The Nature of Deity

God-dess refers to the Divine Couple, Radha Krishna, God and Goddess, energy and energetic, the ground of all being, the cause of all causes.

God-dess is the basis of existence, the source of all life and love. God-dess is eternal. God-dess exists before the beginning of time and beyond time in eternity. Time and space began with the material creation. God-dess was and is and ever shall be before and after that.

Where and how does God-dess exist? That’s a complicated question. The old mechanistic view of a creator God up in the sky, kind of puttering around, creating the earth in six days is quite obsolete.

Let us postulate that there is an eternal, infinite spiritual universe that exists prior to the creation of the material universe. While this material universe is many light years across, it is not infinite or eternal. The material universe is a reflection of the spiritual universe like a tree reflected on water. The tree is real while the reflection is illusory, yet it has a basis in reality.

By illusory, I mean appearing to be something it is not. This world appears like a place we can be at home and settle down, but it is not. This does not negate the existence of a place that we can live eternally.

The material universe is a temporary manifestation. It appears real just as the world we inhabit in dream seems real, but when we wake up, we realize it was an illusion. We consider this waking world to be reality, but it is another level of illusory dream.

Let us consider that God-dess is both formless and yet has infinite forms. Suppose one of those forms of God-dess is sleeping and dreaming and this world is God-dess’ dream. Yes. God-dess’ dream is so powerful that it creates a “reality” that goes on for billions of years and billions of light years and seems so solid and captivating that we believe it is all there is. Yet it is a dream, an illusion.

This does not mean that we do not actually exist. We are eternal, individual spirits. What is an illusion is our identification with our temporary material body and the false ego that goes with it. So, even if our life has been one big nightmare, it is good to know we can wake up from it and there is a better life waiting for us.

God-dess’ consciousness pervades the entire material creation which is God-dess’ dream. Everything is God-dess’ energy and nothing is separate from God-dess. Therefore, everything is spiritual. It is because we see things as separate from God-dess that they are called material. As soon as we realize that this is God-dess’ creation, simultaneously one and different from God-dess, and that God-dess is all that exists, then we are enlightened. Then we are awake within the dream. We know what’s what.

All devotional practices are meant to help us remember Radha Krishna constantly and not forget them for a moment. We are able to use the world about us to help us remember, such as when a dark rain cloud reminds us of Krishna, or as Krishna instructed the cowherd girls in the Uddhava Gita and Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, 10th and 11th chapters. This remembrance, or practicing the presence of God-dess, removes the veil of ignorance and reminds us that we are more closely identified with God-dess than with creation itself and our limited ego existence.

God-dess is all pervading, the ground of all being and cause of all causes. God-dess’ presence in every atom, in every galaxy, in every rock and tree and person is what sustains creation. God-dess keeps the electrons spinning around the nucleus, the stars orbiting in the galaxies and the whole creation alive with wonder. God-dess is the super soul and the universe is God-dess’ body.

God-dess is intimately involved with creation and creatures rather than a distant High God who set creation in motion and now it just works on its own according to natural laws with no further involvement by the creator.

God-dess is incredibly close and immanent. We can talk to God-dess and God-dess hears and knows and feels and experiences our lives right along with us. God-dess talks to us and guides us on the path of life. God-dess is a constant presence with us. We are free to acknowledge God-dess’ presence and follow God-dess’ guidance or not.

We may hear God-dess’ still small voice speaking within us if we take the time for quiet reflection. S/he may speak through others we encounter in our daily activities. S/he may speak through a guru, spiritual teacher or guide. Direct intuitive perception and inspired writings are other means of revelation.

God-dess is the super soul, the universal guru, the cosmic Christ. Yet there is another aspect of God-dess that is formless, attribute less, indescribable and like the light of the sun—this all pervading white light is eternal consciousness. The Vedic literature calls it brahman. Of course, these are all metaphorical, attempts to describe the indescribable.

Some yogis aspire to merge with and become one with brahman. They liken it to a drop of water merging with the ocean and becoming one with the ocean. They seek to loose their individuality and enter that realm of undifferentiated oneness. This is very difficult for the embodied soul to do. Some are, however, successful in attaining liberation this way. They escape from the cycle of repeated birth and death entering into this state of pure consciousness. However, because this state contains no spiritual varigatedness, it is ultimately unsatisfying and the yogi will likely return to the material world to continue spiritual progress.

You see, we are all eternal, individual persons and desire to be in relationships of love and joy. God-dess is the same way, only God-dess is infinite and we are infinitesimal. God-dess is a person who is able to manifest in unlimited forms on unlimited worlds and engage in unlimited pastimes. This is what God-dess does.

God-dess also creates innumerable individual souls with free will to interact with as “others.” God-dess is love, and a lover needs a beloved. That is why the one becomes two, Radha Krishna, the Divine Couple. They are the most beautiful, youthful, loving couple you can imagine.

Because God-dess is love, that love is ever expanding with new pastimes involving the living entities. We are also God-dess’ beloveds. Yet love must be freely given and received to be true love. It cannot be forced or coerced. Therefore, souls in the material world can think they are independent of God-dess and forget about God-dess until they want to establish their loving relationship with God-dess, at which time God-dess brings them to the spiritual world.

There are innumerable planets in the spiritual sky on which God-dess lives in various forms in various types of relationships with God-dess’ devotees. God-dess reciprocates the diverse ways in which the devotees approach. Therefore, on various planets, God-dess lives as Radha Krishna, Lakshmi Narayana, Shiva and Parvati, etc. God-dess has innumerable names and forms according to the different languages, cultures and religions of this world and beyond.

These forms of God-dess may be considered to be hierarchical based on who is an emanation of whom within the Vedic mythology. One may also examine the qualities of the different forms and see which are fuller, more authentic, original manifestations of God-dess.

Everything on those planets is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. There is no birth, death, disease or old age. Once one attains to one of these planets and establishes their eternal relationship with God-dess, there is no need to return to the material world. Then we are in our eternal home.

Devotion to Radha Krishna is so attractive because they are the embodiment of love. Krishna is believed to be the original form of God, but he relates to his devotees in an intimate manner so that his divinity is not an issue that m
ight create any kind of artificial, reverential distance in the relationship. Devotees relate to him as his servant, parent, friend or lover. In his transcendental abode of Vrindaban, he lives as a cowherd boy enjoying a simple yet abundant pastoral life.

Radha is his eternal consort. She and he are the two halves of the one whole. Together, they form the complete God-dess. Devotees do not like to worship Krishna without Radha and consider her to be the better half. Krishna is totally under the sway of Radha’s love. Their devotees’ mission is to bring the two of them together and facilitate their pastimes. This is based on the conceit that they are two separated lovers and need their confidantes to help arrange their trysts and enrich them by their presence and services.

Radha is the divine embodiment of love and grace who is most compassionate and allows us to approach Krishna easily. We cannot approach Krishna directly through our own efforts. We engage in devotional service through grace, and we will ultimately attain to God-dess and the spiritual realm through grace. One cannot storm the gates by one’s own efforts. Therefore, we repeatedly rely on mercy.

“All of Me, namely my actual eternal form and My transcendental existence, color, qualities and activities—let all be awakened within you by factual realization, out of My causeless mercy.” Sb. 2.9.31

This is really the only way to attain God-dess realization—through God-dess’ causeless mercy. God-dess’ mercy is given through the guru, through the scriptures, through holy persons and directly within our heart. All of our strivings, all of our practices lead to nothing without the mercy of God-dess.

Of course, there are also the means of grace. They open us up to God-dess’ mercy. God-dess’ mercy is there equally for all. It is causeless. However, some persons are more anxious to receive God-dess’ mercy than others. They actively seek it out. Thus, they receive a larger share. It is our yearning, our longing, our strongest innermost desire that brings God-dess’ mercy upon us. When we become surrendered souls and desire nothing more than the loving service of Radha Krishna, how can they not respond when we are completely dependent upon them?

God-dess is unknowable in this conditioned state of material existence unless God-dess reveals her/his divine self to us within the heart. Our cries and calls of love will not go unanswered.

Fortunately, God-dess is very merciful and makes every effort to help us get to the spiritual world. God-dess comes personally in various incarnations such as Radha Krishna and Chaitanya, sends messengers and prophets empowered to carry the message such as Isaiah, Jesus, Mohammad, gives us scriptures and other inspired writings to guide us, gives us innumerable spiritual teachers and guides to help us and guides us from within the heart personally. God-dess loves us and wants the best for us. We are all children of a loving God-dess.

God-dess is by definition beyond our ability to fully know. Even if we have a direct realization, as soon as we try to conceptualize it and put it into words, it is no longer direct revelation, but something else. That is why it is revealed by and to poets for expression, because poetic speech is not to be taken literally, but figuratively so as to point to something beyond the mere words.

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