Baba's Storytime - God is Formless

Once Goddess Lakshmi came to Parvathi and wondered :

“Oh! Gowri! You are very young and Sambasiva is old;

He has matted locks and wears a tiger skin;

He rides a bull and is constantly on the move;

He is adorned with snakes;

How did you court Him?

Don’t you know all this?

He has no house of His own and sleeps in the burial ground.”

(Telugu song)

Parvathi was deeply disturbed by these remarks and approached Lord Siva and asked, “You don’t have a house of your own. You don’t belong to a particular caste or lineage. Further, you are‘Ardhanarishwaraa’ (androgynous). How then can you call yourself God?”

Lord Siva replied that God is beyond name, caste, and lineage. He then turned to Lakshmi and asked, “Oh! Mother Lakshmi! Are you aware of your own husband’s antecedents? He is constantly on the move to protect His devotees and has no time for food and sleep. If at all He settles down to eat His food, the call from some devotee like Draupadi comes to Him, ‘Oh!  Krishna! I am in great trouble. Please save me!.’  He immediately rushes to her rescue leaving His food. Thus, He is constantly on the move to protect His devotees like Narada or Prahlada. How then did you court such a Lord who has no time even for food and rest?”

Siva then clarified that God has no name and form; He is changeless; He has neither birth nor death; neither beginning nor end; He is eternal and Atmaswarupa (embodiment of Atma). He also emphasised that it is man’s delusion which makes him ascribe a name and form to God. The formless God manifests with a particular form and name as per the wishes of the devotees and to fulfil their aspirations.

God is formless and attributeless. It is the devotee who attributes names, forms and attributes to God and feels satisfied. All names and forms are anithya and asathya (evanescent and false). The only eternal and true form of God is Atma. Everything in the world may change; but the Atma will never undergo a change. The entire universe is contained in the Atma. This is also called divine consciousness or Aham or Brahman. People misunderstand this eternal truth, and give it several names and forms. 

(From the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)