Some people object to Deity worship saying, “By depicting God in a limited form, you are limiting the unlimited.”

But saying that God can’t manifest in a limited form is also limiting God. To understand how God is truly unlimited, we need to recognize that he transcends both limitedness and unlimitedness.

To better understand this, consider the example of an unusually tall person. While their height may be distinctive, it can also make entering low doors difficult and discreet movement impossible. They are stuck with their tallness.

In contras, God is never stuck with his unlimitedness. He can manifest in a human-size form to facilitate loving reciprocations with his devotees, who may otherwise be over-awed by his gigantic form. And he can even manifest in a form so tiny as to be invisible if that is what best serves his purpose. He can change his form at will because his unlimitedness is not limited to dimension alone – he is also unlimited in potency.

This unlimited potency of God, Krishna, is evident in the Bhagavad-gita’s eleventh chapter. Krishna is initially manifest in a limited-seeming form as Arjuna’s charioteer. When Arjuna desires to see Krishna’s universal form (11.04), Krishna obliges, revealing a form that is unlimited, having no discernible beginning or middle or end (11.16). However, that cosmic vision, especially its omni-destructive aspect of all-devouring time, discombobulates Arjuna. When he beseeches Krishna to withdraw that scary theophany, Krishna promptly, nonchalantly and affectionately obliges (11.49). He manifests first in a four-handed form before re-manifesting in his two-handed form. Thus, he demonstrates that his unlimitedness is subordinate to his omnipotence, being capable of being summoned and dismissed effortlessly.

To understand that God is so unlimited as to manifest in a limited form and still remain unlimited is to better appreciate God’s unlimited glory.

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