We describe God as being above all attributes. All the five human senses, shabda, taste and smell, are the material attributes. One who is above all these and not affected by any of them is God. This may be illustrated in the following manner. All these five attributes, hearing, touch, vision, taste and smell are present in the earth. Earth is the first of the five elemental substances, earth, water, fire, air and space. That is the reason why earth is very heavy and cannot be moved easily from one place to another. While all these attributes are present for the earth, there are only four attributes for water. The smell has gone away and because of this, water is lighter and easily moves from one place to another. In case of fire, there are only three attributes. It has neither taste nor smell and is even more free in its movements. When we take the fourth element air, we find that it has no form, no taste and no smell. It has become even lighter and can move very freely. The fifth element is space or sky. It has got only one attribute and that is sound. All other attributes are missing and therefore the sky is the lightest and spreads all over. If the sky-characterised by the attribute of sound alone -present all over, God who has no attributes at all will naturally be present everywhere. He is omnipresent. That is why God is described as Gunatita or one who is above all gunas. These five elements which compose the material world, earth, water, fire, air and space, have attributes but when all the attributes are extinct, we conceive of something which is all pervading. When we say that God is omnipresent, we mean that none of these things, which weigh us down, are present in Him. (SSB 1973, p. 266)
It may be asked in what form the Lord appears to man and how man has to experience God. God has the following six attributes or characteristics: Aishvarya (Divine sovereignty), Dharma (the source of all righteousness); Yasas (fame); Sampada (wealth); Jnana (wisdom); and Vairagya (non-attachment). He has another name called ‘Vishatkara’ (One who has six forms of wealth). He is also known as ‘Vibhuh’ (One with matchless splendour). He is the master of the past, the present and the future. For this reason He is called ‘Bhavah’. He is the one who abides in all the three aspects of Time. Another meaning for the word ‘Bhavah’ is that of creator of the universe. He illumines all the stars, sun and planets in the universe and hence is called Bhavah. He is the prime cause of the process of creation, growth and dissolution. (D3 , p. 50)
It is by the five attributes of Feeling, Form, Quantity, Colour and Energy that the mind pulsates, activates and energises the universe; since the universe is suffused with the mind, these five attributes too suffuse the universe. The power and might of the mind is immense. We can understand the workings of the universe by understanding the power and potency of the mind. (SSB 1993, p. 40)
Discipline which should illumine our path to learning is now a remote lamp. Virtues like renunciation, integrity, justice and truthfulness should be the natural attributes of man, but these are not to be found in our schools. Two noble ideals which should inspire our students, a spontaneous love of duty, and a passionate desire to rate social good above everything else, are lacking. Instead they are obsessed with a blind imitation of unscrupulous leaders, exhibitionism, love of excessive pleasure, and a sickening longing for ever-increasing comfort. (EL, p. 201)