Pantheism equates God with nature. It implies that whatever exists
in nature is all that there is to God, that he has no self-existence beyond
nature. Such pantheistic notions imply that nothing exists beyond temporary
material nature, thereby rendering fantastical our longing for lasting life.
In
contrasts, deism holds that God exists entirely beyond this world. He is the
world’s first cause, having set it in motion. But thereafter, things function
wholly according to mechanical laws. Such deistic notions make prayer pointless
because God is held to have no power for responding to prayers by intervening
within nature’s functioning.
The
Gita’s theology avoids both these extremes of pantheism and deism. It
underscores God’s immanence, even devoting its entire tenth chapter to
explaining how his divine opulence manifests in this world’s attractive things.
Appreciating God’s immanence makes us realize his eminent accessibility.
Meditating on him doesn’t require withdrawing from the world – we can train
ourselves to let the world’s attractive things spur our thoughts towards him.
Simultaneously,
the Gita highlights God’s transcendence. It (09.05) indicates that God’s
self-existence is not exhausted by being distributed throughout nature. He
exists as the ultimate transcendental reality, the all-attractive Supreme
Person Krishna. He is not an aloof first principle, but is a lovable and loving
person.
This
vision of God is best described as panentheism, which
means that God exists both within nature and beyond it. The Bhagavad-gita
(07.19) points to this holistic understanding when it declares that the wise
know Krishna to be everything and surrender not to everything, but to Krishna.
Why? Because they know that Krishna is not just everything, but is more than
everything. He is the immanent sustainer of everything and the source of
everything’s attractiveness – and the transcendent embodiment and fulfillment
of our longing for everlasting love.
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