Tatastha-sakti
It has already been established that Srila Prabhupada’s letters, although by no means to be neglected, do have a limited application, whereas his books, being the lawbooks for the next ten thousand years, are applicable for everyone, everywhere, any time. Somehow, when discussing the controversial subject of where we fall from, no one ever refers to Srila Prabhupada’s purport to the sixteenth mantra of Sri Isopanishad, which is really as clear as can be:
“The all-pervading feature of the Lord–which exists in all circumstances of waking and sleeping as well as in potential states and from which the jiva-sakti (living force) is generated as BOTH [my emphasis] conditioned and liberated souls–is known as Brahman. Since the Lord is the origin of both Paramatma and Brahman, He is the origin of all living entities and all else that exists. One who knows this engages himself at once in the devotional service of the Lord….”
The way I understand this “both conditioned and liberated souls” is that both originate in the Brahman and both are insignificant: one-ten-thousandth the size of the tip of a hair. (As Bhurijan Prabhu says, “How does that make you feel?”) They emanate from the body of Krsna like the molecules of sunshine emanate from the sun. In that sense they are with Krsna. Thereafter it’s a matter of choice: Some jivas decide to serve Krsna and thus become liberated right away by dint of their service attitude, and some decide to either stay in the Brahman–and as Srila Prabhupada has explained, patanty ada, they fall down and become conditioned because the tatastha region is not a permanent situation and nobody can stay there forever; or else they outright reject the supremacy of the Lord and, thinking themselves to be equal to the Lord, they fall into maya’s kingdom, mistaking it for their own object of enjoyment.
For many years I have grappled with the subject matter of why did I choose maya if Krsna is all-attractive? It sounds contradictory. If His maya is more attractive, then He is not all attractive. The answer usually given to this question is that we have free will and Krsna doesn’t interfere with it. He doesn’t want our love at gunpoint. But why should we make the wrong choice if we are sat-cid-ananda by nature? The usual answers didn’t satisfy me.
Some years ago, however, I had an illuminating experience in front of Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundar in Vrindavan.
It was Purnima and I was standing in front of Radhe-Shyam dressed in Their moonlight outfit. I was appreciating Their beauty to my limited capacity when suddenly a man stood in front of me, not really obscuring my darshan, but close enough for me to perceive that there was a stain at the back of his shirt. So I focused my attention on his back for a few seconds to ascertain that it was not a blood stain, and then I again looked up at Radhe-Shyam, as beautiful as ever. Nevertheless, for some unknown reason, my mind was trying to get me to look at that shirt again to see whether there were more stains. I had to make a conscious effort to resist looking at it again, aware that there was no point in looking at a soiled shirt, especially in front of the beautiful Lords I was facing. And then I got the idea that this was it, the initial free will. It is not that I lacked knowledge of the fact that the shirt was useless whereas Radhe-Shyam were the real thing. But this wanting to look at the shirt was my personal choice, and I was free to continue looking at Radhe-Shyam or concentrate my attention on the shirt. So, I concluded, this is free will. I know it’s useless (and even offensive actually), but still I want to do this. What an appalling situation! Free will has to be there, I understand. But it is so dangerous. Clearly, the only refuge is the holy name. Kindly help me get the strength to focus on chanting Hare Krsna, please.
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=85889
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