Published by VOICE (Vedic Oasis for Inspiration, Culture and Education) Page 1 of 1 ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Pune, India

The Spiritual Scientist An ezine for those who think!

A Square Circle? Question:IfGodcandoanything,canhemakeasquarecircle?

Questions like these arise from not understanding the definition of God as theSupremeBeing.Let'sconsiderthetwokindsofimpossibilities:practicalandlogical.

Practicalimpossibility:Whenthesacredscripturesdescribethat,say,LordKrishnaliftedthehugeGovardhana hill in Vrindavana during his descent to this world fivethousandyearsago,skepticsmaydismissthisas impossible,becausetheydeempossessionofsuchstrengthpractically impossible.However,noticetheir selfcentric mentality implicitly operating here; they presume thatwhatisimpossibleforthemisimpossibleforanyone.Bysuchamentality,anantcrawlingonatablemayconsidertheglassthatblocksitsway impossible to lift,butwehumansdo itall the time nonchalantly. Just aswe,humans,beingmuch stronger than

ants, can dowhat they think practically impossible, similarly,God, being Supreme,beinginfinitelystrongerthanus,candowhatwethinkpracticallyimpossible.

Logicalimpossibility:Activitieslikemakingasquarecircleseemnotjustpracticallyimpossible,buteven logically impossible.Ourmindtendstothinkthatageometricalobjectcaneitherbeacircleorasquare,butneverboth.However,thisisalimitationofourmind,notalimitationofGod.Ourmindfunctionsbydiscerningintheworldaroundusfeatureslikelogicality,causalityandrepeatability.Ourmindneedstheintellectualframeworkformedbysuchattributestomakesenseoftheworld.But thatvery framework limitsourmind from "thinkingoutside

the box", and so we mistakenly infer that those activities that are impossible for us to thinklogicallymustalsobe impossible forGod todopractically.However,our frameworkof thoughtdoes not limit God. For his cognition, God does not need any such framework, and so he iscompletelyfreetothinkandactindependentofit.

Let's now apply this background analysis to our specific question.God cansurelymakeasquarecircle,butourmindscanneverunderstandhow.Isthisan evasive answer? Not at all. The sixteenthcentury devoteescholar JivaGoswami insightfully reminds us that if God's actions were limited to theconceivingabilitiesofourmind,thenourmindwouldbesupreme,notGod,thusviolatingtheverydefinitionofGod.Therefore,byhisverydefinition,Godhasinconceivability(achintyatvainSanskrit)ashisintegralattribute.

Z

CanGodcreateastonethathecannot

lift?

Yes.Godcansurelycreateastonethathecannotlift.Andthenhewillliftit. SrilaPrabhupada,thefounderofISKCON