If we are eternal servants of Krsna, why are we here in the material world?

Although we are transcendental souls, parts and parcels of the Lord, we are now suffering here in the material world, just as other souls. Why does the Lord put us in such a condition?

Krsna fighting with the bulls of philosophical speculation…

Although we are transcendental souls, parts and parcels of the Lord, we are now suffering here in the material world, just as other souls. Why does the Lord put us in such a condition?

The answer is that it is due to the independence that is inherent in the soul. To accept that the soul has a minute independence is very important to be able to understand the teachings of Prabhupada. Krsna is supremely independent, and being part and parcel of Krsna, the soul is also independent. The soul is thus free to go from the spiritual energy to the material energy and back, and that's why the soul is called the marginal potency of Krsna. The word "marginal" does not indicate a geographical position, but the fact that the soul is free to choose between one or the other. Krsna does not want the soul to fall under the grip of the illusory potency, but He respects the free will of the soul. When this happens, however, he follows the soul as Paramātmā, hoping that one day he will turn back to Him.

When the soul chooses to be under the shelter of the spiritual potency, one acts in his original position of service to Krsna, and when the soul takes shelter in the external potency, one is influenced by the illusory potency, which makes us identify with different material bodies and try to enjoy in this material world. The identification of the body is necessary because, without a body, no one can enjoy anything in this material world. There is, however, an intrinsic difference between the body and the soul: the soul is eternal, while the body is external and temporary. Because of this, the relationship between the body and the soul is temporary and illusory, and if one becomes attached to it, one suffers when it's time to leave.

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Prabhupada explains these points in detail:

"The answer is that the Lord clearly wishes that every living entity be in his pure consciousness as a 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. 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 qualification, when the living entity desires to become the Lord Himself, he is put in a condition of dreaming that he is a king."

He then continues:

"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 factual 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 karmī and to give this up in frustration to become one with the Lord. Both these stages are dreaming illusions only."

When did this identification with the body begin?

"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 ātma-māyā 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 that he is eternally the servitor of the Lord in transcendental love."

It's not possible to answer when the soul comes in contact with material energy because this happens outside of the influence of material time. All material events happen under the influence of time, and therefore, it is not possible to attribute a material date to an event that happens outside of it.

Therefore, it can't be estimated in years or any other unit of time. From the material perspective, it appears that the soul has always been here, although in truth, the soul comes from the outside. Only when one becomes liberated and escapes the influence of material time can one fully understand how this happens; therefore, as Prabhupada points out, there is no need to try to trace out the history of the conditioning of the soul from here. It suffices to understand that the original position of the soul is a position of service to Krsna, to which we need to return, somehow or other.

Prabhupada also explains this point from another perspective. Just like mentioned by Srila Sukadeva Goswami, Prabhupada makes the point that there is no real relationship between the soul and the material world. It's only due to the influence of the illusory potency that we think we are here. He gives the example of a dream. A man may dream that he is being chased by a tiger and thus cry in anxiety, while in reality, he has never left his bed. This is another important point in Prabhupada's teachings, which reconciles the apparent contradictions in the eternal soul, part and parcel of Krsna, and His eternal servant appearing to fall from grace into this material world.

"So the answer is, when somebody asks you that "When one has become in contact with this material nature?" He has not become in contact. He is thinking by the influence of the external energy. Just like the same example: A man is dreaming; there is no contact with tiger. Actually he has no contact with that. Similarly, actually we are not fallen. We cannot be fallen. But we have created a situation that we are, become... Try to understand understand. It is very important point. We have simply created a situation. We have not created a situation, Kṛṣṇa has given us a situation. Because we wanted to imitate Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa has given an opportunity: "All right. Imitate." (Lecture, Tokyo April 20, 1972)

This idea of material experience being like a dream, not false, but also not factual, is not Prabhupada's invention. It finds very solid support in the teachings of Lord Kapila, as well as in other passages of the Srimad Bhagavatam, including the teachings of Sanat-kumara and Lord Shiva on the 4th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

When one accepts these conclusions given by Prabhupada, the topic is actually simple to understand; the difficulty is that many reject these conclusions and try to understand the topic using their material intellects, which leads to incorrect conclusions. Most people have no intellectual capacity to understand the delicate philosophical concepts involved, and therefore, when they hear these explanations, they also become confused, just as regular people become easily confused by all kinds of conspiracy theories, having no time or will to fact-check everything they hear. The soul then appears not to have a factual relationship with Krsna, being never outside of this material world, or having originated from the causal ocean or the Brahmajoti, having been put into this material world due to the cruelty of a capricious God, and so on. All these equivocal conclusions come from failed material logic.