The fall of the jīva - again
Do the jīvas fall from the spiritual world? Were we in Krsna Lila before falling here, or have we just fallen here from the Virajā river, and that’s our first taste of Krsna Consciousness?
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This is the third article on the topic of the “fall” of the jīva. It’s an elaboration on the first article:
Do the jīvas fall from the spiritual world? Were we in Krsna Lila before falling into this material world, or have we just fallen here from the Virajā river, and that’s our first taste of Krsna Consciousness? Have we ever met Krsna before?
What makes this question so difficult is that it deals with the intrinsic differences between our limited version of reality here in the material world, where we are limited by time, space, and physical laws, and the transcendental reality of the spiritual world. Being under these laws, it’s very difficult for us to understand a reality that is beyond it. We are just like the frog that, being his whole life inside a small well, could not understand the true scale of the Pacific Ocean.
Indeed, the more one studies this question, the harder it becomes to answer since the complexities increase exponentially as one gets more information. One who doesn’t really understand what he is speaking about may rush to some simplistic conclusion (that will be inevitably flawed), while others who better understand the complexity of the problem will be more careful, understanding that ultimately, it can’t be understood by a conditioned soul.
The fall of the jīva is an extremely complicated subject because, as mentioned, it deals with the intrinsic differences between the spiritual reality and our conditioned reality in the material world. Not knowing anything different, we try to understand this difficult topic on the basis of the linear time of this material world, not understanding that such linear time doesn’t apply to the spiritual world. As Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura explains:
“Please avoid the misleading question ‘When were these jīvas [living beings] created and enthralled?’ The Mayik [material] time has no existence in spiritual history, because it has its commencement after the enthrallment of jīvas, and you cannot, therefore, employ Mayik chronology in matters like these.” (Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu, His Life and Precepts)
The souls don’t even have an origin, since Krsna clearly explains in the Bhagavad-gita that they are ever-existing. The concept of creation exists only inside the material world: all spiritual beings, including ourselves, are simply ever existing, without beginning. This alone is an idea impossible to fully understand with our material brains. Srila Prabhupada explains that although many passages in the scriptures appear to suggest that the souls and different expansions of Krsna are created at a certain point, this is just to make us understand the point that Krsna is the supreme origin. In reality, they are ever existing.
At this point, we can already start understanding how the simple explanations given to such topics can be easily misunderstood. In one place, it’s said that Krsna created the jīvas with the purpose of increasing His enjoyment, but on the other it is said that the jīvas are eternal and therefore without an origin. When we understand the second point (the jīvas are eternal), we understand that the first point (Krsna created the jīvas) refers to the relationship between them, and not to someone taking birth as we see in this material world.
Just like it’s sometimes explained that Krsna wanted to enjoy and thus He divided Himself, as Radha and Krsna. There is no such historical episode when such a division occurred; it’s explained in this way just for us to be able to understand their relationship. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura explains this intricate idea in more detail in the 15th chapter of his Jaiva Dharma:
“Vrajanatha: You said earlier that the cit world is eternal, and so are the jīvas. If this is true, how can an eternal entity possibly be created, manifested or produced? If it is created at some point of time, it must have been non-existent before that, so how can we accept that it is eternal?
Babaji: The time and space that you experience in this material world are completely different from time and space in the spiritual world. Material time is divided into three aspects: past, present and future. However, in the spiritual world there is only one undivided, eternally present time. Every event of the spiritual world is eternally present.
Whatever we say or describe in the material world is under the jurisdiction of material time and space, so when we say “The jīvas were created”, “The spiritual world was manifested”, or “There is no influence of maya in creating the form of the jīvas”, material time is bound to influence our language and our statements. This is inevitable in our conditioned state, so we cannot remove the influence of material time from our descriptions of the atomic jiva and spiritual objects. The conception of past, present and future always enters them in some way or another. Still, those who can discriminate properly can understand the application of the eternal present when they comprehend the purport of the descriptions of the spiritual world.”
Here we come to the core of this question. In the spiritual world, there is no creation or transformation; things just exist eternally. In the material world, we have a clear division between things that existed in the past, things that exist in the present, and things that will exist in the future. Every event can be put into a timeline. Everything that exists (including the material universe itself) has an origin. This logic, however, breaks down when we try to describe the relationship of the souls with Krsna, since the relationship doesn’t have a beginning. If the soul has the possibility of developing a relationship with Krsna at all, it means such a relationship must already exist in the spiritual reality. The material logic at this point breaks down, since if we have a relationship with Krsna, how can we fall into this material world?
Some try to explain the fall of the jīva by arguing that the jīvas were situated originally in the brahmajyoti. At first, this may sound like a good explanation since the jīvas are described as the marginal potency of the Lord, and the brahmajyoti is, well, marginal. However, Srila Prabhupada disagrees with this idea, explaining that the brahmajyoti is already a fallen position and therefore it is not the origin of the soul. The brahmajyoti is not the constitutional position of the soul; therefore, it can’t be the origin of the soul. Souls who want to extinguish their individuality, becoming one with Krsna, may be put in the brahmajyoti and stay there for an extremely long time, but eventually, no one can stay eternally in such an artificial position.
The position in the Virajā River is similar. It is described that the souls were there before the creation of the material universe; therefore, some may conclude that the Virajā river is the origin of the soul. However, just like the brahmajyoti, it is not the eternal constitutional position of the soul. The souls may have stayed there for a long time, but that’s also not the start of the journey. When the souls are described as “marginal” (tatastha shakti), this doesn’t refer to a geographical location, but to the fact that the souls can choose between being under the influence of the divine energy or the material energy.
Another theory that may arise is that the souls are just a product of this material world, and they were never outside of it. This can be sustained by passages of the scriptures that refer to the souls as “nitya-baddha” (eternally conditioned). However, this is also a mistake. The material world itself has an origin; therefore, how can it be the origin of the jīvas, who are eternal? The term “nitya-baddha” means just that the soul is conditioned for such a long period that the beginning can’t be traced back.
The soul enters the material universe before the beginning of time, and therefore, when the material time starts, the souls are already here. Since the souls have been there since the beginning of time, it’s not possible to trace when they are conditioned. In other words, “nitya-baddha” means “eternally conditioned” from the point of view of material time, but not in the ultimate sense. There was a time (outside the material time) when the jīvas were outside the material world.
In the 3rd chapter of his Harināma-cintāmaṇi, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura (quoting Srila Haridasa Thākura) describes sambandha-tattva, the basic facts concerning the jīva, God, and the material nature:
“Krsna is the eternal Lord, and the living entities are His eternal servants, linked to the Lord by the bond of love (prema). This relationship of jiva to God in prema-bhakti is also eternal. This is the living entity’s constitutional nature, which has only to be uncovered.”
Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself corroborates this on CC Madhya 22.107:
“Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, the living entity naturally awakens.”
How can we have an eternal relationship with Krsna and still be in this material world at present is the inconceivable part, since it is also stated that nobody falls from Krsna’s personal abode. This is very strongly stated in different parts of the scriptures and also by our previous ācāryas. Srila Prabhupada himself points this out, mentioning that “it is a fact that no one falls from Vaikuṇṭha.”
Thus, any theory regarding how the jīvas fell into the material world must harmonize these different ideas:
1- The souls are eternal. They don’t have an origin. Jīvas are not created at some stage.
2- The soul is not a product of this material world, but rather falls here. However, such a fall can’t be traced back using material time.
3- The soul has an eternal relationship with Krsna “in a bound of love”.
4- “Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source.”
5- No one falls from the spiritual world (especially from a personal relationship with Krsna), but still we are here.
How exactly the soul can fall into this material world is precisely the part that Srila Prabhupada told us not to waste time discussing. Not only is the full explanation not given, but even if it were, we would not be able to really understand, for the reasons I explained previously.
Srila Prabhupada gives a few simple explanations on this point in his article “Crow And Tal-Fruit Logic” (originally part of a letter from 16 May 1972 to Madhudvisa Swami and the devotees in Australia), emphasizing the free will of the soul and comparing the conditioned stage to a dream.
There he says:
“We never had any occasion when we were separated from Krsna. For example, when a man is dreaming, he forgets himself. In a dream he creates himself in different forms—“Now I am the king.” This creation of himself is as two things – 1) as the seer, and 2) as the subject matter, or seen. As soon as the dream is over, the “seen” disappears, but the seer remains; now he is in his original, awake position. Our separation from Krsna is like that. We dream this body and so many relationships with other things. First the attachment comes to enjoy sense gratification. Even [when we are] with Krsna the desire for sense gratification is there. There is a dormant attitude for forgetting Krsna and creating an atmosphere for enjoying independently.”
“... As soon as we try to become the Lord, immediately we’re covered by maya. Formerly we were with Krsna in His lila, or sport. But this covering of maya may be of very, very, very, very long duration; therefore [in the interim] many creations are coming and going. Due to this long period of time it is sometimes said that we are ever conditioned. But this long duration of time becomes very insignificant when one actually comes to Krsna consciousness.
In a dream, we may think a very long time is passing, but as soon as we awaken we look at our watch and see it has been only a moment. Another example is how Krsna’s friends were kept asleep for one year by Brahma, but when they woke up and Krsna returned, they considered that only a moment had passed.
This “dreaming” condition is called non-liberated life. It is just like a dream. Although by material calculation it is a long, long period, as soon as we come to Krsna consciousness this period is considered a second.”
“... Jaya and Vijaya had their lila with Krsna, but they had to come down [to the material world] for their little mistake.* They were given mukti, merging into the Brahma-sayujya [Lord Krsna’s impersonal effulgence], after being killed three times as demons.
This Brahma-sayujya mukti is nonpermanent. Every living entity wants pleasure, but Brahma-sayujya is lacking in pleasure; it consists only of eternal existence. So when those who get Brahma-sayujya mukti do not find transcendental bliss, they fall down to make a compromise with material bliss, for example, by founding schools and hospitals.
Even Lord Brahma is still material and wants to lord it over the material world. He may come down to become a germ, but then he may rise up to Krsna consciousness and go back home, back to Godhead. This is the position.
So when I say yes, there is eternal lila with Krsna, that means on the evidence of Jaya-Vijaya. Unless one develops full devotional service to Krsna, he goes up only to Brahma-sayujya but falls down. But after millions and millions of years of keeping oneself away from the lila of the Lord, when one comes to Krsna consciousness this period becomes insignificant, just like dreaming.
Because he falls down from Brahma-sayujya, he thinks that this may be his origin, but he does not remember that even before that, he was with Krsna. So the conclusion is that whatever may be our past, let us come to Krsna consciousness and immediately join Krsna. It is a waste of time for a diseased man to try to find out how he has become diseased; better to spend time curing the disease.”
This subject is also explained by Srila Prabhupada in a few other lectures, conversations, and letters. The same ideas are repeated in a class on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.1 (Tokyo, April 23, 1972). There, he gives the example of the moon, which appears to be covered by a cloud, although it is thousands of miles above it. Similarly, he says, the soul thinks he has fallen into the material world, but in reality, the soul never leaves his eternal position with Krsna. In this way, similar to the example of someone dreaming given in the previous reference, Srila Prabhupada explains the contradictions on the topic of the eternal soul who has an eternal relationship with Krsna falling into the material world under the logic of simultaneously falling and not falling, as someone dreaming or the moon appearing to be covered by clouds.
However, the real point we should keep in mind is how to cast off our material contamination and regain our original position as servants of the Lord. As Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains:
“The independent jīva is a beloved servant of Krsna, and thus Krsna is kind and compassionate towards him. Seeing the misfortune of the jīva, as he misuses his independence and becomes attached to maya, He chases after him, weeping and weeping, and appears in the material world to deliver him. Sri Krsna, the ocean of compassion, His heart melting with mercy for the jīvas, manifests His acintya-lila in the material world, thinking that His appearance will enable the jīva to see His nectarian pastimes. However, the jīva does not understand the truth about Krsna’s pastimes, even after being showered by so much mercy, so Krsna then descends in Sri Navadvīpa in the form of guru. He personally describes the supreme process of chanting His name, form, qualities and pastimes, and personally instructs and inspires the jīvas to take to this path by practicing it Himself. Baba, how can you accuse Krsna of being at fault in any way when He is so merciful? His mercy is unlimited, but our misfortune is lamentable.” (Jaiva Dharma, ch. 16)
Another point on this complicated issue is that the journey of the jīvas is long and has many stages. We all stayed in the Virajā river, entered the body of Mahā-Viṣnu, went through numerous cycles of creation and annihilation in different material universes, possibly went all the way to the brahmajyoti and back, and so on. This journey is so long that it is not possible to trace back when it all began. This explains the apparent contradictions in the explanations of different ācāryas (and even amongst different passages from Srila Prabhupada himself) on this matter, since different explanations can be given, in different levels of detail, according to the understanding of the audience.
At one instance, it may be said that the jīvas came from the glance of Mahā-Viṣnu, in another that they came from the Virajā river, or emanated from the personal effulgence of the Lord, or even just said that the jīvas have been in this material world for as long as it can be traced back. These are just explanations that narrate different stages in the jīva’s journey, according to what is relevant in the context, since this is ultimately a subject matter impossible to be fully understood by a conditioned soul. Srila Prabhupada emphasized in numerous passages that the jīvas have an eternal relationship with Krsna, but he also emphasized that no one falls from the spiritual world. How the jīvas can have an eternal relationship with Krsna but still be here in the material world is a delicate question.
From the point of someone in the spiritual world, the jīva never falls, because the time there is disconnected from the time in the material world, and therefore any amount of time here is equal to just one moment there. From the point of view of someone inside the material world, however, the jīva was never out of it, since the jīva has been here since the beginning of time. Srila Prabhupada tries to explain this point by giving the example of someone dreaming. Sometimes we noodle during japa and dream something. Inside the dream, it may seem that a long time passed, but when we come back to consciousness, we notice that it was actually just a moment. In reality, we never left the room, but our consciousness went somewhere else in the dream. In one sense, the dream is not false (one really experiences it), but at the same time, it is illusory.
Such examples given by Srila Prabhupada are as far as we can go with material logic. However, the material similarities and logic will always break down and fall into contradictions at some point.
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