Replace God (01-22-11)
Dear _____,
Nicely written.
I don’t know how you have approached the greater subject matter in your anthology, but if I were writing such a piece (as I did when writing my Gītā commentary) I would omit the word ‘God’ in favour of ‘the Absolute Truth.’ As Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote in his Bhāgavatam introduction, this is not about God. This is about the Absolute Truth. No doubt a small point, but ‘God’ is such an Abrahamic conception and carries with it a lot of nasty baggage. My preference would be replace ‘God’ with the Absolute Truth throughout the text.
In stating “…how can God,” I would say it in this way and include a direct mention of Brahman in the very beginning, rather than waiting until the end. The main feature of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva is how Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are all three manifestations of the Absolute Truth emanating from Kṛṣṇa: “…how can the Absolute Truth, the origin of all existences and the cause of all causes, manifest as formless eternity (Brahman), the spiritual world (Vaikuṇṭha), the material world (māyā), all varieties of living beings (jīvas) and His own presence everywhere (Paramātmā), while simultaneously retaining His original personal form and identity as Kṛṣṇa?”
As I said, “small points”… just my style.
Gaura Haribol,
Swami Narasiṅgha
