Śrīla Prabhupāda -

The relationship with Krsna in the Spiritual world (The Kingdom of God) is NEVER a "one-way" forced unproductive affinity.  

One's relationship with Krsna is ALWAYS based on free will that allows a variety of voluntary offerings of service to Krsna.

Only then can genuine love exist.

The jiva-souls in their full potential in Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana, are forever positively re-inventing themselves by always choosing how to increase their variety of devotional service to Krsna.

This is achieved by forever voluntarily finding ways to expand their individual expression of personal offerings and affection to Krsna in their perpetual relationship with Him.

Such a relationship is NEVER impersonal, one-sided or one-way because Krsna always reciprocates with such genuine loving affection with His devotees in a two-way exchange.

Srila Prabhupada - "Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force, no, Krsna does not want to become a lover like that, ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!" (Washington DC July 8, 1976)

Real love is voluntary and can NEVER exist on a "one-way or one-sided" impersonal path, where that one-sided affair only allows a "none contributing" version of so called "surrender" to Krsna (God).

This kind of impersonal "surrender" only "extinguishes" the jiva-soul's individuality, free-will, and their ability to contribute or provide offerings in their own unique way.

From personal voluntarily "self chosen contributions" offered by the jiva-souls that are different from Krsna's shower of loving affection, makes the relationship with Krsna a two-way mystery of exchanges, that only further enriches, intensifies and expands loving exchanges and affection between the jiva-souls and Krsna.

Such personal unique contributions by the jiva-soul's expressions from their free will, forever expands their personal ability to make voluntary offerings that forever increase their loving emotions for Krsna in a healthy "two-way" exchange of reciprocation.

Real Love or service is ALWAYS a "two-way" exchange of feelings, it is NEVER one-way or a one-sided affair because as said above, relationships expressed in a "one-sided" dominance without having mutal loving respectful exchanges between two, is NOT love at all, it is cold impersonalism.

Loving service can only really exist when the conditioned jīva-souls are trained up to eventually reach their full potential as Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotees, where they can express the full potential of their constitutional right as a "marginal living entity" who reciprocates fully with Kṛṣṇa in a two-way relationship loving exchanges.

Only then can love or service be genuinely expressed in its natural "two-way" relationship based on reciprocal exchanges between Kṛṣṇa and the individual jīva-souls.

The jiva-souls in their original position in the Spiritual World have the same bodily features like Krsna has in Vṛndāvana.

1 - Sat - Eternal

2 - Cit - Have all knowledge

3 - Ananda - Always blissful

4 - Vigraha - ARE an eternal bodily form with no beginning point, and will NEVER cease to be.

The full potential and original feature of all marginal living entities (jiva-souls) is a two arm form like Krsnas.

Devotee – “Is the original body of the jiva-soul a human form?”

Srila Prabhupada – “Yes, human form. God is also human form. "Man is made after the shape of God." I think there is in the Bible. Is it not? So God is also like human form. Here you see Krsna, two hands, two legs”.

Hari-sauri – “How do we understand, then, that there are peacocks and flowers and trees in the spiritual world? Are these not eternal forms?”

Srila Prabhupada – “[describing material form first]: Yes. They are more covered. Just like if you cover your body with blanket, the hands and legs are invisible. But you are not the blanket.

So the trees and plants, they are more covered. They are not in full manifestation. The human form is the full manifestation of the soul”.

Hari-sauri - “They are covered in the spiritual world?”

Srila Prabhupada - “Not in the spiritual world. There that is voluntary.

Some devotee wants to serve Krsna as flower; they become flower there. If I want to be a flower I shall lie down at the lotus feet of Krsna, he becomes flower, voluntarily, and he can change his, from flower to human body.

That is spiritual life. There is no restriction. If some devotee wants to serve Krsna as cow, he serves Krsna as cow, as calf, as flower, as plant, as water, as ground, field, or as father, as mother, as friend, as beloved, anything. It is inconceivable, yet a fact". (Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.1-4 - Melbourne, May 20, 1975)

A relationship ‘between two’ can ONLY experience love, and that is why Kṛṣṇa gave the jīva-souls their freedom (free will) in the first place, so they can also voluntarily contribute to their relationship with Krsna.

The full expression or potential of the individual jīva-souls (marginal living entities) is only fully expressed, experienced and realized in the Spiritual Worlds where they can express their free will in full through voluntary acts of self expression, and NOT while restricted in a decaying material bodily vessel existing in one of the many temporary material worlds (within unlimited Brahmanda universes) in the material creation.

Surrendering to Kṛṣṇa is enriched and further enhanced by the jīva-soul’s personal unique loving voluntary contributions of unique service Prabhupāda taught us.

This means the relationship with Kṛṣṇa is NOT impersonal in anyway (a one-way or one-sided forceful dictatorship).

As said above, a two-way relationship based on voluntary offering of services, is the ONLY way to increase, enrich and magnify the relationship of loving exchanges and reciprocation between Kṛṣṇa and the jīva-souls in a meaningful exchange of feelings.

Kṛṣṇa gave the jīva-souls their freedom (free will) for this purpose for establishing a ‘two-way’ voluntary relationship, just so they can express THEIR personal unique loving feelings too, experienced differently by each individual jīva-soul in their unique relationship with Krsna.

The fact is, real freedom, or experiencing the full potential of one's (the jīva-souls) unique personality, is ONLY fully experienced in Goloka Vṛndāvana and Vaikuṇṭha, where NO jiva-soul is forced to do anything in both Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrindavana because ALL service in the Spiritual Planets are voluntary.

The reason why the Spiritual Worlds are like this, is our loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa is NEVER founded on Him forcing His demands of obedience on the jiva-souls.

A relationship where a devotee is always told what to do, how to think, and how to act, and to only just obey without personal voluntary contributions (offerings) and intelligent inquiry, only makes the jiva-souls no better than dead stone.

Srila Prabhupada - "If you have no free will, then you are a stone. The stone has no free will. You want to be stone? Then you must have free will! But don't misuse your free will. But don't try to become stone either. That is not life". (August 5, 1976, New Mayapur France)

The fact is, this kind mindless impersonal emotionless none contributing surrender to a so called God or Spiritual Master or teacher, without being encouraged or nurtured to participate in a "two-way" reciprocal relationship of respectful exchanges, where the devotee is always encouraged to voluntarily make personal contributions and offerings "of THEIR choice", is nonsense impersonalism and dangerous.

Such a ‘one-sided’ impersonal dominant relationship, where the jīva-soul’s personality and character are artificially restricted and suppressed by always being told what to do without personal input, and being allowed to think for one's self, only extinguishes the jiva-soul's spiritual identity, individuality and personality (free will)

Such Mayavadi teachings of attempting to extinguish "free will" in the name of surrender is Spiritual suicide.

Under such impersonal conditions of being denied the spiritual right of self determination, the jiva-soul's natural constitution of self-expression, that allows them to choose for themselves what to contribution or offer to Kṛṣṇa, is replaced by a "one-way emotionless forceful demands" of being told what to do, what to offer and how to think.

No, the spiritual worlds are NOT loveless and impersonal like that.

Śrīla Prabhupāda - "Love means two persons. . . I must deal with you open-hearted, you must deal with me open-hearted, then there is love . . . So if you want to love Kṛṣṇa, God, then these things MUST be there" – (Evening darśana, August 9, 1976, Tehran)

Love or genuine selfless service is ALWAYS based on a ‘two-way’ exchange of feelings, this means each jīva-soul provides their own individual contributions of personal inputs as an expression of their own independent individuality and free will.

Śrīla Prabhupāda - "Kṛṣṇa does not want to become a lover at the point of revolver. ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!’ That is not love; that is threatening. Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force; that is rape. Why one is called lover, another is called rape?" – (July 8, 1976 in Washington, D.C.)

Srila Prabhupada - "Also free will means that you can act wrongly. That is free will. Unless there is chance of doing wrong or right, there is no question of free will. Where is free will then? If I act only one sided, that means I have no free will. Because we act sometimes wrongly, that means free will."

Hayagriva - "A man may know better but still act wrongly".

Srila Prabhupada -"Yes", but that is free will. He misuses his. Just like a thief, he knows that his stealing, it is bad, but still he does it. That is free will. He cannot check his greediness, so in spite of his knowing that he is doing wrong thing—he will be punished, he knows; he has seen another thief, he was punished, he was put into prison— everything he knows, but still he steals. Why? Misuse of free will. Unless there is misuse of free will, there is no question of free will. (Excerpt from: Philosophy Discussions with Srila Prabhupada – Rene Descartes)

Srila Prabhupada – “So everyone can know that independence means one can use it properly, or one can misuse it. That is independence. If you make it one way only, that is not independence, that is force.” (Los Angeles, June 23, 1975)

Srila Prabhupāda – ”Love means two persons, then there is exchange, then there is love. I must deal with you open-hearted, you must deal with me open-hearted, then there is love. So if you want to love Kṛṣṇa, God, then these things must be there”. (August 9, 1976, Tehran)

Srila Prabhupada - ''Love means you take and you give also. Suppose if you love somebody and you simply take from him, but you don't give. Oh, do you think it is very good? No. It is not good. That is NOT love. That is exploitation. If I go on simply taking from you, and if I don't offer you anything, that is simply exploitation. (Lecture on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 text 2-5, New York, November 23, 1966)

Srila Prabhupada - ''We have got the propensity to love. Love means somebody else. Love cannot be one or love cannot be executed only one, personally. There must be another one. I love somebody; somebody loves me, there must be lover, there must be beloved, and the transaction, then love''. (Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 2 text 6, Delhi, November 12, 1973)

Srila Prabhupada - ''With the (impersonalist) philosophy of oneness, how can there be love with just one? Is it possible? Have you got any such experience? Love means one? No. Love means two. There must be two, the lover and the beloved. Kṛṣṇa, is already lover. He's so lover of you that He's trying to get you back. That is Kṛṣṇa's attempt. "Please, My dear boy, or My dear friend, My dear servant..." (Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 2 Chapter 1 text 3, Paris, June 12, 1974)

Srila Prabhupāda - ''Unless there are two persons, where is the question of love? Love means two persons, then there is exchange. Giving something, taking something, feeding something and to eat something, and speaking everything, no secrecy, and to know everything of the other person. When these things are transacted, then there is love. I must deal with you open-hearted, you must deal with me open-hearted, then there is love. So if you want to love Kṛṣṇa, God, then these things must be there". (Evening Darsana, August 9, 1976, Tehran)

Thank you for the realizations Srila Prabhupada, your aspiring servant Gauragopala Dasa ACBSP.*

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