What does the Vedānta-sūtra say about the origin of the soul?
When we study that once attaining the spiritual world, we never come back, we tend to presume that this means we were never with Kṛṣṇa or that we are eternally part of this material world.
The last sūtra of the Vedānta-sūtra is anāvṛttiḥ śabdāt. It can be translated as:
“One who properly hears Vedic knowledge does not have to return to the cycle of birth and death.”
It can also be translated as “According to the scriptures, there is no return from the Lord’s abode.”
Other meanings can be attributed, but the general logic of the sūtra is that one who follows the path of the scriptures, progressing to the platform of devotional service and attaining perfection, will never have to come back to this material world. This sūtra is very similar in meaning to Bg 15.6:
na tad bhāsayate sūryo, na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ
yad gatvā na nivartante, tad dhāma paramaṁ mamaThat 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.
In his Govinda Bhāṣya, Śrila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa gives a long list of quotes confirming this point. Once one reaches the spiritual world, there is no need to come back to this temporary material world:
“Those who go by this path do not return to the world of men.” (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 4.15.5)
“Living his life in this way, he attains the world of Brahman and does not return.” (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.15.1)
“Attaining me, those noble-minded souls do not again take material birth, which is filled with suffering and is temporary. They attain me, the highest goal.”
“After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.” (Bg 8.15-16)
We can thus see that the main point of the explanation is to emphasize that going back to Godhead is fundamentally different from being promoted to the celestial planets or any other place in this material world. Therefore, we should not waste time in fruitive performances, even if they are recommended in the Vedas. Instead, we should directly engage in devotional service and become situated in our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda gives a very deep interpretation of this sūtra in a Bhāgavatam class to Montreal (August 18, 1968), where he mentions:
“When you feel separation from your spiritual master, you just try to remember His words of instruction; you’ll not feel separation. You’ll feel that He is with you. So we should associate by the vibration, and not by the physical presence. That is real association. [Vedanta-sutra 4.4.22]: by sound. Just like we are touching Krsna immediately by sound, sound vibration. So we should give more stress on the sound vibration, either of Krsna or of the spiritual master. Then we’ll feel happy and no separation. When Krsna departed from this world, at that time Arjuna was overwhelmed with sorrow, and he began to remember the instruction of Bhagavad-gita. You’ll find in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then he was pacified. He immediately began to remember the teachings which was taught to him in the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, and he was pacified.”
We can remain connected with Kṛṣṇa even while living in this material world through the chanting of the holy names and by hearing about Him. Kṛṣṇa is absolute, and He is everywhere. There is no place that is separated from Kṛṣṇa or where He is not present. Therefore, by associating with the holy name, we associate directly with Him.
Another point emphasized in this verse is that Kṛṣṇa never forgets His devotees. He never let them go. This is also emphasized by Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa in his commentary:
“The Lord can never let his devotees fall because smṛti says the devotees have exclusive devotion to him and the Lord is determined never to give them up, and because the Lord is without faults like cruelty or miserliness and the devotees are without fault, having devotion exclusively for the Lord. This is what is said. The supreme Lord, an ocean of affection for those who take shelter of him, true to his word (satya-vāk) and having all his desires accomplished (satya-saṅkalpa), destroying avidyā, the cause of turning away from him, in his devotees who have given up everything for him, brings these devotees, his most dear aṁśas close to him and never gives them up. The jīvas, seeking happiness at all costs, though attracted to insignificant material objects for a shadow of pleasure for unlimited births, having understood their source by special good fortune, by the grace of guru, becoming completely purified by service to him and desiring no one else, having attained their master, the best friend, the most merciful, the form of unlimited bliss and knowledge, never desire to leave him. This is what is understood from scriptures (not from logic). Those who are completely surrendered to scripture must have firm faith in this.”
One difficulty is that when we study that once attaining the spiritual world, we never come back, we tend to presume that this means we were never with Kṛṣṇa or that we are eternally part of this material world.
This conclusion is a natural product of human thinking, but it is fundamentally incorrect. The soul is eternally connected with Kṛṣṇa and is part of His energy; therefore, the soul cannot originate from this material world. Our original position is not here, but somehow we came here. Therefore, now we need to go back; back home, back to Godhead.
This opens up a more delicate explanation of the same sūtra, which is expanded by Prabhupāda in his whole teachings. This is the concept behind Prabhupāda’s “back to Godhead” slogan and the thousands of passages when he speaks about returning to our original home, reestablishing our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, reviving our original nature, and so on.
The fact that no one has to return once attaining the spiritual world indicates that this is our original, constitutional position (that’s another term borrowed from Śrīla Prabhupāda). Constitutional position means the original position. Our original position is with Kṛṣṇa. Material life is some kind of anomaly, some kind of disease we need to recover from, or some kind of dream we need to wake up from (analogies also frequently used by Prabhupāda).
The fundamental reason all other positions are temporary, including existence in pradhāna, the Causal Ocean, and the impersonal Brahmajyoti, is that none of these is the constitutional position of the soul. From any of these, one can fall back into the material world, and in any place of the material world, one will eventually face death. One thus has to constantly move from one borrowed position to another because none of these is the constitutional position of the soul. The constitutional position of the soul is with Kṛṣṇa, in a position of service, as emphasized by Prabhupāda, and that’s the reason this is the position one does not have to come back from.
These points are not elaborated in the Vedānta-sūtra. The work is concluded with anāvṛttiḥ śabdāt. No one returns from the spiritual world, and no one falls from the spiritual world.
One can just accept the essence of this instruction, that we should focus ourselves on devotional service and go to Kṛṣṇa without delay. That’s, by the way, the way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us:
“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.”
To just serve Kṛṣṇa and go back home, back to Godhead, is natural. This is the eternal nature of the soul, which just has to be uncovered. This is borrowed from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’
kṛṣṇera ‘taṭasthā-śakti’ ‘bhedābheda-prakāśa’“It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord”
nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya“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.”
However, if we want to understand how we came to this material world, we need to go through serious philosophy. That’s a very difficult topic. It is, however, not that the answer is not there; it is just that you need to study a lot to get there.
Vyāsadeva expands the meaning of this last verse of the Vedānta-sūtra in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Vedānta-sūtra gives the basic conclusion, and the Bhāgavatam is the book where these conclusions are explained and upheld.
This particular point of how the jīva can come in contact with material nature if the constitutional position of the soul is service to Kṛṣṇa starts being answered in the pastime of Jaya and Vijaya and continues to be gradually answered, point by point, in the teachings of Lord Kapila, the teachings of Sanat-Kumāra, the prayers of Lord Śiva, and so on, culminating in the allegory of King Purañjana. It spreads through two cantos. None of these discussions separately fully answers the question; to understand, one has to study each of them and then be able to fit everything together.
If you are serious about studying this point, I put it together in a book:
You may also be interested on this one:
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