So sound is the original element of creation. In Sanskrit language it is called śabda-brahma. Brahman, or the Absolute Truth, is first appeared Absolute Truth becomes knowable by sound. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, the Lord says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8), śabdaḥ khe. Śabda means sound. If we want to see God, so let us hear first of all the sound vibration, because that is the beginning. In the Bible also it is said, "The Lord said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." So "Let there be creation," this is sound, transcendental sound. So one who says this word, "Let there be creation," He is not within the creation. Because He, God, is speaking, "Let there be creation" means He is existing before creation.
So God is not within the creation. In the Vedic literature, therefore, description of God's body is given as sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Vigraha means form. Sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ. Isvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). He is not formless. He has got His form, but it is a different form. How we can understand? Because we have got experience of this material world. We cannot see anything subtle. Gross things we can see. Therefore we can understand by our thoughts what kind of form God has got. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge, and ānanda means blissful. So if we compare with our body, then we can understand what is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternal. So if we compare with our body, this body is not eternal; it is destructible. It has got a history, it is produced at a certain period, it exists for a certain period, it grows, it gives some by-product, then it becomes older and older, and then vanquished, no more. That is our practical experience, we know. But God's body is eternal. Therefore He hasn't got a body like this. This body is not eternal. Everyone can understand. But His body is eternal. Another symptom, sat, cit. Cit means knowledge. So we have got also knowledge, but not full knowledge. That has been described in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what is the nature of God. Nature of God is described, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Nature of God means He is the supreme source of everything. Whatever, janma... Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). Janma ādi. Ādi means "beginning with janma."
Just like I have already described my body, your body, has a history of janma, or birth, a date of birth. So janma ādi means birth and sustenance and death. We have got this body produced or born at a certain date. It keeps, sustains, for a certain period-say fifty years, sixty years, or a hundred years, utmost—and then again it is destroyed. Therefore janma ādi means birth is also coming from Him, maintained also by Him, and when it is destroyed, it goes unto Him. That is called janma ādi, means birth, maintenance, and annihilation. Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). All this material world, they are undergoing the same process. Janma, sustenance, and end. Everything. This universe also is like that, everything, even the ant's body or my body, your body, elephant's body, or there are many demigod's body. Just like we have learned from Bhagavad-gītā, Brahmā's body, it keeps for millions and millions of years. One day we cannot calculate.
So there are different types of bodies within this material world. We can compare. Just like ant's body, a fly's body, and my body. A fly's body may remain for few years, or, few hours. So our body may remain for few years. And similarly, there are other living entities like Brahmā, their body remains for a few decades. But every body, each body, is subjected to this law of nature: birth, death, disease, and old age. So God's body is not like that. It is eternal. Here in this material world we can possess a body which may exist for millions of years, but that does not mean it is eternal. It is not eternal. But God's body is eternal. Therefore, in the Vedic language, when it is said, nirākāra-nirākāra means "who has no form"—it does not mean that God has no form. He has got form, but His form is different from this form upon which you have got experience. Our experience is whatever form we can think of, even Brahma's form, that is liable to be annihilated. But God's form is not like that. So when in the Vedic language it is said, nirākāra—means nir, nir means "not," and ākāra means "form"—that means "God's form is not like ours." It is not that He has no form. He has form, but His form is different from ours.
And knowledge Now, knowledge, so far our knowledge is concerned, it is very limited. We do not know We can have some experience of our present knowledge, but we do not know what was in the past and what is going to happen in the future. Present also, our knowledge is imperfect. Just like we are seeing the sun daily, but what is our experience? The sun is bigger than this planet, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger. Fourteen hundred thousand pieces of this earthly planet can be thrown into the sun planet, it is so big. Unless it is so big, how it is possible the sun planet is distributing heat and light for millions and millions of years, and although it is situated ninety millions miles?