If devotional service is eternal, how can we forget it and come to this material world?

If devotional service is permanent, how were we able to forget Krsna in the first place? How can we come to this material world if we are His eternal servants?

Srila Prabhupada mentions repeatedly in his books that the soul is an eternal servant of Krsna, 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, 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 Krsna in the first place? What is the difference between the service we do now, which is supposedly permanent, and the service we were 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?

This is quite a complicated question because it deals with the topic of the "fall" of the jīva, which is a topic impossible to explain using material logic. Pure devotees can understand this topic perfectly, but it constantly baffles conditioned souls. However, considering that Srila Prabhupada is a pure devotee and an empowered ācārya, we can start by trying to understand this topic from the way he was explaining it. Others prefer to explain this topic in different ways, and they surely have the right to do so, but we can see practically that this approach just results in useless discussion and confusion.

So, starting from there, we can see that Srila Prabhupada consistently explains in his books that the soul is constitutionally a servant of Krsna and comes originally from a position of service to Krsna, whenever it may be. When directly asked by his disciples on this topic, he answered (in a famous letter to Australian devotees in 1972) that the "fall" of the soul in the material world is just like a dream, where one temporarily forgets his original identity. However, this original identity is never lost, and as one awakens from this dream, one gradually remembers. In other points, Srila Prabhupada explains that we have our original spiritual body and senses even right now, it’s just that at the moment it has become covered by different material layers, culminating with the material body and senses. When these coverings are removed, the original spiritual body manifests.

In this way, the eternal devotional service the soul performs in its original position is never lost; it is only temporarily forgotten. Somehow or other, we temporarily forget about Krsna and fall into the dream of material existence. Here 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 Krsna. From this identification, we forget Krsna, and the way to come back to our original position is by, while still identifying with this material identity, coming in contact with devotees and starting practicing devotional service.

We can see thus that our original devotional service is not lost, but it is covered by this material identity we identify with. 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 start dreaming that we need to wake up, and as a result, we end up really waking up.

An analogy that can be offered is that when I dream, a new identity is formed. I may become a king or emperor, and thus forget who I really am. Because this illusory identity as a king or emperor has its beginning at a certain point in time (after I started sleeping), it didn't exist before, and therefore, I can say that as this imaginary king or emperor, I never practiced devotional service to Krsna. However, this doesn't affect my life outside of the dream, when I am serving Krsna. My devotional service is not lost, nor is my relationship with Krsna interrupted or lost because I got temporarily lost in the dream. The idea that I was never serving Krsna is illusory and appears only because I temporarily identify with this temporary identity inside the dream. Now, presume that in the dream I meet devotees and start chanting Hare Krsna. By the chanting, I remember Krsna, even inside the dream, and in this process, I gradually wake up. Now my dream consciousness, where I was chanting Hare Krsna, merges with my waking consciousness, and I suddenly realize it was a dream all along. I was never a king or emperor, and in fact never left my bed.

The devotional service we do now, inside the dream of material existence, is also never lost, but it can be temporarily forgotten. Even a very serious devotee, who is on his way to perfection, can still fall into different traps and temporarily stop his service, or even temporarily forget about Krsna. However, the power of his past devotional service makes him eventually come back to the path and continue. Krsna Himself, as Paramātmā, helps the devotee to remember, inspiring him from within and putting him in situations where he can again get in contact with devotees.

In a sense, it’s because of the eternal service we perform eternally in the spiritual world that we can, at a certain point, remember Krsna and start practicing devotional service even while living in the material world. If the propensity to serve Krsna was not present inside the soul, there would be no possibility of starting to serve Krsna now. In this case, we would just condemned to stay eternally here.

In this way, we can see that just like the devotional service we do here makes us continue serving Krsna in the future, up to the point we go back to Godhead, the eternal service we perform in our constitutional position (I intentionally use the verb in the present, since this service is eternal) is also the cause of we remembering Krsna 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 of slack in our spiritual practice and forget Krsna, 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 Maya, The Divine Energy Of The Supreme, Bhakti Pūruṣottama Swami tells the story of Nārada Muni asking Lord Vishnu to show him the power of his illusory energy. As a response to his request, the Lord invited him for a walk, and while in a forest, Nārada suddenly felt very thirsty. Lord Vishnu 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 pals when a young girl appeared and asked him to 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 the saint with all the respect deserved by a great sadhu. Nārada became pleased with their service attitude and asked if there was anything he could do for them, to which 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: Vishnu!

Suddenly, he was back on the bank of the river where everything started. Immediately, he remembered that he had left Lord Vishnu waiting for such a long time and hurried back to Him. Lord Vishnu smiled and asked if he now understood.

Of course, Nārada is an eternally perfect soul, and he never falls into Maya like us. However, because he specifically asked, Lord Vishnu gave him a sample of how one can fall under the grip of material energy and forget Krsna for a long time. Srila Prabhupada 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 children of devotees are not always very serious in spiritual life.

The last point is, how can we be sure that we will never fall again into the material world after we come back? Srila Prabhupada explains that when Krsna tells in the Bhagavad-Gita 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 jīva falling again due to free will. The spiritual world is not a prison, and therefore, if one wants, he is free to leave at any time. However, since in the spiritual world the jīva has full knowledge, it is quite improbable that once experiencing the miseries of the material world, one will voluntarily want to return here. An example is that one may be curious to visit Afghanistan or some other dangerous place, thinking one can find some adventure there. However, after being captured and tortured, finding freedom only after many years, it's quite improbable he would ever want to go there, even if technically free to do so.

If you read this article to the end, give it a like. This helps it to reach more people.
If you have questions, use the comments; I will answer as possible. They may even become the topic for another article. Your thoughts and opinions are also very welcome.