Madhudvisa ended his report with a mention of a current controversy.
In March 1971, Subal Maharaja asked you in Bombay at "Akash Ganga": "Did we have an original lila with Krishna on Krishna Loka or Vaikuntha before we first fell to maya?" Your answer was quite distinctly, "Yes." Everybody who was there was quite surprised for we were all thinking that we were originally shining jiva souls vibrating in the brahmajyoti with our relationships lying dormant.
Some devotees in Sydney, Madhudvisa explained, had been propagating the theory that since no one falls from Vaikuntha, the conditioned souls must have fallen from the Brahman effulgence.
When I arrived here in Sydney, I was asked the same question that Subal Maharaja asked you, and I proceeded to answer in your like fashion. This caused some disturbance amongst all the devotees, for previously Mohanananda, Upendra and others were teaching something else. That is, we never had an active relationship with Krishna, and they substantiated their point from the Krishna book, the chapter entitled. "Description of Autumn" first three pages, and Brahma-samhita, by your guru maharaja, purport to Mantra Sixteen.
The discrepancy is this:
Do the jivas exist before coming to this material world as pencils of rays emanating from the Brahman or did we, before falling into this material world, have a manifested pastime with Krishna on Goloka or Vaikuntha, in any of the five major rasas or any other minor rasa?
Before the very first falldown, were we with Krishna in our manifested spiritual body in Vaikuntha or Goloka, or did we have an unmanifested spiritual body and not have a personal relationship with the Lord?
If we did not have any personal relationship with the Lord, then how could we 'regain our lost Krishna consciousness'?
Madhudvisa concluded his letter:
I know that this question is arising all over the society and being answered in so many different ways. Please, I pray that I be worthy of your answer. I have looked for the answer to this question in your books, but incompetent as I am, I cannot seem to find the answer. For me it is sufficient to know that my only shelter is at your feet. But for the consistency of this pure and imperishable science, I beg you to answer this question in detail. If you desire, we can print up your answer and distribute this to the worldwide centres.
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Srila Prabhupada maintained the lives and affairs of his disciples all over the world by his correspondence. Receiving a letter from Srila Prabhupada was a significant event for a disciple -- the instructions it contained were as effective as a personal visit. Moreover, within ISKCON Prabhupada's will was so powerful that a single letter from him would establish a policy for years to come. This was particularly so with Prabhupada's response to philosophical points.
Srila Prabhupada had read Madhudvisa's letter enquiring into the origin of the living entities, and dictated a lengthy reply to his secretary, Syamasundara. When Madhudvisa Swami received Prabhupada's detailed three-page response, he copied it and sent it out to all the Australasian centres. In the letter, entitled "Kaka taliya nyaya -- Crow and Tal-Fruit Logic", Srila Prabhupada shed light on the controversy about whether the conditioned souls fell from the Brahman effulgence or from Vaikuntha. He wrote:
We never had any occasion when we were separated from Krishna. For example, one man is dreaming, and he forgets himself. In a dream he creates himself in different forms -- "Now I am the king". This creation of himself is as seer and as the subject -- or the seen -- two things. But as soon as the dream is over, the "seen" disappears. But the seer remains. Now he is in his original position. Our separation from Krishna is like that. We dream this body and so many relationships with other things. First the attachment comes to enjoy sense gratification. Even when we are with Krishna, the desire for sense gratification is there. There is a dormant attitude for forgetting Krishna and creating an atmosphere for enjoying independently.
Prabhupada had consistently taught that souls have the option of exercising their freedom even in the spiritual world, and hence of falling into the illusion of material existence. Since the soul is a spiritual part of God, he has inherent independence or free will, which he can misuse. Prabhupada reiterated this point in his letter:
At the edge of the beach, sometimes the water covers the sand on the shore, and sometimes there is dry sand; the ocean is coming and going. Our position is like that, sometimes covered, sometimes free, just like at the edge of the tide. As soon as we forget, immediately illusion is there, just as when we sleep, a dream is there. We cannot say, therefore, that we are not with Krishna. As soon as we try to become the Lord, immediately we are covered by maya. Formerly we were with Krishna in His lila, or sport. But this covering of maya may be of very, very, very, very long duration; therefore [in the interim] many creations are coming and going. Due to this long period of time it is sometimes said that we are ever conditioned. But this long duration of time becomes very insignificant when one actually comes to Krishna consciousness. It is like in a dream: We are thinking it is a very long time, but as soon as we awaken we look at our watch and see it has been a moment only.
Cont'd
- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu
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