Saguna and Nirguna: Dayananda made things easy

Saguna and Nirguna - both are originally Sanskrit words. They are not terms coined by modern science. Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the extraordinary scholar of Sanskrit language and Vedic philosophy, has written about these two words in his Satyarth-Prakash (The Light of Truth) as under, and made it very clear that God is both - Saguna as well as Nirguna:

(i) Nirguna is One who is free from the (distinguishing) properties of matter such as Sattwa, Rajas, Tamas, color, taste, touch, smell; and of the soul such as finite power and knowledge, ignorance, passions and desires, and pain of all kinds. This definition is substantiated by the authority of Upanishad. "He is free from sound, touch, color, and such other qualities." Saguna (Possessed of certain specific attributes) is One who possesses such attributes, as perfect knowledge, perfect bliss, purity, infinite power. Everything in this universe is Saguna (positive) and Nirguna (negative). For instance, the material objects are called Nirguna, because they are void of the properties and powers of conscious beings, as will and feelings. Whilst they are also Saguna (positive), because they possess their own material properties. The same is true of God. He is Saguna, when He is looked upon as possessed of His own attributes, as Omniscience, Omnipotence, but He is also Nirguna, being free from the properties of matter and soul. (Chapter: I)
(ii) An Attribute (Guna) is that which is dependent upon or resides in a substratum which cannot itself possess an attribute, is not the cause of combination or of an attribute, is not the cause of combination or of division into parts, and is anapeksha, i.e., independent on another attribute." (Vaisheshik Darshan: 1. 1.16) (Chapter: III)
(iii) Question: Is God positive - possessed of attributes (Saguna) entity or a negative - destitute of attributes of (nirguna) one?
Answer: He is both.
Question: How can two swords be put in one scabbard? How can on thing be both positive and positive?
Answer: A thing that is possessed of certain qualities is called Positive (Saguna), whilst, one devoid of certain qualities is called negative (Nirguna). Hence all things are both positive and negative, being possessed of certain qualities and destitute of others, as the material objects being possessed of visibility and other properties are positive, whilst being devoid of intelligence and other attributes of conscious beings, they are negative. In the same way, conscious beings (as souls) are positive, as they possess intelligence, whilst they are negative, as they are devoid of visibility and other properties of the material objects. All things, therefore, are positive (Saguna) and negative (Nirguna) by virtue of being possessed of certain natural qualities, and devoid of those that are antithetic to them. There is not a single substance that is only positive or only negative. Both positiveness and negativeness always reside in the same object. In the same way, God is positive being possessed of certain natural attributes, such as Omniscience, Omnipresence, etc. He is also negative being free from the attributes of visibility and other properties of material objects, and from feelings of pleasure and pain, and other attributes of the soul.
Question: People speak of a thing as Nirguna (Negative) when it is formless and as Saguna (Positive) when it is possessed of a form. In other words, God is called Saguna (Positive) when He incarnates, and Nirguna (Negative) when He is not embodied. Is this view of the terms positive and negative right?
Answer: No, it is a false conception entertained by ignorant minds that are destitute of true knowledge. The ignorant always make senseless noise like the lowing of cattle. Their utterances should be looked upon as valueless as the ravings of a man in delirium from high fever. (Chapter: VII)

= Bhavesh Merja