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Simultaneous oneness and difference from God

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Govindaram

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Srila Prabhupada: Krsna explains, "Everything is in Me, but I'm not everything." This is called acintya-bhedabheda - simultaneous oneness and difference. Everything is Krsna, but you cannot worship this bench as Krsna. That is rascaldom. The sunshine is also sun. It it not? But when the sunshine is in the room, you cannot say, "The sun is in my room." This is called acintya-bhedabheda.

 

"The example given is of a spider and its web. The web emanates from the spider's body, so the spider may be taken as the ingredient cause of the web. But that does not make the spider and the web one and the same. The spider is always a separate and distinct entity from its web. Yet again, while the spider never is the web, the existence of the web cannot be separated from the spider.

 

There is a further lesson to be learned from this example: while the spider is clearly different from its web-creation, it nonetheless is acutely conscious of every corner of it. In philosophical terms, we could say the spider is transcendental to the web by its identity, yet simultaneously immanent throughout the web by its knowledge. This is a simple yet powerful demonstration of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. Lord Krishna, in Bhagavad-gita 9.4 and 5, says He pervades the whole universe by His complete awareness of the spiritual and material energies that make up the creation. Yet at the same time, in His identity as the source of everything, He stands apart from the cosmic manifestation. "

 

 

 

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