Question: Was God perfect before He created the universe?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, God was perfect. But just as there is no end to our own perfection, even so there is no end to God’s perfection. We use the term ever-transcending Beyond. God is constantly transcending Himself. God’s perfection means the message of His own Self-transcendence. When you did not know how to play the piano, your goal, which was your idea of perfection, was just to strike the proper notes, and you were exceedingly glad when you knew how to strike the proper notes. After a few years, your perfection was knowing how to play a few pieces properly. Then your perfection was to be able to play some great masterpieces on the piano, and so on. In God’s case, also, He had the creation in His Vision, and now you see how His evolution is progressing slowly and steadily towards the Highest. Perfection is like that. When you have something, that is your perfection. Then you see the deficiency of what you have achieved, and you go farther beyond.

A child, when he does not know how to crawl, feels miserable. The moment he learns to crawl, the mother feels. “Now my child is perfect.” But the same child has to learn to walk, how to march, how to run. Each time he is progressing, progressing, and the message of progress is perfection. Perfection is constant progress in God’s Light.

God was definitely perfect before the creation, but now He has the message of manifestation. Naturally His sense of perfection grows, and He far transcends His own standard, His own achievement, His own Vision. Perfect He was, but now He wants to be perfect in another way, in a higher way, in a more convincing way.