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Understanding the Twofold Nature of the
Divine
What do the terms, qualified and unqualified mean when applied to God? The Prashna Upanishad states that in the beginning God created prana, that is, Hiranyagharba. This is also known as the world egg or primal matter, the germ from which the perishable beings are created. 18 The Divine Essence (God) Itself is beyond any distinctions and is without qualities (gunas).'
The gunas (the three qualities) exist only in the manifested universe. The essential being of God is beyond any attributes.20 God (Brahman), the Primal Being, is Unqualified (Nirguna Brahman). God as the Personal Being (Saguna Brahman) is qualified and has attributes. In the Bhagavad-Gita (15: 16-17),
Lord Krishna speaks about the Two-fold nature of the Reality:
There are two spirits (purushas; realities) in this world, the perishable (kshara) and the imperishable (akshara). All beings are the perishable; the unchanging is called the imperishable. But distinct is highest spirit, the Supreme Self (parmatma) thus called who penetrates the three worlds and sustains them).
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