The eternal relationship of the eternally conditioned soul
Are we eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, or are we eternally conditioned? These two ideas don't appear to go well together.
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In the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa describes some of His transcendental opulences. He is the taste of the water, the light of the sun and the moon, and so on. The purpose of these descriptions is to show us that Kṛṣṇa is behind everything and bring us to a platform of surrender.
Māyā is very strong and to become free from material illusion is thus very difficult. But if we surrender to Kṛṣṇa, He, as the master of the illusory potency, can help us to become free. As He declares:
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī, mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante, māyām etāṁ taranti teThis divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.
The soul is described as the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and Prabhupāda comments on text 7.5 consistently with his purports in the previous chapters, defining the soul as part of the superior nature who comes to the material world due to forgiveness:
“While exploiting the gross and subtle inferior energy (matter), the superior energy (the living entity) forgets his real spiritual mind and intelligence. This forgetfulness is due to the influence of matter upon the living entity. But when the living entity becomes free from the influence of the illusory material energy, he attains the stage called mukti, or liberation.”
The same three modes that produce the countless forms and objects of this world also bewilder the conditioned souls who live in it. Under the influence of these three modes, our eternal nature as spirit souls becomes covered, and our eternal love for Kṛṣṇa is manifested in a perverted way, as material lust. Kṛṣṇa is not absent; on the contrary, He is present in all aspects of the material creation, as He declared in the previous verses. The problem is that our vision of Him is temporarily covered, just as a piece of land covered by a cloud.
We can thus clearly understand the way forward: despite our current fallen condition, the goal is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa by following His teachings, and thus, with His help, become free.
However, the purport to text 7.14 appears to introduce some tension, bringing up the idea of the soul being eternally conditioned:
“As previously stated, both the material and spiritual natures, being emanations from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are eternal. The living entities belong to the eternal superior nature of the Lord, but due to contamination by the inferior nature, matter, their illusion is also eternal. The conditioned soul is therefore called nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned.”
When we speak about this process of conditioning of the soul, there are several points that appear contradictory. Prabhupāda guides us through them in his purport.
1- The first point is that the soul is part of the spiritual potency of Kṛṣṇa, the eternal superior nature. We are not matter. Kṛṣṇa has two principal potencies: the internal or spiritual potency, and the external, or material potency. The soul is part of the superior nature, but because we have free will, staying either under the shelter of the spiritual potency or the material potency, we are called marginal. Marginal means the possibility of choice; other passages emphasize we are like Kṛṣṇa in quality, although different in quantity.
The soul may thus be covered by the three modes and forget his spiritual nature, but we do not belong to the material world. It is important to keep this point in mind, for misunderstanding it is the source of much confusion. We don’t need to become something else; we just need to uncover our original constitutional nature of love and service to Kṛṣṇa. This point is emphasized by Mahāprabhu Himself:
“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.” (CC Madhya 22.107)
2- Although the soul is spiritual by nature, once we are covered by the material energy, we cannot overcome its influence by ourselves. For this, we need the help of Kṛṣṇa. A person can jump into the ocean, but to get out, one needs help. When one is tied, one cannot untie himself; the only hope is to be rescued by another person. This point is elaborated by Prabhupāda in the same purport:
“Another meaning of guṇa is rope; it is to be understood that the conditioned soul is tightly tied by the ropes of illusion. A man bound by the hands and feet cannot free himself – he must be helped by a person who is unbound. Because the bound cannot help the bound, the rescuer must be liberated. Therefore, only Lord Kṛṣṇa, or His bona fide representative the spiritual master, can release the conditioned soul. Without such superior help, one cannot be freed from the bondage of material nature. Devotional service, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, can help one gain such release. Kṛṣṇa, being the Lord of the illusory energy, can order this insurmountable energy to release the conditioned soul. He orders this release out of His causeless mercy on the surrendered soul and out of His paternal affection for the living entity, who is originally a beloved son of the Lord. Therefore surrender unto the lotus feet of the Lord is the only means to get free from the clutches of the stringent material nature.”
3- There is a difference between the external potency of Kṛṣṇa, which is eternal and divine, and the material manifestation, which is temporary. We can say that the external potency is the eternal energy, the material creation is the temporary manifestation of that energy, and Māyā is the bewildering or covering function that acts upon the conditioned souls, making them forget their transcendental nature and identify with matter.
As Prabhupāda mentions in the purport:
“As previously stated, both the material and spiritual natures, being emanations from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are eternal. [...] Inferior, material nature is defined herein as divine nature due to its divine connection and movement by the divine will. Being conducted by divine will, material nature, although inferior, acts so wonderfully in the construction and destruction of the cosmic manifestation. The Vedas confirm this as follows: māyāṁ tu prakṛtiṁ vidyān māyinaṁ tu maheśvaram. “Although māyā [illusion] is false or temporary, the background of māyā is the supreme magician, the Personality of Godhead, who is Maheśvara, the supreme controller.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.10)
When Mahā-Viṣnu glances at the pradhāna, the external potency is assembled into the cosmic manifestation, and later dissembled back into its original constituents, in an eternal cycle. This is a delicate philosophical discussion held in the Vedānta-sūtra 1.4.25-26, but the important part is that both come from Kṛṣṇa, and both are eternal.
4- Here is the part that appears contradictory: “The living entities belong to the eternal superior nature of the Lord, but due to contamination by the inferior nature, matter, their illusion is also eternal. The conditioned soul is therefore called nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned.”
If the souls are part of the internal potency of Kṛṣṇa, belonging, constitutionally, to the spiritual nature, how can they be called nitya-baddha, eternally conditioned? Do they actually belong to this material world? This is explained by Prabhupāda in the next sentence: “No one can trace out the history of his becoming conditioned at a certain date in material history.”
There is a difference between the constitutional nature of the soul, the factual, eternal position as a servant of Kṛṣṇa, and the apparent, conditioned nature of the soul, which appears to be eternally part of this material world. These two points must be considered together.
The relation between the eternal nature of the soul as part of the spiritual potency, as well as the eternal constitutional nature of service to Kṛṣṇa and the nitya-baddha classification can be better understood when we study the CC Madhya 22.107 I just quoted:
nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
Here, the opening states the eternal nature of the soul: nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema, emphasizing that the eternal nature of the soul is love for Kṛṣṇa. That’s exactly the point Prabhupāda makes. Then, the second line, ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya, refuses the opposing element, making the point that the idea that love for Kṛṣṇa has to be established is incorrect. Then, the third part, śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya, gives the process, explaining that this eternal perfection that is already there is uncovered by sādhana, hearing, chanting, etc., which purify the heart. This is again emphasized by the words karaye udaya: it is not gained, but awakened. Therefore, nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema refers to the constitutional position, while nitya-baddha describes the soul as he appears in the beginningless condition of forgetfulness.
The term nitya-baddha explains that the conditioning of the soul cannot be located within material history and therefore its beginning cannot be calculated in terms of years, kalpas, or any other material unit of time. It is not an historical event that can be traced back. Therefore, for all effects, it appears that the conditioned soul has always been here.
From the spiritual perspective, however, the soul is never separated from Kṛṣṇa at any point, even while living here in the material world. The spiritual connection is thus permanent and constitutional, while the material covering is nonconstitutional and terminable. The eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa is thus like the sun, and the material covering is like a cloud covering it.
This delicate point is further discussed in the Third and Fourth Cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in a layered discussion that finds a crescendo in the allegory of King Purañjana.
Ultimately, however, this is a very delicate philosophical point that can be understood only by realization; it cannot be forced through material logic. The more we try to force this subject into the categories of material time and logic, the more prone we become to reaching the wrong conclusion.
That’s a point where we have to accept the explanation given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram, patitam mam vishame bhavambudhau
kripaya tava pada-pankaja, sthita-dhuli-sadrisham vichintaya“O son of Maharaja Nanda [Krishna], 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.”
We must accept the main point, that the soul is the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, that our position in this material world is an unnatural condition, and from there try to reestablish this forgotten relationship. The intelligent question is not how we did fall, but how to get out. That’s how Prabhupāda teaches us.
Go deeper:
+ Chapter 1: The creation of an illusory world
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