Impersonalism vs Personalism

Many transcendentalists attempt to escape the miserable conditions of this world by approaching God. Unfortunately, many of them think that the highest realization of God is His energy. Thus, they realize the eternal aspect of the Lord, but never get to enjoy the knowledge and bliss that accompany personal realization.

Impersonalists often speak of God as 'The Light" or "The Force", but these (the light and the force) are His energies. God is a person, the controller and proprietor of these energies, and when the impersonalists seek to merge with His energies, they miss the joy of a personal relationship with Him. The impersonalist thinks that by losing his personality in "oneness" with God he will find relief from suffering; but the devotee knows that the soul's individual identity is never lost. By having a spiritual relationship with the Lord, the individual soul will discover, and be able to express his real personality, experience complete satisfaction, and be free from all suffering.

The soul is by nature active and pleasure seeking; therefore, in the unnatural situation of impersonal realization, the soul is dissatisfied, and again falls down to this world, attempting to enjoy the material variety, being unaware of the spiritual variety that a devotee enjoys in the association of the Personality of Godhead, Krishna.

The sun is the energetic source of the sunshine (the energy). The energetic is comparatively more important than its energy. In the same way the devotees recognize Krishna as the energetic source of all energies. The devotees worship the energetic (Krishna) rather than His energy, and reject the idea of merging into His energy.