Responding to our desire, Krishna gives us a chance to forget Him.
A lecture given in Tokyo, on April 20, 1972 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
sri-suka uvaca
atma-mayam rte rajan
parasyanubhavatmanah
na ghatetartha-sambandhah
svapna-drastur ivanjasa
Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: O king, unless one is influenced by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no meaning to the relationship of the pure soul in pure consciousness with the material body. That relationship is just like a dreamer's seeing his own body working.
-- Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.1
MANY PEOPLE INQUIRE, "How did the living entity, who was with Krishna, fall into the material world?" That question is answered here. The living entity's condition is simply the influence of the material energy; actually he has not fallen. An example is given: The moon appears to be moving when clouds pass in front of it. Actually, the moon is not moving. Similarly, the living entity, because he is a spiritual spark of the Supreme, has not fallen. But he is thinking, "I am fallen. I am material. I am this body."
The body has no connection with the soul. We can experience this. The body is changing, dying, but I am the same. The idea that we have a connection with the body is due to the handling of the illusory energy of Krishna. That illusory energy develops when we forget Krishna.
In other words, our illusory identification with the body is simply due to our forgetfulness. We wanted to forget; we wanted to give up Krishna and enjoy the material world. Therefore Krishna is giving us the chance. For example, when you play a part in a drama, if you feel, "I am king," then you can talk very nicely. And if you feel, "I am Karandhara*," then you cannot play a king so nicely. The feelings must be there. If you are playing the part of a king, you must believe you are the king and have his courage. You have to forget that you are Karandhara. Then you can play the part very nicely, and the audience will appreciate. But if you think simultaneously, "I am Karandhara, and I am playing the part of the king," then you cannot play.
<* Karandhara - Prabhupada refers to a disciple in the audience.>
So because we wanted to play the part of Krishna, the enjoyer, Krishna is giving us the chance -- "You feel like Me." The feeling that "I am master, I am king, I am Krishna, I am God" is created by Krishna: "All right. You want to play the part of a king. I shall train you in such a way."
The director of a play tries to create the feelings within you for the part you are playing. In my younger age I played in a drama about Lord Chaitanya. Our director, Amritlal Bose, repeatedly said, especially to me, "Feel like that." So when we performed under his direction, all the people in the audience were crying. The play was artificial, but the effect on the audience was so nice.
Similarly, we have nothing to do with the material world, but we have been trained by the illusory energy in such a way that we think, "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am a brahmana," "I am a sudra," "I am this," "I am that," "I have to do this," "I have so many duties." These are all illusions. We have nothing to do with all this nonsense, but still we are taking it very seriously: "I have to do like that. I am this. I am that."
That is explained here. Atmamayam rte rajan parasyanubhavat-manah: "Unless one is influenced by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no meaning to the relationship of the pure soul in pure consciousness with the material body."
The example is given of a man dreaming. "Oh, there is a tiger, a tiger! Save me!" He is crying. An awake man observing may say, "Where is the tiger? Why are you crying?" But the dreaming man is actually feeling, "The tiger has attacked me."
Therefore this example is given: na ghatetartha-sambandhah. There cannot be any meaning of the relationship of the soul and the body except that it is like a dreaming man creating a situation. He is dreaming there is a tiger, and he is creating a fearful situation. Actually there is no cause of fear. There is no tiger. The situation is created by a dream.
Similarly, we have created the material world and material activity. People are running around -- "Oh, I am the manager. I am the factory owner. I am this, I am that. We know his politics. We have to defeat our competitors." All these things are created just as a man creates a situation in a dream -- svapna-drastur ivanjasa.
So when someone asks, "When did we come into contact with the material nature?" the answer is that we have not come into contact. By the influence of the external energy we think we are in contact. Actually we are not fallen. We cannot be fallen. We have simply created a situation. Rather, we have not created a situation; Krishna has given us a situation. Because we wanted to imitate Krishna, Krishna has given an opportunity: "All right. You want to imitate. You want to be an imitation king on the stage. So feel like this. Play like this. Do like this. People will applaud -- ‘Oh, a very nice king.' "
Everyone in the material world is playing some part. "I want to be prime minister." "I want to become a very big business magnate." "I want to be a leader." "I want to be a philosopher." "I want to be a scientist." They are trying to play all these nonsense parts, and Krishna is giving the opportunity -- "All right."
But these things are all nonsense. Simply dreaming. When you dream, the next moment the dream is gone, and everything in the dream is finished. No more tiger, no more jungle. Similarly, as long as the body continues, I think, "I am a responsible leader. I am this. I am that." But as soon as the body is finished, these ideas are gone.
Krishna says, mrtyu sarva-haras caham: "I am death. I take everything away." Just think of our past life. Suppose I was a king or something like that. From Bhrgu-samhita it was ascertained that I was a big physician in my last life, with a spotless character, no sins. I don't know. It may be. But I have no remembrance that I was a physician. So what do we know? I might have been a very big influential physician, with a good practice, but where is it all now? All gone.
So our contact with matter is just like a dream. We are not fallen. Therefore, at any moment we can revive our Krishna consciousness. We become liberated as soon as we understand, "I have nothing to do with matter. I am simply Krishna's eternal servant." Sometimes when a fearful dream becomes intolerable, we break the dream. Similarly, we can break the material connection at any moment as soon as we come to the point of Krishna consciousness. "Oh, Krishna is my eternal master. I am His servant." That's all. That is the way.
Actually we are not fallen. We cannot be fallen. The same example: Actually there is no tiger; it is dreaming. Similarly, our fallen condition is also dreaming. We are not fallen. We can simply give up that illusory condition at any moment.
So if you study all these verses very nicely, you will get all this knowledge quickly. Now what is the purport?
[A disciple reads:] "Maharaja Pariksit's question as to how a living entity began his material life, although he is apart from the material body and mind, is perfectly answered. The spirit soul is distinct from the material conception of his life, but he is absorbed in such a material conception because of being influenced by the external energy of the Lord, called atma-maya. This has been already explained in the First Canto in connection with Vyasadeva's realization of the Supreme Lord and His external energy. The external energy is controlled by the Lord and the living entities are controlled by the external energy."
Prabhupada: Krishna says, mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te: "As soon as one surrenders unto Me, he has no more illusion." People are conditioned, encaged. Mayavadis, or impersonalists, undergo austerities and penances just to become liberated. Yogis also try to become "one." So many endeavors are going on. But the simple process is that as soon as you surrender you are not fallen. "It was illusion. I was dreaming. I am Krishna's." By thinking in this way, one immediately becomes liberated. Immediately. Within a second.
Liberation can be attained within a second, provided we abide by the order of Krishna. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. This is the position. We are not fallen. We are thinking we are fallen. So we have to give up this nonsense thinking. Then we are liberated.
Is there any difficulty in understanding this point? Just see how important this verse is. It is already there, but you are not reading. Read each verse; read every day carefully. Try to assimilate, understand, and you will get more profit -- every day a hundred yards forward. They are such important verses. How nicely composed by Vyasadeva! In two lines the whole thing is explained. This is called sastra.
Read the purport.
[The disciple reads:] "The external energy is controlled by the Lord, and the living entities are controlled by the external energy -- by the will of the Lord. Therefore, although the living entity is purely conscious in his pure state, he is subordinate to the will of the Lord in being influenced by the external energy of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (15.15) also the same thing is confirmed; the Lord is present within the heart of every living entity, and all the living entity's consciousness and forgetfulness are influenced by the Lord."
Prabhupada: Now, people may ask, "Why does Krishna within the heart give one type of consciousness to one and a different type of consciousness to another?" That is His kindness. I wanted to forget Krishna, so Krishna is giving the appropriate consciousness: "All right, you can forget Me in this way."
The karmis, or ordinary materialists, the Mayavadis, and the so-called yogis wanted to forget Krishna. So Krishna is giving them intelligence: "All right. You forget Me like this." And if you want to revive your relationship with Krishna, He will give you intelligence. Dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te: "I shall give you intelligence to come to Me." Ye yatha mam prapadyante. As you want, Krishna gives you facility.
Go on reading.
[Disciple reads:] "Now the next question automatically made will be why the Lord influences the living entity to such consciousness and forgetfulness. The answer is that the Lord clearly wishes that every living entity be in his pure consciousness as the part and parcel of the Lord and thus be engaged in the loving service of the Lord as he is constitutionally made; but because the living entity is partially independent also, he may not be willing to serve the Lord, but may try to become as independent as the Lord is. All the nondevotee living entities are desirous of becoming equally as powerful as the Lord, although they are not fit to become so."
Prabhupada: The living entity will never be God, but we see that by the influence of the illusory energy many people think, "I am God," or "I shall become God by pressing my nose like this." This is going on. But they will never be able to become God. That is not possible. If everyone can become God, then there is no meaning of God.
Karmis say, "I shall become a millionaire. I shall become a trillionaire. I shall become head of state. I shall become prime minister." They struggle to attain these things.
And for yogis to think, "I shall become God" is simply another struggle. It is illusion. Krsna may give them some yogic success. In India there is a rascal who makes gold appear. And people are after him -- "Oh, he is God, he is God." By producing a little gold, he becomes God.
Another yogi makes two rasagullas [sweets] appear. So by producing two rasagullas, four cents' worth, he becomes God. You see? This is illusion. I can purchase two rasagullas from the market for four cents, so he has become God for four cents. People think, "Oh, he is God. He can produce rasagullas." They have no sense. I can produce rasagullas in our kitchen. But rascals think, "Oh, this yogi is wonderful."
So Krishna gives a person some power of yogic siddhi, or perfection, and the person thinks, "I have become God." And some flatterers think, "Oh, you are God." Such yogis are in the same dream as the karmis. And as soon as death comes, everything is finished -- your Godhood and everything, finished. Now comes doghood. And another dream: "I am dog." First of all "I am God," then "I am dog."
This is going on.
Therefore Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said, (miche) mayar bose, jaccho bhese': "Why are you being washed away by the waves of maya? Just stand up." (Jiv) krsna-das, ei biswas, korle to ar duhkho nai. "Simply stay fixed on this point: ‘I am an eternal servant of Krishna.' Then there is no more dream." And if you allow yourself to be washed away, Krishna gives you facility: "All right, come on. Be washed away."
Then?
[Disciple reads:] "The living entities are illusioned by the will of the Lord because they wanted to become like Him. Like a person who thinks of becoming a king without possessing the necessary qualifications, similarly, when the living entity desires to become the Lord Himself, he is put in a condition of dreaming that he is a king. Therefore the first sinful will of the living entity is to become the Lord, and the consequent will of the Lord is that the living entity forget his actual life and thus dream of the land of utopia where he may become one like the Lord. The child cries to have the moon from the mother, and the mother gives the child a mirror to satisfy the crying and disturbing child with the reflection of the moon. Similarly the crying child of the Lord is given over to the reflection, the material world, to lord it over as a karmi and to give this up in frustration to become one with the Lord. Both these stages are dreaming illusions only. There is no necessity of tracing out the history of when the living entity desired this. But the fact is that as soon as he desired it, he was put under the control of atma-maya by the direction of the Lord. Therefore the living entity in his material condition is dreaming falsely that this is ‘mine' and this is ‘I.' The dream is that the conditioned soul thinks of his material body as ‘I' or falsely thinks that he is the lord and that everything in connection with that material body is ‘mine.' Thus only in dream does the misconception of ‘I and mine' persist life after life. This continues life after life, as long as the living entity is not purely conscious of his identity as the subordinate part and parcel of the Lord.
"In his pure consciousness, however, there is no such misconceived dream, and in that pure conscious state the living entity does not forget that he is never the Lord, but he is eternally the servitor of the Lord in transcendental love."
Prabhupada: Thank you very much.
Comments
Possibly one of the nicest lectures Srila Prabhupada gave to us. Wonderful! Powerful, Clear!
First class, thanks very much.
Comment by Welcome on April 8, 2010 at 0:13 Delete Comment
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.29.83)
Srila Prabhupada - "Everything happening within time, which consists of past, present and future, is merely a dream. This is the secret in understanding in all the Vedic literature."
( Srimad-Bhagavatam. 4.29.2)
Srila Prabhupada - "Our contact with matter is just like dream. Actually we are not fallen. Therefore, because we are not fallen, at any moment we can revive our Krishna consciousness, we break the dream. Similarly, we can break this So this situation"
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 2.9.1, Tokyo Japan 1972)
Srila Prabhupada - "When the dream is finished, we come to another dream: "Oh, this is my house. This is my family. This is my bank balance." This is going on. Dream. One dream at night, one dream at daytime. But who is dreaming? That is the living entity. So his business is different. Not dreaming, daytime dreaming and night-time dreaming. He has to come to the actual platform. That is Krsna consciousness. If he takes to Krsna consciousness, that is his actual life. Otherwise, he's in the dreamland"
(Srila Prabhupada, Bombay, December 27, 1972)
Srila Prabhupada - "Our separation from Krishna is like that. We dream this body and so many relationships with other things. 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 Letter to Australian devotees)
Last updated by Tamoharadasa v. (ACBSP) Jan 6.
"As long as the jivas, by their choice, stay fixed in the service of Krsna they are free of maya and karma, but when, by misuse of their freewill, they desire to enjoy for themselves and forget their inherent nature of service to Krsna, they become deluded by maya and thus controlled by karma. When they realize that service to Krsna is their inherent nature, they become free from the bondage of karma and the affliction of maya.
Since the cause of their bondage exists before entry into the material universe, their bondage is called anadi, without beginning in material time, and they are thus called eternally conditioned.
(Caitanya Siksamrita, Bhaktivinoda Thakur, p.35, First Rainfall, Fourth Shower)
So we can see from the above quote that the cause of the jiva's bondage is before material time, of past, present and future. That means the cause is in the spiritual world, because there are only material and spiritual divisions of facts. So what is it, and what causes the bondage one may ask? It is the freewill or independence of the jiva as stated above that exists in Vaikuntha/Goloka. The Neo-Gaudiyas like to limit the free will of the jivas in Vaikuntha by saying that they will never misuse it, but no acarya supports this limited thinking. They cannot provide even one quote to back up their misconception that a jiva in the spiritual world will never misuse his independence.
The jiva's freewill to serve or not to serve, i.e. the energy (jiva) wants to become the energetic (God). The servant would like to enjoy like the master. Instead of finitely enjoying as a servant he wants to infinitely enjoy Krsna's energy, and that will not be allowed in Vaikuntha/Goloka.
In a conversation with devotees during an evening darshan on July 8, 1976 in Washington D.C., Srila Prabhupada says:
Srila Prabhupada: So, even in the Vaikuntha, if I desire that—"Why shall I serving Krsna? Why not become Krsna?"—I immediately fall down. That is natural… You cannot become God. That is not possible. But he's wrongly thinking.
Devotee: Why doesn't Krsna protect us from that desire?
Srila Prabhupada: He's protecting. He says, "You rascal, don't desire. Surrender unto Me." But you are rascal; you do not do this.
Devotee: Why doesn't He save me from thinking like that?
Srila Prabhupada: That means you loose your independence. That is force…Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force.
Remember, this freewill is always with the jiva before material time. And it exists in Vaikuntha forever. Bhaktivinoda Thakur states:
"Those who search for Krsna's happiness are called nitya-mukta, and those who search for their own happiness are called nitya-baddha. In this regard, all inconceivable natures are under the subordination of spiritual time. The time factor of the spiritual nature is a state of eternal present. But in the inferior illusory energy there are three states of existence- past, present, and future. So whatever considerations arise in this regard, if related with the spiritual time factor, then no doubts will remain; but if seen otherwise, then doubts will remain. Why did a pure soul search for his own happiness? If one puts forward such a question, then doubts arising from the material time factor will manifest. If one can give up such doubts then he can perform devotional service, other-wise there will only be a series of arguments. If arguments are related to the inconceivable nature, then anarthas arise.
(Bhaktyaloka, under Niscaya, p.60, 61)
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur is informing us that one should not pose this question, i.e. like the Neo-Gaudiyas who say that how can ISKCON say that the jiva gave up his service to Krsna, and cut his eternal relationship, how is that possible? It is only because the Neo-Gaudiyas cannot understand how freewill is connected to the spiritual time factor in Vaikuntha/Goloka. Because of this they are entangled in criticizing ISKCON and anarthas are growing. They are thinking that only ISKCON thinks that the jiva fell from Vaikuntha/Goloka, but Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur, and Srila Prabhupada say otherwise.
There is also Y. Jagannatham, B.A., Upadesaka, Bhaktitilaka, an elderly disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur, who was told to translate the Goswami literatures into Telegu and English languages. He wrote a book called Rasa Tattva that scientifically describes how the jiva gives up his service and leaves Vaikuntha. He talks about how our relationship with Krsna is eternal, just like Srila Prabhupada did. Here Prabhupada talks about eternal relations, from the BBT Folio:
"So Vedic culture is very old. It is not a concocted thing or a new pattern. It is eternal. Therefore it is called sanatana. Sanatana means eternal. It has no beginning, no end. Sanatana. So the Vedic culture means sanatana, eternal. Krsna is eternal. We living entities we are eternal. And our relationship and exchange of loving service with Krsna is also eternal. Krsna is eternal, we are eternal, and our dealings with Krsna is also eternal. But sometimes it becomes interrupted by the maya, which is called svapna. Svapna means dreamlike. As a dream has no fact, it is all hallucination, similarly our detachment from Krsna is also a hallucination. Actually there is no detachment…"
Srila Prabhupada has told us many times that the spiritual body is already there in Vaikuntha/Goloka. Here are quotes by Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur:
"So to go to God or Krsna means you have to acquire your original, spiritual body. The spiritual body is already there, but we are now covered by this material body."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Hamburg, Germany, June 22, 1974)
Srila Prabhupada told Gauragopala dasa in Sydney, Australia, in early 1973:
"Soon you will understand, try to understand also your real bodily form is always in Vaikuntha."
"When he is imprisoned in the material world the spirit soul does not lose his original spiritual form he had in the spiritual world of Vaikuntha. However, because of contact with matter the imprisoned soul loses the memory of his original spiritual form in Vaikuntha. Still his spiritual form does not cease to exist."
(Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Prema-pradipa,p.83)
"The individual soul naturally resides in Vaikuntha. If he somehow comes to the material world, the individual soul brings with him his spiritual form made of chit. Pervertedly reflected in the material world those things of chit are called by name "matter."
(Prema-pradipa, p.96)
"As long as the jiva takes full shelter of the Supreme Lord he remains a resident of Vaikuntha. But when his innate spiritual knowledge of the Lord is covered by forgetfulness, he is placed outside the transcendental realm."
(Caitanya Siksamrita, Sanmod-ana Bhasya-sloka-1)
"When the pure living entities reside in Vaikuntha, the first knot of nescience in the form of false ego does not entangle them. Pure living entities cannot remain steady after giving up spiritual activities. Therefore as soon as the living entities become situated in their own happiness through the minute independence given by the Lord, they become shelterless and are compelled to take shelter of maya. On account of this, the pure living entities have no shelter other than Vaikuntha. The living entities of Vaikuntha are very insignificant, like fireflies in comparison to the powerful sun like the lord. As soon as the living entity leaves Vaikuntha, he is simultaneously awarded a subtle body and thrown into the material world created by maya. All manifestations of the Sadhini, Samvit and Hladini aspect of the marginal potency are mixed with maya as soon as the living entity leaves the shelter of Vaikuntha.
(Sri Krsna Samhita-2.41)
Does Acaryavilasa think the Acaryas are just making these statements up as pudding for our conditioned ears? We take these statements as facts directly. The one piece of sastra that Acaryavilasa quotes about time is from Brahma Samhita, 5.56:
"(In Goloka)…where there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a moment. That realm is known as Goloka only to a very few self realized souls in this material world."
Neo-Gaudiyas think that this verse proves their point that no one could leave Goloka because that would mean that there is a defect there, that one could be gone for some time. That is because they are thinking in terms of perceptible time calculation. Time there is in the eternal present. From the earlier quotes, the spiritual form is there in Vaikuntha when the jiva comes here to this world. What is that form doing when it is there? Some have said it is in a closet like a coat that the jiva will put on when he goes there. But in the spiritual world everything is fully conscious. Srila Bhaktivinoda says that when we come here, the spiritual form there does not cease to exist. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur states in text 44 of Brahma Samhita purport:
"When he forgets his service of Krsna he is at once deflected by the attractive power of maya in this world."
So of what time duration is that "once"? That deflecting action is carried out by the praksepatmika shakti. This shakti is under charge of the original Durga in Shivaloka, in which half of the loka is in Vaikuntha and the other half is in the material world. Demigods have their original forms in the spiritual world. This praksepatmika shakti rips the jiva out of the spiritual world and the avaranatmika shakti then totally covers the jiva soul. The jiva's satchitananda vigraha remains in Vaikuntha. This cannot be calculated in material time nor is it a defect in Vaikuntha. Instead it is a perfect arrangement, because love with Krsna is not forced. Freewill is a merciful blessing of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada says in the introduction to the Bhagavad Gita:
"Every living being, out of many, many billions and trillions of living beings, has a particular relationship with the Lord eternally. That is called svarupa. By the process of devotional service, one can revive that svarupa, and that stage is called svarupa siddhi- perfection of one's constitutional position."
Here is a quote for those Neo-Gaudiyas who think that Prabhupada preached the fall of the jiva from Vaikuntha only when he came to the West.
"Just as the rebellious citizens of the state compel (by their actions) the Government to build a prison house, similarly those souls who have turned their face from the Supreme Lord fall from their service to the Supreme Lord and are themselves the cause for the creation of this mayic world of suffering. If in the state criminals or rebellious citizens don't exist then so also there would be no necessity for the prison house. Similarly, if from the Supreme Lord's eternal pastimes (Nitya-lila) no souls would turn themselves away from it, then the creation of the mayaic world also would be put off forever."
(Sri Bhagavat Patrika-1959)
Hari bol Prabhu! Prabhupad has made that much very clear! :)