What is meant by the statement 'The word was God' as mentioned in the Bible?

[Śrī Anil asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! Please give Your reply to the following question asked by a person on the internet.

The full verse is: John [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men. At Your Divine Feet -anil]

Swāmi replied: The word ‘God’ itself is a word. The statement that the Word existed in the beginning means that God existed in the beginning. Actually, the original God existing in the beginning before creation, is unimaginable. A word must always have a meaning and the meaning must always be imaginable. Hence, the unimaginable God cannot have any word to indicate Him, as said in the Veda (aśabdam...). This means that the God referred to as the ‘Word’ is not the unimaginable God. The God referred here is the mediated God, who is the first Energetic Incarnation of God. He is the first energetic form with which the unimaginable God has merged perfectly. Even Ramānuja and Madhva have taken the first Energetic Incarnation of the unimaginable God called Nārāyaṇa as the Creator. In His philosophy, Śaṅkara also considered the mediated God alone. He considered the unimaginable God in the medium of awareness. The mediated God is not only imaginable, but also visible and He can be indicated by a word as His name.

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| Shri Datta Swami | What is meant by the statement "The word was God" as mentioned in the Bible? | ashabdam Shankara Ramanuja Ramaanuja Narayana Naaraayana