Chapter 2: The “fall” of Jaya and Vijaya
Jaya and Vijaya, two of the personal associates of the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha, had to come to the material world for three lives due to their offense to the Kumaras. Does this explain why are we here?
« The ‘Fall’ of the Jīva, as Explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda
Chapter 2: The “fall” of Jaya and Vijaya
In the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we find the description of Jaya and Vijaya, two of the personal associates of the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha, coming to the material world to take birth as demons for three lives because of their offense against the Kumāras. At first, it may appear that this is the pastime in which the “fall” of the jīva is explained. However, a more careful study shows that this is not the case. The main focus of this pastime is to explain that, unlike the celestial planets and other parts of the material creation, one’s position in the spiritual world is eternal. Māyā has no influence there, and there is no force that can push or squeeze a soul out of his position of service to the Lord, a point illustrated against the backdrop of the seemingly inconceivable event of Jaya and Vijaya being cursed to come to the material world.
However, although this pastime does not directly describe why and how we are here, the verses and purports of this passage contain several important conclusions that we need to understand well in order to follow the arguments that Prabhupāda gradually builds over the Third and Fourth Cantos, clarifying this and other topics.
The demigods ask Brahmā for help
Context is always important to understand different passages of the scriptures. The pastime of Jaya and Vijaya being cursed appears as part of the description of Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu, taking birth as the sons of Diti and Kaśyapa, and causing many disturbances in the universe even from inside the womb.
Seeing the darkness caused by them, the demigods approached Lord Brahmā to ask for help, leading him to describe the pastime behind their appearance. In reality, they were none other than the two extremely powerful gatekeepers of Lord Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha, Jaya and Vijaya, who had been cursed by the four Kumāras to take birth in this material world.
Because the Kumāras are so pure, they can travel all over the universe. Once, they went all the way to Vaikuṇṭha. There, all inhabitants have similar forms to the Supreme Lord, with four hands, and are engaged in devotional service without desire for sense gratification. In fact, there are no other engagements there apart from serving the Lord, and through this service, all their desires are satisfied. The Vaikuṇṭha planets are also completely free from passion and ignorance. Everything there is spiritual and personal, and the forests are full of desire trees. Just like Lord Viṣṇu has Lakṣmī Devī as His consort, the other inhabitants can be seen in the company of their wives. Just like the men look like Lord Viṣṇu, the ladies look like Lakṣmī. They travel in spiritual airplanes singing the glories of the Lord, and although they are all extremely beautiful, there is no sexual attraction between them. Their relationships are pure and centered on service to the Lord. Prabhupāda mentions that when it is mentioned in the Brahma-samhitā that the Supreme Lord is always served in His abode by many millions of goddesses of fortune; these goddesses of fortune are not exactly consorts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the wives of the devotees who are engaged in His service.
In Vaikuṇṭha, there is also no difference between the human residents and the animal residents. They are all perfect souls who take different forms according to their relationship and service to the Lord. Just as the associates of the Lord, all birds, bees, and other beings, constantly sing the glories of the Lord. Sometimes one stops singing to hear the other. Not only the animals but also the plants are fully conscious, and there is no envy between these different inhabitants. Brahmā concludes his narration by describing that although the abode of the Lord is so wonderful, materialistic people, as well as impersonalists, are not interested in hearing about it, preferring instead to talk about mundane topics and mental speculation. According to Brahmā, such people are thrown into the darkest region of ignorance.
As Prabhupāda mentions in his purport:
“The variegatedness of the Vaikuṇṭha planets is described in relation to the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. But instead of trying to understand the spiritual abode and the spiritual activities of the Lord, people are more interested in politics and economic developments. They hold many conventions, meetings and discussions to solve the problems of this worldly situation, where they can remain for only a few years, but they are not interested in understanding the spiritual situation of the Vaikuṇṭha world. If they are at all fortunate, they become interested in going back home, back to Godhead, but unless they understand the spiritual world, they rot in this material darkness continuously.”
Brahmā explains that human life is so important and valuable that even he, who has such an elevated position, desires to be born as a human being on Earth because, in the human form, one can easily obtain perfection. In the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, we hear that Lord Brahmā had the opportunity of taking birth on Earth during the pastimes of Lord Caitanya as Śrīla Haridāsa Thākura, giving the perfect example of a Vaiṣnava. It is said that the human form is like a boat that can cross the material ocean. The spiritual master is the captain of the boat, and the instructions of the scriptures are like favorable winds. Not to take advantage of such facilities is like committing suicide.
In this way, Brahmā tries to make us aware of the glories of the supreme abode and of its inhabitants, and to inspire us to seriously practice the process of devotional service to eventually reach there. As in other passages, this conclusion of devotional service being the ultimate goal of life is stressed, and the whole philosophical discussion serves as just a background for that.
The Kumāras visit Vaikuṇṭha
Starting from verse 3.15.26, Brahmā describes the visit of the Kumāras to Vaikuṇṭhaloka: “Thus the great sages Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumāra, upon reaching the above-mentioned Vaikuṇṭha in the spiritual world by dint of their mystic yoga performance, perceived unprecedented happiness. They found that the spiritual sky was illuminated by highly decorated airplanes piloted by the best devotees of Vaikuṇṭha and was predominated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (SB 3.15.26)
The Kumāras are beyond any concept of “ours” and “theirs”, and just like children, they have the nature of going anywhere and everywhere without any concept of trespassing. They passed successively through the first six gates of the Vaikuṇṭha lokas until they reached the 7th gate, guarded by Jaya and Vijaya. It is described that they showed no interest in the wonderful decorations of these gates, or in other things they saw. They were interested in seeing the Lord.
Jaya and Vijaya, however, didn’t allow them to go further, blocking their way with their staffs. Somehow, the gatekeepers had an inimical attitude toward the great sages, which is described as not being very pleasant to the Lord.
Although the Lord is the master of Vaikuṇṭha, He always shows great respect to brāhmanas and sages who visit Him, not only to set an example, but out of affection. We can see the example of the pastime of Sudāmā Vipra visiting Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, for example. Even when Bhṛgu Muni kicked Lord Viṣṇu to test His tolerance, the Lord received him with all courtesy. Similarly, the Lord was eager to see the Kumāras, but somehow Jaya and Vijaya checked them, which was inappropriate.
The four boy sages became very angry, but this anger was not inappropriate, because it was connected with the service of the Lord. As Prabhupāda explains: “Here we can mark that even great saintly persons like the Kumāras were also angry, but they were not angry for their personal interests. They were angry because they were forbidden to enter the palace to see the Personality of Godhead. Therefore the theory that in the perfectional stage one should not have anger is not supported in this verse. Anger will continue even in the liberated stage. These four mendicant brothers, the Kumāras, were considered liberated persons, but still they were angry because they were restricted in their service to the Lord.” (SB 3.15.32 purport)
In this angry mood, the Kumāras spoke:
“Who are these two persons who have developed such a discordant mentality even though they are posted in the service of the Lord in the highest position and are expected to have developed the same qualities as the Lord? How are these two persons living in Vaikuṇṭha? Where is the possibility of an enemy coming into this kingdom of God? The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no enemy. Who could be envious of Him? Probably these two persons are imposters; therefore they suspect others to be like themselves.” (SB 3.15.32)
The Kumāras felt that Jaya and Vijaya were acting against the interest of the Lord and showing an inimical disposition that was not appropriate for Vaikuṇṭha, a place where there are no enemies. They judged that Jaya and Vijaya were contaminated by duality, distinguishing between friends and enemies, and were thus fit to be removed from Vaikuṇṭha and sent to the material world.
Prabhupāda explains: “Although, by chance, the doormen committed a mistake by checking the brāhmaṇas from entering the gate of Vaikuṇṭha, they were at once aware of the gravity of the curse. There are many kinds of offenses, but the greatest offense is to offend a devotee of the Lord. Because the doormen were also devotees of the Lord, they were able to understand their mistake and were terrified when the four Kumāras were ready to curse them.” (SB 3.15.35 purport)
Even though cursed, going to the material world was not the main concern of Jaya and Vijaya. Their greatest fear was to forget the Lord, and thus they begged the Kumāras not to fall into illusion while going downwards in the direction of the material energy. At that moment, the Lord personally appeared at the door to solve the conflict between His devotees.
The Kumāras can see the Lord constantly in their hearts, but that was the first time they could see the Lord face to face. Before meeting the Lord, the Kumāras were brahmavādīs, more attracted to the impersonal aspect, but when they felt the aroma of the tulasī leaves offered to Him, their minds immediately changed. The difference between brahmavādīs and māyāvādīs is that brahmavādīs are just unaware of the personal aspect of the Lord, and thus they tend to become devotees when they have the association of pure devotees or direct association with the Lord. Māyāvādīs, on the other hand, are offenders who envy Him.
“When the breeze carrying the aroma of tulasī leaves from the toes of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead entered the nostrils of those sages, they experienced a change both in body and in mind, even though they were attached to the impersonal Brahman understanding. The Lord’s beautiful face appeared to them like the inside of a blue lotus, and the Lord’s smile appeared to be a blossoming jasmine flower. After seeing the face of the Lord, the sages were fully satisfied, and when they wanted to see Him further, they looked upon the nails of His lotus feet, which resembled rubies. Thus they viewed the Lord’s transcendental body again and again, and so they finally achieved meditation on the Lord’s personal feature.” (SB 3.15.43-44)
The attraction of the Kumāras to the Lord is yet another proof that pure devotional service is the supreme goal of all processes of self-realization. The Kumāras received from Brahmā knowledge about the jñāna-kanda section of the Vedas, the path of meditation and philosophical pursuit. Although perfectly fixed on this path, they immediately became attracted to the personal form of the Lord when they had the opportunity to associate with Him. This is confirmed in the famous ātmārāmā verse, explained by Śri Caitanya Mahāprabhu in 64 ways to Sanātana Gosvāmī:
ātmārāmāś ca munayo, nirgranthā apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukīm bhaktim, ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ“All different varieties of ātmārāmas [those who take pleasure in the ātmā, or spirit self], especially those established on the path of self-realization, though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render unalloyed devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This means that the Lord possesses transcendental qualities and therefore can attract everyone, including liberated souls.”
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