How could Jaya and Vijaya “fall” into the material world?
The “fall” of Jaya and Vijaya after being cursed by the four Kumāras is an extraordinary event. How is it possible that two personal associates of the Lord were sent to the material world?
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How could Jaya and Vijaya “fall” into the material world?
The “fall” of Jaya and Vijaya after being cursed by the four Kumāras is a very significant event in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. A great part of the narration covers topics directly or indirectly connected with this event, like the pregnancy of Diti in the evening, the fight of Lord Varāha against Hiraṇyākṣa, the pastimes of Prahlāda Maharaja and Lord Nṛsimhadeva, the advent of Lord Rāma, and so on. This is also possibly one of the most difficult-to-understand passages of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
First of all, how did the Kumāras visit the Vaikuṇṭha planets if it is described that before meeting with the Lord, they were impersonalists?
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (as well as in other Purāṇas), there are many accounts of great personalities of this universe being able to visit Vaikuṇṭha-loka, just like Durvāsā Muni, the four Kumāras, as well as different demigods and great sages. These personalities are not normally able to leave the universe, but they can sometimes reach Vaikuṇṭha-loka through Śvetadvīpa, the abode of Lord Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, which is a Vaikuṇṭha planet appearing as an island in the Milk Ocean.
The island of Śvetadvīpa is described by Śrīla Prabhupāda in the first chapter of the Kṛṣṇa Book:
“In the Vedic mantras, there is a particular type of prayer called Puruṣa-sūkta. Generally, the demigods offer their obeisances unto Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by chanting the Puruṣa-sūkta. It is understood herein that the predominating deity of every planet can see the supreme lord of this universe, Brahmā, whenever there is some disturbance on his planet. And Brahmā can approach the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, not by seeing Him directly but by standing on the shore of the ocean of milk. There is a planet within this universe called Śvetadvīpa, and on that planet there is an ocean of milk. It is understood from various Vedic literatures that just as there is the ocean of salt water on this planet, there are various kinds of oceans on other planets. Somewhere there is an ocean of milk, somewhere there is an ocean of oil, and somewhere there are oceans of liquor and of many other types of liquids. The Puruṣa-sūkta is the standard prayer which the demigods recite to appease the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṣīrodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu. Because He is lying on the ocean of milk, He is called Kṣīrodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu. He is the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead through whom all the incarnations within this universe appear.”
There is no difference between the island of Śvetadvīpa and the Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual world, but Śvetadvīpa is easier to reach since it appears inside our universe. It works thus as a kind of portal, through which one can reach the spiritual sky without having to pierce through the coverings of the universe, travel across the brahmajyoti, and so on.
Normally, the demigods go to the border of the Milk Ocean and offer prayers to Lord Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu from there when they need assistance, but sometimes great personalities are able to directly reach Śvetadvīpa, like Durvāsā Muni when he was being chased by the Sudarśana cakra and desired to appeal to the Lord for help.
It’s not directly stated if the Kumāras reached the Vaikuṇṭhalokas through Śvetadvīpa, or by going directly through the coverings, but in any case, being stopped at the door by Jaya and Vijaya, they became angry and cursed them to become demons. This was an extraordinary event that raises lots of questions. One of them is how, being eternal inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha and personal associates of the Lord, Jaya and Vijaya could fall from there, even if temporarily.
When reading it for the first time, one could get the impression that falling from Vaikuṇṭha is a normal occurrence, just like there are many stories of Gandharvas and demigods being cursed and falling from the celestial planets. However, this understanding is quite wrong.
The Vaikuṇṭha planets are different from the celestial planets. The celestial planets are part of the material world and are under the influence of the three material modes, and thus, one’s position there is temporary by nature. One may stay for a relatively long time enjoying there, but he will eventually fall back to earth, be it by death, a curse, or simply by exhausting one’s pious credits.
Falling from the celestial planets is thus not a possibility, but a rule. When we speak about Vaikuṇṭha, however, the situation is completely different. As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, “That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world.” (Bg 15.6)
The story of the “falling” of Jaya and Vijaya from Vaikuṇṭha is thus included in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam not to support the idea that Kṛṣṇa’s associates fall regularly from the spiritual planets but as a description of the glories of the supreme abode. There is no possibility that one could be forced out of the spiritual planets by an external force, or by the influence of lust and greed, since these forces are absent there.
However, the same Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes how the four Kumāras cursed (out of anger) two personal associates of Lord Viṣṇu, forcing them not only to fall into the material world but to become demons inimical to the Lord. How to understand that?
First of all, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions in his purport to SB 3.16.12 that the “fall” of Jaya and Vijaya is not a normal occurrence, but an accident that happened due to them accidentally offending the four sages. As he explains, “From this statement we can understand how anxious the Lord is to get his servitor back into Vaikuṇṭha. Therefore this incident proves that those who have once entered a Vaikuṇṭha planet can never fall down. The case of Jaya and Vijaya is not a falldown; it is just an accident. The Lord is always anxious to get such devotees back again to the Vaikuṇṭha planets as soon as possible.”
Because of the offense, they got a temporary reaction, but because they are eternal servitors of Lord Viṣṇu, the Lord organized the pastime in a way that they could come back as soon as possible.
Another point is that they never really “fell” since they remained continuously connected with the Lord by constantly meditating on Him in anger. Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions in the purports that just as Jaya and Vijaya came to the material world to facilitate the pastimes of the Lord, many other personal associates frequently come to participate in the pastimes of the Lord in the material world, to preach (like in the case of great ācāryas), to assist other Vaiṣnavas (like in the case of the Viṣṇudutas) and for other purposes. However, it is not considered that they “fall” for such activities. Living in the spiritual world is thus not just a matter of geographical location, but a matter of deep connection with the Lord. Eternal associates are connected to Him in such a way that even if they come to the material world for some purpose, they never forget the Lord. In this sense, Jaya and Vijaya did not fall because they remained connected, even though in anger.
As Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on 3.16.26, “The conclusion is that no one falls from the spiritual world, or Vaikuṇṭha planet, for it is the eternal abode. But sometimes, as the Lord desires, devotees come into this material world as preachers or as atheists. In each case we must understand that there is a plan of the Lord.”
Questions about this mysterious pastime
The pastime of Jaya and Vijaya is also yet another alert for the dangers of performing Vaiṣnava aparādha. If even Jaya and Vijaya had to come to the material world and spend three lives here as a result of offending the four Kumāras, we can only speculate how precarious our situation will be if we do the same. Although devotional service is eternal and can’t be ever destroyed, offenses to other devotees can cover it for a long time, resulting in a very unpleasant trip to the dungeons of material existence.
The next question is how the four Kumāras could become angry and curse Jaya and Vijaya. This is answered in SB 3.16.25, where Prabhupāda explains that the Kumāras were influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance at the time:
“The cursing of Jaya and Vijaya is here repented. Now the Kumāras are thinking in terms of their position in the modes of passion and ignorance, and they are prepared to accept any kind of punishment from the Lord.”
This raises another question: Are the Vaikuṇṭha planets not supposed to be free from the influence of the material modes? This is answered in further purports. At that point, the Kumāras were still attracted to the impersonal feature of the absolute truth, and therefore, they were not completely free from the influence of the material modes. Sometimes the Lord arranges for beings from the material world to visit the Vaikuṇṭha-lokas for some purpose, like in the case of Durvāsā Muni (who went all the way to Vaikuṇṭha just to be scolded by the Lord and told to go back and beg forgiveness from Ambarīṣa Maharaja) and the four Kumāras. Because they are not ready yet to stay in Vaikuṇṭha, they go back after their visit. In the case of the Kumāras, it is also mentioned that they did not enter Vaikuṇṭha-loka: they went up to the last door and from there returned to the material world, after getting the darśana of Lord Viṣṇu.
It becomes easier to understand when we consider the possibility that they may have gone to Vaikuṇṭha through Śvetadvīpa. Normally, to reach the Vaikuṇṭha planets, one has to pass through the abode of Lord Sadāśiva, the light of the impersonal brahmajyoti, and so on, realms that are already free from the influence of the material modes. In other words, one would have to be free from the influence of the material modes well before reaching the doors of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, having passed through all these different abodes.
The possibility that the Kumāras went through Śvetadvīpa, however, can explain this apparent contradiction, since in this case, there is a clear border between the material and spiritual worlds. Beyond the door protected by Jaya and Vijaya, there was Vaikuṇṭha, a place free from the influence of the material modes, but the Kumāras didn’t cross the door. Thus, they were still on the material side and could therefore still be influenced by the material modes.
Another point is that the whole incident happened due to the will of the Lord. It is described in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta that, being the two strongest doorkeepers of the Lord, Jaya and Vijaya had the desire to serve the Lord by fighting with Him, and at the same time, the Lord Himself wanted to fight, and this desire could only be satisfied by some of his associates coming to the material world and playing the role of enemies. The propensity to anger of the Kumāras was thus used by Lord Viṣṇu to fulfill both purposes.
A final question could be whether this pastime of Jaya and Vijaya being cursed and “falling” from Vaikuṇṭha is repeated in every kalpa, with them repeatedly playing the roles of demons and fighting the Lord. In the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (1.5.50), Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī answers that no. The incarnations of Jaya and Vijaya as Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa happened only in this particular universe, coinciding with the curse of the four Kumāras. In other words, this was a special occurrence. In other universes, as well as in other kalpas, Lord Nṛsimhadeva and Lord Varāha fight with regular demons.
We can thus conclude that:
1) Jaya and Vijaya faced a temporary reaction by accidentally offending the Kumāras.
2) This was the will of the Lord. Therefore, they were not pushed out of the Vaikuṇṭhas by an external force, nor by the influence of the three modes.
3) In reality, they never fell, since they remained connected with the Lord by constantly meditating on Him in anger. The three lives they spent in the material world are equal to just a blip of time in Vaikuṇṭhas; therefore, practically speaking, they never left.
4) Just like Jaya and Vijaya, other associates of the Lord frequently come to this material world for different purposes. These are not falldowns.
5) The whole incident serves as an example of the dangers of offending other devotees. Although never failing from their eternal positions, Jaya and Vijaya had to face a temporary reaction.
6) The “falling” of Jaya and Vijaya is a special occurrence and not a regular pastime that repeats at every kalpa.
One could be tempted to use the story of Jaya and Vijaya as a support to the idea that souls fall regularly from the spiritual world, or conversely, that we were never with Kṛṣṇa, since no one falls from Vaikuṇṭha. However, this story doesn’t support either side. The situation of Jaya and Vijaya is different from ours because they never forgot Lord Viṣṇu, and thus remained connected with Him. Jaya and Vijaya came for three lives just to assist the Lord in His pastimes, while we have been forgetful of the Lord since time immemorial.
The whole discussion about the fall or no fall of the soul is largely misguided and mostly based on intellectual pursuits, personal opinions, dogmas, and emotions. Śrīla Prabhupāda alerts us that this is an extremely intricate philosophical question, which is impossible to fully understand while we are still in the material world and thus subjected to the influence of material modes, material time, and so on.
In his teachings, Śrīla Prabhupāda gives a much more nuanced understanding of this topic than most of us can grasp, emphasizing that every soul has an eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa and that every soul has intrinsic love for Kṛṣṇa that can’t be lost, although it can be temporarily forgotten. He offers the analogy of a dream to explain it, an analogy that is easy to understand, since a dreaming person may experience many different situations, although he never leaves his bed. In this way, Prabhupāda harmonizes the idea that the soul has an eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa and intrinsic love for Kṛṣṇa with the idea that no one falls from the spiritual world, and the fact that we are here.
Ultimately, however, this is a great mystery that even Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself didn’t try to explain. Instead, He prayed:
“O son of Maharaja Nanda (Kṛṣṇa), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.” (Śikṣāṣṭaka 5)
“Somehow or other”, we came to this material world, but this doesn’t matter, since now our goal is to come out of this ocean and regain our eternal spiritual position as Kṛṣṇa’s servants. As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, if a person falls into the ocean, his immediate problem is how to save himself. After he is out of the ocean, in a safe situation, he may calmly sit and enquire about the reasons for his falling into the ocean.
As he wrote in his translation of CC Madhya 22.107:
“Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.”
This verse has no purport, but two verses earlier (105), he confirms his words:
“This verse is found in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.2). Because living entities are minute, atomic parts and parcels of the Lord, devotional service is already present within them in a dormant condition. Devotional service begins with śravaṇam kīrtanam, hearing and chanting. When a man is sleeping, he can be awakened by sound vibration; therefore every conditioned soul should be given the chance to hear the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra chanted by a pure Vaiṣṇava. One who hears the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra thus vibrated is awakened to spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. In this way one’s mind gradually becomes purified, as stated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam). When the mind is purified, the senses are also purified. Instead of using the senses for sense gratification, the awakened devotee employs the senses in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. This is the process by which dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened.”
Prabhupāda confirms this idea of the soul having intrinsic love for Kṛṣṇa, a love that is covered and needs just to be reawakened, in thousands of his purports, by consistently using expressions such as “awaken”, “remember”, “reestablish”, “dormant”, “covered”, “return”, “back to Godhead”, and so on.
This is more thoroughly explained in his purport to CC Ādi 7.142:
“By the practice of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting, the impure heart of a conditioned soul is purified, and thus he can understand his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That eternal relationship is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa.’ “The living entity is an eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” When one is convinced about this relationship, which is called sambandha, he then acts accordingly. That is called abhidheya. The next step is prayojana-siddhi, or fulfillment of the ultimate goal of one’s life. If one can understand his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and act accordingly, automatically his mission in life is fulfilled.”
If devotional service is eternal, how can we forget?
Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions repeatedly in his books that the soul is an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, but that due to contact with material nature, we forget it. He also mentions that any progress in devotional service is permanent and, therefore, we never lose it. Even if we can’t complete our practice in this life, in the next life we continue from the point where we stopped.
This leads to the question: If devotional service is permanent, how were we able to forget Kṛṣṇa in the first place? What is the difference between the service we do now, which is supposedly permanent, and the service we were supposedly doing before, which we somehow forgot? Considering this first point, what is the guarantee that we will not forget again, even if we go back to Godhead?
The eternal devotional service the soul performs is never lost; it is only temporarily forgotten. Somehow or other, we enter into the dream of material existence, where we become covered by the false ego, material intelligence, mind and senses, and finally the gross body. In this way, a new, temporary identity is formed, and identifying with this material identity, we think we are separated from Kṛṣṇa. From this identification, we forget Kṛṣṇa, and the way to come back to our original spiritual position is by, while still identifying with this material identity, coming in contact with devotees and practicing devotional service.
We can see thus that our original devotional service is not lost, but it is covered by this material identity with which we identify at present. Under this false identification, we can stay for a very long time, going from one body to the other, forgetful of our original position. When, however, we start “again” to practice devotional service under this temporary identity, we can finally remember, just like when we dream that we need to wake up, and as a result, we end up actually awakening.
The devotional service we do now is also never lost, but it can be temporarily forgotten. Even a very serious devotee can fall into different traps and temporarily stop his service, or even temporarily forget about Kṛṣṇa; however, the power of his past devotional service makes him eventually come back to the path and continue. Kṛṣṇa Himself, as Paramātmā, helps us to remember, inspiring us from within and putting us in situations where we can again get in contact with devotees.
In a sense, it’s because of the eternal service we perform that we can, at a certain point, remember Kṛṣṇa and start practicing devotional service even while living in the material world. If the propensity of serving Kṛṣṇa were not present inside the soul, we would never start serving Kṛṣṇa, and as a result, we would just stay eternally here.
In this way, we can see that just like the devotional service we do here makes us continue serving Kṛṣṇa in the future, up to the point we go back to Godhead, the eternal service we perform in our constitutional position is also the cause of our remembering Kṛṣṇa and starting to serve Him even while living in the material world.
The guarantee that devotional service is never lost and the fact that everyone eventually goes back to Godhead should however not be taken as a license to slack in our spiritual practice and forget Kṛṣṇa, since one who falls again under the spell of illusion can stay for a very long time in this situation, just like it happened when we somehow entered in contact with the material nature for the first time.
In his book Māyā, the Divine Energy Of The Supreme, Bhakti Pūruṣottama Swami tells the story of Nārada Muni asking Lord Viṣṇu to show him the power of His illusory potency. As a response to his request, the Lord invited him for a walk, and while in a forest, Nārada suddenly felt very thirsty. Lord Viṣṇu pointed to a nearby river and told Nārada he could go there and drink, and He would wait. Nārada excused himself and promised to return quickly.
He arrived at the river and prepared to drink water with his joined palms when a girl appeared and asked him to instead come to her house, where they had some nice, pure water. Nārada accepted the invitation and was served very nicely by the girl and her father, who received Nārada with all the respect deserved by a great sādhu. Nārada became pleased with their service attitude and asked if there was anything he could do for them. The father humbly asked him to marry his daughter and become his son-in-law. Attracted by the beauty of the girl and at the same time obliged by their service, Nārada agreed.
Nārada spent many years involved in family affairs and had a few children with the girl, who served him as a faithful wife. However, one day there was a great storm, and the river overflowed, inundating the village. The children fell into the water and were pitifully drowning. The wife jumped in to try to save them, just to be defeated by the power of the currents and also start drowning herself. Nārada jumped into the river to try to save his family, but he was also overpowered by the currents and started drowning. When he was almost dying, he somehow remembered the Lord and loudly called: “Viṣṇu!”
Suddenly, he was back on the bank of the river where everything started. Immediately, he remembered that he had left the Lord waiting for such a long time and hurried back to Him. Lord Viṣṇu smiled and asked if he now understood.
Of course, Nārada is an eternally perfect soul, and he never falls into māyā like us. However, because he specifically asked, Lord Viṣṇu gave Nārada a sample of how one can fall under the grip of material energy and forget Him for a long time. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that even if one takes birth in a good family in his next life, there is no guarantee that he will become serious in the spiritual path since birth in a good family also entitles one to many material opportunities. We can practically see that even the children of devotees are not always very serious in spiritual life.
The last point is how we can be sure that we will never fall down again into the material world again after we return to Godhead? Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that when Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-gītā that one who reaches the spiritual world never comes back again, it actually means “practically never” because there is always a theoretical possibility of the soul coming again in contact with the material energy due to free will. The spiritual world is not a prison. However, in the spiritual world, the soul has full knowledge, and therefore it is quite improbable that once experiencing the miseries of the material world, one will ever want to come again here, even though one may have the freedom to do so.
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