Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Dec 01, AUSTRALIA (SUN) — In relation to the jiva's fall from Goloka, yes it is correct that no marginal living entities or nitya-siddha devotees fall from Goloka.
Our understanding of the jiva's origin comes from the teachings of Srila Prabhupada. It is well known that some of the teachings of others within the Gaudiya Math believe that some marginal living entities originate from the Impersonal Brahmajyoti - Srila Prabhupada rejects that idea as his conclusion is no jiva souls originate from the Impersonal Brahmajyoti but in fact ALL originate from Goloka or directly from Krsnaloka.
In relation to the jiva's fall from Goloka, yes it is correct that no marginal living entities or nitya-siddha devotees fall from Goloka, they can only dream or imagine they do.
Srila Prabhupada - " After all, the living entity falls down from the spiritual world . . . There is possibility . . . even if you are in Vaikuntha, you will fall down--what to speak of this material world." - Lecture on Bhagavad-gita on July 4, 1974
Srila Prabhupada - "The answer to your question about the marginal energy is that the jiva soul is always called marginal energy whether he is in the spiritual world or in the material world'. - Letter to Rayarama, December 2, 1968
Srila Prabhupada - "There are instances where marginal energy jiva souls have fallen from the spiritual world, just like Jaya and Vijaya. So the potency to fall under the influence of the lower energy is always there. And thus the individual jiva soul is called as Krishna's marginal energy." - Letter to Rayarama, December 2, 1968
Paramahamsa – "So we can come to the spiritual world and return?"
Srila Prabhupada – "Yes".
Paramahamsa – "Fall down?"
Srila Prabhupada – "Yes. As soon as we try, "Oh, this material world is very nice," "Yes," Krsna says, "yes, you go . . . Otherwise what is the meaning of free will?' Morning Walk, Cheviot Hills Golf Course May 13, 1973 Los Angeles
Professor – "Are there any souls that are always good? ...They're not foolish, they don't fall down?"
Srila Prabhupada – "Majority, ninety percent, they are always good. They never fall down".
Professor – "So we're among the ten percent?"
Srila Prabhupada – "Yes" Talk in Los Angeles on June 23, 1975 between Prabhupada and a professor
Srila Prabhupada – "We are also expansions of Krishna's form". Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture 1.3.1-3 — San Francisco, March 28, 1968
Yasomatinandana – "Is the original body of the spirit 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". Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.1-4 - Melbourne, May 20, 1975
Srila Prabhupada - "There are instances where marginal energy jiva souls have fallen from the spiritual world, just like Jaya and Vijaya. So the potency to fall under the influence of the lower energy is always there. And thus the individual jiva soul is called as Krishna's marginal energy." - Letter to Rayarama, December 2, 1968
Srila Prabhupada - "We have also come down from Vaikuntha some millions and millions of years ago." - Lecture on Bhagavad-gita on August 6, 1973
Nevertheless, it must be understood that it is not in our power to create such a facility like the mahat-tattva separate creation from Krishna's eternal abode that takes up 25% of the Spiritual creation or Brahmajyoti, which is in effect the ‘dream' of Maha-Vishnu and the marginal living entity.
Maha-Vishnu's temporary material creation of past, present and future caters for the ‘sub-conscious or nitya-baddha state' of the marginal living entity which is for 10% of marginal living entities in Goloka/Vaikuntha.
However 75% of the Spiritual Sky or Brahmajyoti is where the ‘eternal presents' of Goloka and Vaikuntha perpetual exist in uninterrupted Krishna Consciousness. (If one chooses)
It must be understood that in Goloka ALL 100% of marginal living entities perpetual exist as nitya-siddha devotees and, as already explained, only 10% of them imagine, dream or think themselves to be nitya-baddha.
We are eternally under the jurisdiction of Krishna directly in Vaikuntha or indirectly in the mahat-tattva creation of Maha-Vishnu. All our facilities come from God.
Ravindra Svarupa Dasa - "The example Srila Prabhupada uses comes directly from the Bhagavatam verse. A dreaming person manufactures an alternate dream-self (nitya-baddha) that he temporarily takes to be his real identity. Thus, the dreamer imagines himself undergoing all kinds of adventures. In a nightmare he dreams he is running in panic through a dense jungle at night, a huge and hungry tiger chasing him down. With a thudding heart, he hears the tiger coming inexorably closer. Then claws rake his back, and fangs crush his neck, and he wakes up screaming in terror. With relief he sees he is safe in bed. The fictional dream-self is gone. All along he had been safe in his own bed. He was never lost in any tiger-infested jungle. http://btg.krishna.com/main.php?id=508.
In the Fourth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Narada Muni narrates the allegorical story of King Puranjana. In the part that concerns us, Puranjana has just died and his widow, Vaidarbhi, is lamenting piteously. A brahmana approaches the queen and introduces himself as her "eternal friend." The brahmana, who symbolizes the Supersoul, says to the grieving queen –
"My dear friend, even though you cannot immediately recognize Me, can't you remember that in the past you had a very intimate friend? Unfortunately, you gave up My company and accepted a position as enjoyer of this material world. My dear gentle friend, both you and I are exactly like two swans. We live together in the same heart, which is just like the Manasa lake. Although we have been living together for many thousands of years, we are still far away from our original home".
Srila Prabhupada here explains "You (the marginal living entities awareness of being ‘eternally' nitya-siddha) gave up My company and accepted a position as enjoyer of this material world".
This clearly refers to the soul's fall from the Vaikuntha into the material world, the fact is they NEVER fall, they only think, dream and imagine they fall because factually No souls fall from Goloka/Vaikuntha. We just have to comprehend what eternal means. It means that once you are there (or better said; here), in the authentic ‘imperishable' presents of Goloka,you were always there/here and will always be there/here, even if you ‘dream' you are not there but in the mahat-tattva or material creation. That is the meaning ofbeginningless, endless or eternal and that one NEVER falls from Goloka.
The choice is entirely up to the marginal living entity in Goloka.
Those marginal living beings (nitya-siddhas) that love Krishna are situated in their full potential in the spiritual world in the complete ‘awareness' of who they perpetually are, whereas those marginal living beings who choose to ignore Krishna and therefore no longer continue to be ‘aware' of their nitya-siddha body `that is eternally in Goloka are situated in the material world as their nitya-baddha secondary state which is but an echo of their true nitya-siddha identity.
Those who choose not to continue serving Krishna, or who have become envious of the Lord's position as the Supreme Enjoyer, cannot remain in the spiritual ‘awareness' of their nitya-siddha body in Goloka.
If it so happens that a marginal living entity becomes envious of the Lord instigated by free will and choice that ALL marginal living entities have in both Goloka and Vaikuntha, then the marginal living entity immediately falls from the spiritual world, not as their nitya-siddha body, but rather as their nitya-baddha sub-conscious secondary mundane ‘awareness' for no resentment of the Lord exists in the spiritual world. Remember, the choice to love Krishna or not is in each of us eternally.
Srila Prabhupada - "But after millions and millions of years of keeping oneself (or one's awareness of their nitya-siddha self) away from the lila of the Lord, when one comes to Krsna consciousness this period becomes insignificant, just like dreaming". Letter to Madhudvisa Swami in Australia 1972
Ravindra Svarupa Dasa - "In the spiritual world there is no duality, nor is there hate," Prabhupada says. But "when the living entities desire to enjoy themselves, they develop a consciousness of duality and come to hate the service of the Lord. In this way the living entities fall into the material world."
Srila Prabhupada explains this very clearly – "We are also expansions of Krishna's form. These jivas, the living entities… Krishna is expanding in two ways, svamsa and vibhinnamsa. Svamsa means Vishnu. One extension, expansion, is just directly He Himself. And another expansion (vibhinnamsa) is separated from Him. That separated from Him (marginal) we are'.Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture 1.3.1-3 — San Francisco, March 28, 1968
Srila Prabhupada - "You are already in the spiritual sky (Krsnaloka), but you are simply covered. Just like the sun is already there. You are also already there. So actually we are always in the spiritual world. But when you forget Krishna by the cloud of illusion that is material. Try to understand". In an Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture given in London, on July 30, 1971
Srila Prabhupada - "Actually we are not fallen therefore, at any moment we can revive (Regain, re-establish, wake up from the dream, remember who we really are as a body eternally in a state of originality) our Krishna consciousness. As soon as we understand that (my svarupa body is always in Krsnaloka or Vaikuntha or even both), "I have nothing to do with (the material world and its bodily vessels my sub-conscious fallen nitya-baddha condition is housed in). I am simply Krishna's servant. Eternal servant. That's all". In a Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture given in London, on July 30, 1971
Srila Prabhupada - "Our separation from Krishna is like that. We dream this body and so many relationships with other things". Letter to Madhudvisa Swami
Srila Prabhupada – "Actually, you are not conditioned (nitya-baddha). You are thinking. Just like in the dream you are thinking that tiger is eating you. You were never eaten by tiger. There is no tiger. So we have to get out of this dream. Lecture on Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 7.108–San Francisco, February 18, 1967
Srila Prabhupada - "We cannot say therefore that we are not with Krishna. As soon as we try to become Lord, immediately we are covered by Maya. Formerly we were with Krishna in His Lila or sport". Letter to Madhudvisa Swami
Srila Prabhupada - "Just like in a dream we are thinking very long time, but as soon as we awaken we look at our watch and see it has been a moment only"
Srila Prabhupada - "The living of a miserable life in the material world by dint of the soul's choice is nicely illustrated by Milton in Paradise Lost. Similarly, by choice the soul can regain paradise and return home, back to Godhead". Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 5.22
Srila Prabhupada - "This is called Maya. Actually, you are not conditioned. You are thinking. Just like in the dream you are thinking that tiger is eating you. You were never eaten by tiger. There is no tiger. So we have to get out of this dream". Lecture on Sri Caitanya-Caritamrita, Adi-lila 7.108--San Francisco, February 18, 1967
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur - "However, because of contact with matter, the imprisoned soul loses the memory of his original spiritual form in Vaikuntha. . . material rasas are perverted reflections of the soul's original spiritual rasas." Prema-pradipa, p. 83
Srila Prabhupada also states "Because he falls down from Brahma-sahujya (impersonal liberated condition), he thinks that may be his origin, but he does not remember that long, long, long, long ago before that even, he was with Krishna". Letter to Australian devotees 1972 Letter to Madhudvisa Swami
Srila Prabhupada – "Established means re-establish. It is already established. We have got different types of relationship. That is called svarupa-siddhi. Svarupa-siddhi. When you are perfect in spiritual life, you will understand what your relationship with Krishna is automatically. That is called svarupa-siddhi". Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture, December 7, 1974, Bombay
Srila Prabhupada – "Similarly, we have got an eternal relationship with Krishna, either as father or as lover or as servant, like that. So that is self-realisation. When you will be perfect in love, in loving Krishna, then in what status of life you will love, that you will under–…That will be revealed. That is called svarupa-siddhi". Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture, December 7, 1974, Bombay
Srila Prabhupada – "So svarupa-siddhi is not something artificial. When one becomes perfectly spiritually realised, then he understands what his relationship with Krishna is, and he begins his service in that relationship as father, as friend, as guru or as servant, like that. So this relationship is eternal. Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture, December 7, 1974, Bombay
Srila Prabhupada – "No one falls from the spiritual world or Vaikuntha planet, for it is the eternal abode. Bhag. 3.16.26, purport
It is there they are provided with temporary bodily forms created by Maha-Vishnu who is dreaming the entire mahat-tattva or material creation aspect of the Spiritual Sky.
This clearly means our nitya-siddha svarupa body can NEVER leave Goloka or Vaikuntha and that WE ONLY ‘DREAM', ‘THINK' OR ‘IMAGINE' WE LEAVE. In this way the mahat-tattva is the destination for where such dreams go.
Such an inferior non-Krishna conscious facsimile of the self is called the nitya-baddha sub-conscious projection and originates as an echo of our eternal nitya-siddha body in Goloka
So in this way, NO nitya-siddha devotees fall from Goloka, they only ‘think or dream' they do.
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