asthūlaś cānaṇuś caiva sthūlo 'ṇuś caiva sarvataḥ avarṇaḥ sarvataḥ proktaḥ śyāmo raktānta-locanaḥ

Although it is apparently inconceivable, it is quite possible for the Absolute to reconcile all opposing elements. Srimad-Bhagavatam establishes this in the Sixth Canto (6.9.34-37):

"O my Lord, Your transcendental pastimes and enjoyments all appear inconceivable because they are not limited by the causal and effective actions of material thought. You can do everything without performing bodily work. The Vedas say that the Absolute Truth has multifarious potencies and does not need to do anything personally. My dear Lord, You are entirely devoid of material qualities. Without anyone's help, You can create, maintain and dissolve the entire qualitative material manifestation, yet in all such activities You do not change. You do not accept the results of Your activities, unlike ordinary demons and demigods, who suffer or enjoy the reactions of their activities in the material world. Unaffected by the reactions of work, You eternally exist with Your full spiritual potency. This we cannot fully understand.

"Because You are unlimited in Your six opulences, no one can count Your transcendental qualities. Philosophers and other thoughtful persons are overwhelmed by the contradictory manifestations of the physical world and the propositions of logical arguments and judgments. Because they are bewildered by word jugglery and disturbed by the different calculations of the scriptures, their theories cannot touch You, who are the ruler and controller of everyone and whose glories are beyond conception.

"Your inconceivable potency keeps You unattached to the mundane qualities. Surpassing all conceptions of material contemplation, Your pure transcendental knowledge keeps You beyond all speculative processes. By Your inconceivable potency, there is nothing contradictory in You.

"People may sometimes think of You as impersonal or personal, but You are one. For persons who are confused or bewildered, a rope may manifest itself as different kinds of snakes. For similar confused persons who are uncertain about You, You create various philosophical methods in pursuance of their uncertain positions."

We should always remember the differences between spiritual and material actions. The Supreme Lord, being all-spiritual, can perform any act without extraneous help. In the material world, if we want to manufacture an earthen pot, we need the ingredients, a machine and also a laborer. But we should not extend this idea to the actions of the Supreme Lord, for He can create anything in a moment without that which appears necessary in our own conception. When the Lord appears as an incarnation to fulfill a particular purpose, this does not indicate that He is unable to fulfill it without appearing. He can do anything simply by His will, but by His causeless mercy He appears to be dependent upon His devotees. He appears as the son of Yasodamata not because He is dependent on her care but because He accepts such a role by His causeless mercy. When He appears for the protection of His devotees, He naturally accepts trials and tribulations on their behalf.

In Bhagavad-gita it is said that the Lord, being equally disposed towards every living being, has no enemies and no friends, but He has special affection for a devotee who always thinks of Him in love. Therefore neutrality and partiality are both among the transcendental qualities of the Lord, and they are properly adjusted by His inconceivable energy. The Lord is Parabrahman, or the source of the impersonal Brahma, which is His all-pervading feature of neutrality. In His personal feature, however, as the owner of all transcendental opulences, the Lord displays His partiality by taking the side of His devotees. Partiality, neutrality and all such qualities are present in God, otherwise they could not be experienced in the creation. Since He is the total existence, all things are properly adjusted in the Absolute. In the relative world such qualities are displayed in a perverted manner, and therefore we experience nonduality as a perverted reflection. Because there is no logic to explain how things happen in the realm of spirit, the Lord is sometimes described as being beyond the range of experience. But if we simply accept the Lord's inconceivability, we can then adjust all things in Him. Nondevotees cannot understand the Lord's inconceivable energy, and consequently for them it is said that He is beyond the range of conceivable expression. The author of the Brahma-sutras (Vs. [SUTRA 2.1.27

BD+>"God does not have any action to perform, nor does He have any organs. No one is seen to be equal to or greater than Him. His supreme energy is said to be manifold and is intrinsic to Him as knowledge, power and action." (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.8)

"Smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest is the Supersoul situated in the heart of the creature. When one sees Him as untainted by material activity, he becomes free from sorrow." (Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.20)

"The Personality of Godhead has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet. After covering the worlds on all sides, He surpassed it by ten inches." (Rg Veda 10.90.1)

From these texts it appears that the Lord possesses naturally contradictory qualities. Since He has innumerable energies (parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate) and His form is transcendental and inconceivable (divyam acintya-rupam), we must accept that mutually contradictory qualities are harmonized in the transcendental body of the Lord by His inconceivable power. One may object that by relying wholly on scripture as the final authority on this issue leaves no room for logic and reasoning. If scripture says that instead of burning the wood, the fire dampened it, are we to accept this? For this reason, the Vedic scriptures should not be made the ultimate authority for understanding spiritual questions. To this Sri Vyasadeva replies, srutes tu sabda-mulatvat, because the Vedas are not the invention of imperfect beings but are the word of God, they are the infallible means of understanding all spiritual matters. If we think that some parts of the scriptures are true, but others may not be, then we are faced with the dilemma that God has revealed some truths and some falsehoods. Thus, He becomes a liar! If we suppose that some parts may be wrong due to original error given by God or by later meddling by men, we find ourselves in the predicament of trying to ascertain which parts are authentic without having a norm or standard by which to do so.

It is logical that things should have powers beyond the comprehension of our minds. In chemistry, mathematics, physics, biochemistry, astronomy and other branches of science, there are innumerable things which are inexplicable. No one can explain why axioms are true and absolute. How is a whole body preplanned and contained in a DNA molecule? Why does the color green produce the psychological effect of calmness, whereas red stirs up the passions? That there are inconceivable things which have to be accepted as they are is, therefore, a very real part of our existence. Of the three pramaṅas or means of verifying truth, namely pratyaksa or direct sense perception, anumana or inference and sabda or the revealed scriptures, the revealed scriptures are the most authoritative and reliable because they are the word of God given by Him.2.1.27]SUTRA 2.1.27

srutes-from the revealed scriptures; tu-however; sabda-the word of God; mulatvat-because of being the basis.

In the sutra preceding this (2.1.26) it is stated:

The soul is atomic in size and not reducible to any smaller components:

"If the tip of a hair were divided into one hundred parts and then one of those parts were divided into another one hundred parts, one of such parts would be comparable to the living entity, and he is meant for eternity." (Svetasvatara Upanisad 5.9)

Being finite and impartite, he could not create a world that had a separate existence from himself, especially since the world is greater in size than he is. One might argue that since God is supposed to be impartite and indivisible, it is contradictory to say that He creates a world which is other than Himself by employing only a portion of His energy. Our response to this challenge is that there is no contradiction to God's indivisibility when He creates because this is learned from the revealed scriptures, and since these are the word of God, they are the final authority for understanding the matter. It is not necessary that everything about God should be comprehensible to us, and this is exactly the message He has given us through the scriptures:

"He is immense, transcendental and possesses an inconceivable form. He is subtler than the subtle and farther than the far, yet He is here close by. In fact, He is located within the core of the heart of those who behold Him." (Muṅdaka Upanisad 3.1.7)

krsna idyah
eko 'pi san bahudha yo 'vabhati

"Krsṅa is the one controller, all-pervading and the object to be worshiped. Although one, He appears as many." (Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.21)

"He is partless and with infinite parts." (Gaudapada Karika 1.29)

"While seated in one place, He goes far away. While lying down, He goes everywhere." (Katha Upanisad 2.21)

"From Him are produced the life air, the mind and all the senses, as well as ether, air, fire, water and earth, which is the support of all these." (Muṅdaka Upanisad 2.1.3)

"God does not have any action to perform, nor does He have any organs. No one is seen to be equal to or greater than Him. His supreme energy is said to be manifold and is intrinsic to Him as knowledge, power and action." (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.8)

"Smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest is the Supersoul situated in the heart of the creature. When one sees Him as untainted by material activity, he becomes free from sorrow." (Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.20)

"The Personality of Godhead has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet. After covering the worlds on all sides, He surpassed it by ten inches." (Rg Veda 10.90.1)

From these texts it appears that the Lord possesses naturally contradictory qualities. Since He has innumerable energies (parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate) and His form is transcendental and inconceivable (divyam acintya-rupam), we must accept that mutually contradictory qualities are harmonized in the transcendental body of the Lord by His inconceivable power. One may object that by relying wholly on scripture as the final authority on this issue leaves no room for logic and reasoning. If scripture says that instead of burning the wood, the fire dampened it, are we to accept this? For this reason, the Vedic scriptures should not be made the ultimate authority for understanding spiritual questions. To this Sri Vyasadeva replies, srutes tu sabda-mulatvat, because the Vedas are not the invention of imperfect beings but are the word of God, they are the infallible means of understanding all spiritual matters. If we think that some parts of the scriptures are true, but others may not be, then we are faced with the dilemma that God has revealed some truths and some falsehoods. Thus, He becomes a liar! If we suppose that some parts may be wrong due to original error given by God or by later meddling by men, we find ourselves in the predicament of trying to ascertain which parts are authentic without having a norm or standard by which to do so.

It is logical that things should have powers beyond the comprehension of our minds. In chemistry, mathematics, physics, biochemistry, astronomy and other branches of science, there are innumerable things which are inexplicable. No one can explain why axioms are true and absolute. How is a whole body preplanned and contained in a DNA molecule? Why does the color green produce the psychological effect of calmness, whereas red stirs up the passions? That there are inconceivable things which have to be accepted as they are is, therefore, a very real part of our existence. Of the three pramaṅas or means of verifying truth, namely pratyaksa or direct sense perception, anumana or inference and sabda or the revealed scriptures, the revealed scriptures are the most authoritative and reliable because they are the word of God given by Him. accepts this fact and says, srutes tu sabda-mulatvat: the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not conceivable by an ordinary man; He can be understood only through the evidence of Vedic injunctions. The Skanda Purana confirms, acintyah khalu ye bhava na tams tarkena yojayet: "Matters inconceivable to a common man should not be a subject for argument." We find very wonderful qualities even in material jewels and drugs. Indeed, their qualities often appear inconceivable. Therefore if we do not attribute inconceivable potencies to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we cannot establish His supremacy. It is because of these inconceivable potencies that the glories of the Lord have always been accepted as difficult to understand.

Ignorance and the jugglery of words are very common in human society, but they do not help one understand the inconceivable energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we accept such ignorance and word jugglery, we cannot accept the Supreme Lord's perfection in six opulences. For example, one of the opulences of the Supreme Lord is complete knowledge. Therefore, how could ignorance be conceivable in Him? Vedic instructions and sensible arguments establish that the Lord's maintaining the cosmic manifestation and simultaneously being indifferent to the activities of its maintenance cannot be contradictory, because of His inconceivable energies. To a person who is always absorbed in the thought of snakes, a rope always appears as a snake, and similarly to a person bewildered by material qualities and devoid of knowledge of the Absolute, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears according to diverse bewildered conclusions.

Someone might argue that the Absolute would be affected by duality if He were both all-cognizance (Brahman) and the Personality of Godhead with six opulences in full (Bhagavan). To refute such an argument, the aphorism svarupa-dvayam iksyate declares that in spite of appearances, there is no chance of duality in the Absolute, for He is but one in diverse manifestations. Understanding that the Absolute displays varied pastimes by the influence of His energies at once removes the apparent incongruity of His inconceivably opposite energies. Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.4.16) gives the following description of the inconceivable potency of the Lord: