influence everywhere in the unseen sense, avyakta-murtina. Though Krishna is everywhere, He is not a dependent factor. He exists independent of the vast universe that He both pervades and maintains.

मया ततम् इदं सर्वं
जगद् अव्यक्त-मूर्तिना
मत्-स्थानि सर्व-भूतानि
न चाहं तेष्व् अवस्थितः

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.4)

Analogy is a tool to assist in understanding. When connected with service to the all-attractive one, even analogy transforms. It becomes transcendental in nature. It is like a section of the grand tapestry of a successful outcome to the life experience, which culminates at service to the lotus feet of the beloved of Radha, in an engagement which continues without end, ananta.

In Closing:

First letters and sounds take,
For words and sentences to make.

Like blocks for building provided,
Held together and sometimes divided.

But principles standing on their own,
Not dependent on means to be known.

In this way analogy of Vedas understanding,
For highest truth of Krishna upon landing.

Categories: the five

Tags: bhagavad-gita, god, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, religion