What are the attributes of God?

God is the Soul that resides within you, within us, within every living being.

The body is the outer packing and the One that resides within is the God, which is our real Self!

However, this Self is formless and invisible. It cannot be seen with the physical eyes, but can only be experienced by experiencing the intrinsic functional properties of the Soul. Therefore, to recognize God and experience Him, it is important to know what His attributes are.

So come, let us understand some of the main attributes of God…

Eternal

The Soul is an eternal element. Every Soul is permanent in nature. There is neither any beginning nor any end to it. It was, it is and shall always remain. It never dies nor is it ever born; it is immortal.

Infinite

God has infinite Vision, infinite Knowledge, infinite Strength and infinite Bliss!

These attributes are unique to God i.e. they are found in no other eternal element except the Soul. These are the most powerful or biggest of all the properties of the Self, for the Self can be experienced through these particular properties.

Omniscient

God knows it all! The Soul has the infinite power ‘to see or know’.

Our physical eyes or any of the five senses for that matter are just an outer medium through which things are seen or known. The main element seeing and knowing is the Soul, and everything else in this world is merely an object to be seen and known.

The Soul can precisely see and know not only the outer worldly objects, but also the inner body-complex i.e. the mind, intellect, ego, beliefs, opinions, anger, pride, deceit, greed, attachment, abhorrence, etc. present within everybody.

The Soul is able to see the objects through its attribute of Infinite Vision; and owing to its attribute of Infinite Knowledge, it has the knowledge of each and every phase of all the eternal elements too, including that of its own.

The Soul is nothing but solid, dense, unbroken, continuous knowledge. This is how God is defined as The Omniscient or All-knowing!!!

Almighty; the Omnipotent

Infinite strength is another intrinsic property of the Soul due to which, in spite of seeing and knowing infinite objects of the world, it never indulges with any of them.

There are number of different types of karmic particles that cover the Soul and have been creating innumerable obstacles for the Soul on the path of salvation, since time immemorial. However, the Soul is able to remain separate from each of these particles, maintaining its complete purity, owing to this attribute of Infinite Strength that the Pure Soul owns.

This infinite power to not get absorbed or indulge into anything external to it, and always remain in its own nature, signifies the strength of the Almighty i.e. the all-powerful, Omnipotent God!!!

Infinite Bliss

The worldly happiness is a mixture of happiness and sorrow; this happiness is temporary in nature and therefore it comes and goes. However, the Soul never gets attached or attracted to any of the worldly happiness or even the deluding karmas that create attraction towards this illusory pleasure. And on the other hand, no matter how painful the outer circumstance is, the Soul i.e. the God never suffers one bit. This is because the Soul’s own entire substance is that of absolute bliss.

God is always immersed in this infinite bliss - the eternal bliss of the Self, that never ever runs out in any circumstances and that is there to remain permanently. Such is the God’s attribute of infinite bliss!!! 

Detached

By its inherent nature, the Soul is totally detached from all the other eternal elements.

We often say, ‘I want to get rid of my attachment and abhorrence.’ We say so because we do not know that the Self has never been soiled or tainted by atoms of attachment and abhorrence. It has always remained separate and is therefore already free of all attachments. It has never been attracted to anyone or anything, nor has it ever enjoyed any pleasures or pain.

Despite the body coming into association with everything in this world, the Soul within, by its intrinsic nature, is free of association and therefore nothing in this world has or can ever affect the Self. The Soul has always remained un-anointed from all the intents that tend to anoint, as the intents are of the inanimate matter, and not of Self.

After Self Realization, even if one happens to get into a fight, he does not experience any attachment or abhorrence, because the Self-Realized person knows, ‘I definitely am, I undoubtedly am the Pure Soul.’

God is One who is forever free of all attachments!

Omnibenevolent

God is all-loving, for Pure Love too is an attribute of God!

One may wonder God is detached and God is Pure love too? How is that possible?

This is because Pure Love is very distinct from the worldly love. Pure Love is free of attachment; and therefore, it is free of the contamination of expectations or conditions, discrimination or differentiation amongst living beings.

God is Omnibenevolent, with His love flowing consistently on every living being, at every moment!

Pure

God is absolutely pure. No matter what the outer circumstances are, no matter how large and severe the impurities covering the Soul are, nothing can ever soil the Soul. The Soul was, is and will always remain in its completely pure condition - such is its attribute!

Due to circumstances, the element of inanimate matter and the element of Soul have been together for eras; however, neither of the two have lost their individual intrinsic properties. Just like if we were to mix oil and water in a bottle and shake it thoroughly, the oil will continue to be in its place and the water will be separate in its place because the two are immiscible in nature.

Similarly, our Soul has always remained separate from the body as pure knowledge. Despite traversing various life forms such as trees, animals, humans, celestial beings, etc., the purity of the Soul within, has not been tainted at all.

This is why in Akram Vignan, the Gnani Purush (enlightened One) can bestow upon us the status of Godhood by separating the Pure Soul i.e. the Self and the non-Self, in just an hour’s time!

Formless and Invisible

Whatever we can experience through the five senses; including our mind, intellect, ego, speech, etc. - is all with form, whereas the Self is formless. The Self does not have any body.

The part within the body, which is invisible, is the Self. The Self is knowledge and knowledge is invisible. The objects that can be seen with the knowledge do have a form and are visible, but the knowledge itself is invisible.

So, God is present in every living being, but is invisible and has no form or structure of His own!

Subtle

God is the subtlest. The Soul is so subtle that fire cannot burn it and mountains cannot stop it! Yes, the Self can very easily pass through mountains, through fire, through anything, without any obstruction whatsoever.

Nothing can ever happen to God because nothing can ever touch the Soul… God is that subtle!

Indestructible

The Soul can never be destroyed. Temporary things are destructible; they come into existence and after some time cease to exist, whereas eternal things are indestructible.

God is eternal and hence indestructible!

Constant

The inherent nature of the Soul is that, it never increases nor decreases.

Anger, pride, deceit, greed are such that they always keep increasing and decreasing. Just like we can see anger arise and decline, all our weaknesses and strengths are of a similar nature i.e. increase and decrease, the ego too by its nature elevates and gets depressed.

Everything that increases or decreases is said to be temporary in nature and the Self has never indulged in any of it. God is thus permanent and constant; He neither grows nor wears off, He never increases or decreases!

Can neither hurt nor be hurt

Pain or trouble can never touch the Soul. The Soul’s intrinsic property is such that it is not able to hurt anyone nor can it be hurt by anyone; it cannot inflict pain on anyone nor can anyone cause pain to it; it cannot kill nor get killed.

Nothing can ever happen to the Self. As one progresses in gaining the experience of God, one experiences this property more and more vividly.

Transcendent

The attributes of Soul are exceptional, extra-ordinary and infinite, without any boundaries or limitations of any kind. The attributes of God are very, very different; something that we’ve never seen in this outer world.

That’s what makes God transcendent!