Two Ways To Understand A Higher Deity

“O son of Kunti, at the end of the millennium every material manifestation enters into My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency I again create.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.7)

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सर्व-भूतानि कौन्तेय
प्रकृतिं यान्ति मामिकाम्
कल्प-क्षये पुनस् तानि
कल्पादौ विसृजाम्य् अहम्

sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya
prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām
kalpa-kṣaye punas tāni
kalpādau visṛjāmy aham

First there are the parents. They are everything to you. They provide food, clothing and shelter. The father leaves in the morning for the office and returns in the evening. The mother stays at home and diligently watches. In many cases she might also depart on a daily basis to earn a living. Regardless, at least one authority figure is around to provide for the daily needs.

Later there are the teachers. They offer valuable instruction. Next is likely the boss at work. Higher is the head of state. In times past the people were known to pledge allegiance to his majesty, the king of the land. Even in foreign territories, like the colonies in America, the people were loyal to the crown for a long time.

A wise person goes one step further. Even if not specifically instructed by a knowledgeable spiritual guide, a tattva-darshi, they deep down understand the workings of cause-and-effect. That is to say something cannot manifest without some action first taken. Since the amazing world exists through the evidence of visual confirmation, there had to be some force behind the generation, a catalyst to the engine that is the ever-changing world.

1. The Almighty Architect

This is the beginning of the project. Phase one. Buildings don’t come together through random collision. Take that furniture which arrived in the mail this morning. Open the package, throw away the instructions and let the parts just sit there. Then see how long it takes before the furniture gets assembled properly.

You will have to wait forever. A knowledgeable person may be able to complete the task without the instructions, but the work has to be undertaken regardless. The pieces were composed through intelligence. In the same way, a creative mind was necessary for the creation to come into existence.

The architect had to see into the future. They had to know the different dependencies, how the species could survive through heat, light, rain, earth and the like. They had to devise means of communication and also ways to further the overall condition.

2. The Master Builder

With development projects the two phases involve separate groups of people. There is the architect who draws up the plans. They have an idea of what the end result will look like. Then there are the builders. They get to work at implementing the plans.

The Supreme Lord is so potent that He takes care of both. He is the amazing architect and also the master builder. Not that He gets into the fine details, taking hammer to nail, but He oversees everything that goes on. It is through His efforts that the universes come into being.

These two names for a higher deity can emerge through mental speculation, through use of the intelligence gifted to man. For further clarity there is the authority of the Vedas. We learn that the Supreme Lord indeed conceives and creates, but He does so effortlessly.

How easy is it for Him? Imagine lying down in rest. Not from exhaustion. No worry about the tasks to complete the next day. Total relaxation. Then from every outgoing breath so many universes come to be. Within each of them is another architect, manager, builder, maintainer, and even a destroyer. When the breath gets drawn back in, everything that was previously created gets annihilated.

In this way the cycle continues, for too many years to fathom. The idea is that the material world is temporary. Neither is it truly representative of the artistic abilities of the highest deity. He can create at the grandest scale, and He enjoys without cessation. The souls emerging from Him are destined to enjoy in the same way, but the shift in mentality only occurs through a purification of consciousness, for which the human birth is most conducive.

In Closing:

Human birth most conducive,

For praising Supreme effusive.

Not in temporary to stay,

Vedas guiding the way.

So that more than speculation knowing,

That effect from initial cause going.

Master builder always enjoying,

Souls meant with Him joining.