Hello,
While reading Prabhupada's "Krsna" recently a question arose. Paramatma is the supersoul residing in all living entities. It sits next to the individual soul in the material body. In the book, "Krsna" it said Krsna knows the thoughts of the living entities because he is residing in all their hearts as Paramatma. The question I have is what happens when a soul is liberated. Its body will consist of only the soul. And if I remember correct paramatma does not exsist in the spirtual world. Now I have no doubt that Krsna will still know every thought and desire of the liberated soul. I reason that it is simply because we are all eminating from him and so he has full knowledge of all his parts. However this is only my reasoning and I would sure like to know the proper explanation of Paramatma and God's power to know everything about us. I would be very greatful for anyone's response.
Thanks!
Alex Waldron
Hello Devotees,
I would like to apologize to you all. I realize that I have no idea how to offer the proper respect deserving of devotees as great as you. I in no means desire to seem cocky or disrespectful in my postings. I feel so greatful just to have found this great website and the priceless opportunity to read advise from such great devotees. I feel that any knowledge of God that I might have is practically nothing compared to the knowledge that devotees like you have. I apologize to you all for my ignorance, and I offer you all my thanks for your kindness. Thank you so much for doing your all in helping lost souls like my self to serve God. I wish only to show a shred of the wonderful humility that Govinda das showed in his posting in the "when you need god to be god" topic.
THANK YOU ALL
Alex Waldron
This is an interesting and important question. I am surprised that no one embraced the opprotunity to answer it. If I understand it correctly, you are asking how the omniscience of God plays itself out in the spiritual world, given that the Paramatma feature of God, who resides in the heart along with the jiva and thereby knows everything about all souls, is not present in the spiritual world.
The Paramatma feature of God is the overseer of the material world in sristi lila. He presides over the cosmos, each universe, and each atom. Thus he is described in three phases. The point here is that he is all pervasive (Visnu). There is no place where he is not.
The description of his being in the heart the size of a thumb, etc. is for conceptualization during meditation. His omniscience is not dependent upon his being in the heart, although he does appear there when his devotees meditate upon him. This is explained by Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya (1.2.7, 1.3.24-25.)
God is all pervasive and all knowing. He manifests in relation to the material world as the Paramatma and in the spiritual world as Bhagavan. Because the Paramatma is a partial manifestation of Bhagavan, the omniscience of Paramatma must also be present in Bhagavan.
In Vaikuntha, Narayana’s omniscience is tied to his love for his devotees rather than being employed for the purpose of witnessing the deeds of the jivas, as in the case of the Paramatma. Narayana is all knowing in the context of a loving relationship with his devotees.
In Goloka, Maha Vaikuntha, the abode of Krsna, God’s loving relationship with his devotees shifts from formal, as in Vaikuntha, to intimate. In loving intimacy, God’s omniscience necessarily recedes to the background to facilitate that intimacy. For example, in Dvaraka Krsna sometimes asks Uddhava for advice as if he were not omniscient in order to experience an intimate loving exchange with him, subordinating himself to his devotee.
In Dvaraka his omniscience is prominent and his divine ignorance less so. This is reversed in Vrindavana, where his omniscience is clearly subordinate to his divine ignorance, in which he thinks of himself as the son of Yasoda, the friend of Madhumangala, the lover of Radha, etc. rather than God. While God never losses his omniscience, it becomes less important to the extent that love permeates the relationship between himself and the individual soul.
Is Paramatma the only form of God that is totally impartial?