JIVA MISCONCEPTIONS AMONG

Miscellanneous misconceptions and confusion in the Gauḍīya Maṭha and its branches.

the 6 Goswāmīs? They and their descendants and the other innumerable
GAUDIYA VAISHNAVISMśūdras
AND ITS
qualified brāhmaṇas are all or so?
5. Do Nārada and Śrīdhar Swāmī say anywhere that all American hippies
deserve to wear a Brahmin thread?
If Swāmījī
6.
BRANCHES
never offered sannyāsa to unqualified persons, then why 47 of
sannyāsīs
Swāmījī’s 56 western fell down?
7. Then Swāmījī contradicts himself by admitting ‘Although it is a fact that unless
one is a brāhmaṇa he cannot become a sannyāsī..’

JĪVA-ISSUE

22) THE ORIGIN OF THE JĪVA

A.C. Bhaktividanta Swami: - So even in the Vaikuṇṭha, if I desire that "Why
shall I serve Kṛṣṇa? Why not become Kṛṣṇa?" I immediately fall
down"……"Whatever it may be, the falldown is there. So because we are living entities,
we are not as powerful as Kṛṣṇa, THEREFORE WE MAY FALL DOWN FROM
VAIKUṆṬHA AT ANY MOMENT".
July 8, 1976, Washington DC Conversations ……

A.C. Bhaktividanta Swami, Kṛṣṇa-book chapter 87:

"Similarly, the living entities who have come down to this material world have
made their own choice to enjoy this material world. It is not that Kṛṣṇa sent them into
this material world. The material world is created for the enjoyment of living entities who
wanted to give up the eternal service of the Lord to become the supreme enjoyer
themselves. According to Vaiṣṇava philosophy, when a living entity desires to gratify
his senses and forgets the service of the Lord, he is given a place in the material world
to act freely according to his desire, and therefore he creates a condition of life in which
he either enjoys or suffers."

Response: It is said in Śrīmad Bhāgavata (2.9.10) —

pravartate yatra rajas tamas tayoḥ sattvaṁ ca miśraṁ na ca kāla vikramaḥ

na yatra māyā kim utāpare harer anuvratā yatra surāsurārcitāh

"In Vaikuṇṭha there is no mode of passion, darkness or mixed goodness, there

is no power of time, and no māyā (who can pull a devotee out of the spiritual sky)."
In Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Madhya 20.117) kṛṣṇa bhuli sei jīva anādi
bahirmukha one should note the word anādi, the soul’s forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa is
beginningless.
In Śrīmad Bhāgavata 4.28.52 it is mentioned that the jīva was with God, but
according to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī in his 'Sārārtha Darśinī'-commentary
the jīva here only merged with Him as Mahāviṣṇu during the universal dissolution. (
mayy eva militva means) "Being merged in Me (Mahāviṣṇu) you experienced happiness
by My association." sahasraṁ parivatsarān mahāpralayo yāvad ityartha "Until the end
of the great dissolution." (Viśvanātha’s ṭīkāof verse 54). Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī
declares in his comment on Śrīmad Bhāgavata 4.28.64:

svasthaḥ prādhānikāveśa rahitaḥ san tad vyabhicāreṇa pūrvam īśvarākhya

haṁsa bahirmukhatayā naṣṭāṁ tirohitāṁ smṛtiṁ jānāsi api kiṁ sakhāyaṁ mām iti
api smarasi cātmānam avijñāta sakham ityatra pūrvoktaṁ sakhyānusandhānam

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punar āpa iti. atra punaḥ śabdena smṛti śabdena tad vismṛter nāśādi khaṇḍanaṁ
vivakṣitam kintu anādyāvṛtasyāpi sakhyasya svābhāvikatvād anāditvam ityeva
kṛta hānya kṛtābhyāgama prasaṅgāt

"Being svasthaḥ means 'being free from the possession of material nature" tad
vyabhicāreṇa means 'not devoted to the swan called īśvara'. Because of this the
memory was lost - naṣṭāṁ. punar āpa means 'regained the consciousness of friends'
as was stated in words such as jānāsi kiṁ sakhāyam mām (4.28.52). Here the use of
the words 'punaḥ' and smṛtiḥ are used to indicate the disappearance or destruction of
forgetfulness. But that forgetfulness is certainly beginningless although the friendship,
which is also covered without beginning, is natural." In Śrīmad Bhāgavata 4.29.70 it
is said:

nāhaṁ mameti bhāvo'yaṁ puruṣe vyavadhīyate

yāvad buddhimano'kṣārtha guṇa vyūho hyanādimān

'The feeling of 'I' and 'mine' (with regard to the physical body), inherent in the jīva, does
not cease, so long the subtle body - which consists of the intelligence, the mind etc., and
which exists since beginningless time - remains." In Śrīmad Bhāgavata 5.26.3 it is
said hyānādyavidyayā kṛta kāmānāṁ, due to beginningless ignorance, the living
beings have been cherishing lusty desires." In Śrīmad Bhāgavata 6.5.11 bhū
kṣetraṁ jīva saṁjñaṁ yad anādi nija bandhanam. "The earth is a field known as the
jīva who has been conditioned since beginningless time", Śrīmad Bhāgavata
8.24.46 anādyavidyopahatātma saṁvida “True knowledge of the self stands obscured
by beginningless ignorance.” Śrīmad Bhāgavata 11.2.37 bhayaṁ
dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād apetasya viparyayo'smṛtiḥ, the apeta, or turning
away from God by the jīva is anādi, beginningless and that also counts for fear bhaya.
asmṛti means, according to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī, not forgetting Kṛṣṇa, but
the own spiritual nature. viparyaya means taking something for what it isn't, like
identifying oneself with the body, which one is not. Śrīmad Bhāgavata (11.11.4)
says:

ekasyaiva mamāṁśasya jīvasyaiva mahāmate

bandho'syāvidyayānādir vidyayā ca tathetaraḥ

Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells Uddhava: ’Although I am one, O highly intelligent one, it is in

relation to the jīva alone, which is a reflection of Mine, that bondage has existed due to
beginningless ignorance." Śrīmad Bhāgavata 11.11.7 yo'vidyayā yuk sa tu nitya-
baddho vidyāmayo yaḥ sa tu nitya muktaḥ— "The ignorant soul is eternally bound and
the soul filled with knowledge is eternally free." Śrīmad Bhāgavata 11.22.10
anādyavidyā-yuktasya puruṣasyātma vedanam “The soul, which is ignorant from
beginningless time, cannot get knowledge from itself.” Śrīmad Bhāgavata 12.11.29,
anādy avidyayā and Vedānta Sūtra 2.1.35: na karma vibhāgād iti cennānāditvāt "If
someone says that the theory of karma cannot explain the inequality within the world,
because everyone must have had the same karma in the beginning of creation, then
that is not true, for karma is beginningless." In the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa,
Lord Śiva tells His wife Pārvatī: krīḍārthaṁ deva devena sṛṣṭā māyā jaganmayī
- "The God of Gods has created this worldly illusion for His play."
Śrīpāda Śrīdhara Svāmī says that forgetting God in the famous 'bhayaṁ
dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ'-verse (11.2.37) means: bhagavataḥ svarūpāsphūrtis tato
viparyayo dehāsmīti "Not having a vision of God's own form. Hence one thinks: I am

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the body." An alternative reading says: iśa vimukhasya tan māyayā'smṛtiḥ

svarūpāsphūrtiḥ, 'Forgetfulness of God means that one does not perceive ones own
svarupa..." Nothing about falling from Goloka here....
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s Prīti Sandarbha, paragraph 1:
atha jīvaśca tadīyo'pi tajjñānasaṁsargābhāva-yuktatvena tan māyā
parābhūtaḥ sannātma svarūpa jñāna lopān māyā kalpitopādhyāveśāccanādi
saṁsāra duḥkena sambadhyate......paramātma vaibhava gaṇane ca tat taṭastha
śakti rūpānāṁ cid eka rasānām apyanādi paratattva jñāna saṁsargābhāva
māyā tad vaimukhya labdha cchidrayā tan māyayāvṛtasva svarūpa jñānānāṁ
tayaive sattva rajas tamomaye jaḍe prādhāne racitātma bhāvānāṁ jīvānāṁ
saṁsāra duḥkaṁ ca jñāpitam
"Although the jīva is part of the Lord, he is without knowledge of Him and this
deficiency has no beginning. Because of this he is covered by māyā. Thus he is united
with the beginningless material miseries because his knowledge of his svarūpa is
covered and he is absorbed in false designations......From beginningless time he is
bereft of knowledge of the Supreme truth and thus he has attained the fault of aversion
towards God, whose māyā covers over his knowledge of his constitutional position and
fills him with feelings created by māyā."
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s Bhakti Sandarbha, paragraph 121 says: muktā api
prapadyante punaḥ samsāra vāsanām yadyacintya mahāśaktau
bhagavatyaparādhinaḥ. "Offenders to the Lord will again get material desires, even if
they are liberated souls." Here the word 'again' proves that this verse does not apply to
eternally liberated souls who fall from the spiritual world. The offenders mentioned here
are māyāvādīs that are described in Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.2.32. āruhya
kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patantyadho'nādṛta yuṣmad aṅghrayaḥ. But this
does not count for the bhaktas, as is described in the next verse 10.2.33 tathā na te
mādhava tāvakāḥ kvacid bhraśyanti mārgāt tvayi baddha sauhṛdāḥ. Śrīla Jīva
Gosvāmī comments: yathā pūrve ārūḍha parama pādatvāvasthāto'pi bhṛśyanti,
tathā tāvakā mārgāt sādhanāvasthāto'pi na bhṛśyanti, kim uta mṛgyāt tvatta
ityarthaḥ "māyāvādīs fall down even from the stage of perfection, but even in the
stage of sādhana Your devotees do not fall down, what to speak of after attaining You?"
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī's commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavata 3.7.10
—
tatra bhagavataḥ pṛṣṭha sthitayā anādyavidyayā tamaḥ svarūpayā anādi
vaimukhya rūpa bhagavat pṛṣṭha-sthānāṁ jīvānāṁ jñānam yal lupyate tasya na
vastutvam kāraṇam nāpi prayojanaṁ kim apy asti
"Ignorance, which is beginningless, is situated on the Lord's back. She covers
the knowledge of the jīvas who are situated on the Lord's back and are non devotees.
Their failure of knowledge is anādi, beginningless. There is no reality to it and no
cause and purpose for it."
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī's commentary on Bhagavad-Gītā 15.16 —
kṣarākṣarayor arthaṁ punar viśadayati sarvāṇi bhūtāni eko jīva eva anādy-
avidyayā svarūpa-vicyutaḥ san karma-paratantraḥ samaṣṭy-ātmako brahmādi-
sthāvarāntāni bhūtāni bhavatīty arthaḥ
“Again, to specifically explain the meanings of the words kṣara and akṣara, Śrī
Bhagavān says: sarvāṇi bhūtāni. Only the jīva is deprived of its spiritual identity due
to beginningless ignorance. Being bound by his karma, he wanders throughout all
species of life beginning from Brahmā, the aggregate self, down to the immobile
beings.”
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī's commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.87.32
also shows no jīvas that have fallen from the spiritual world:

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te ca meghopamayā avidyayā āvṛtā baddha jīvā eke anye bhaktimajjñānena

tad āvaraṇonmuktā mukta jīvāḥ anye kevalayā pradhānībhūtayā vā bhaktyā
tadāvaraṇonmocita prāpita cid ānandamaya bhajanopayogi śarīraḥ siddha bhaktā
anye avidyā yoga rahitā eva nitya pārṣadā iti caturvidhāḥ
"There are four types of jīvas:
1. baddha— those under the influence of the avidyā potency.
2. mukta— those liberated from the covering of avidyā through bhakti, but who have not
yet attained a spiritual body. These are also called jīvanmuktas or liberated while living
in the material body.
3. siddha— Those who have attained a siddha deha on the strength of bhakti. These are
called baddha muktas or those liberated after being in bondage.
4. nitya pārṣadas— Those eternally free from contact with ignorance. They are also
called nitya siddhas or nitya muktas."
None of these four include souls fallen from the spiritual world.
In his comment on Bhagavad Gītā 13.20 Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī declares
that the conditioning of the conditioned souls is beginningless— māyā jīvayor api
macchaktitvena anāditvāt tayoḥ saṁśleṣo'py anādir iti bhāvaḥ. "Illusion and the
conditioned souls are both My energies. They are both beginningless and they have
been interconnected since beginningless time as well." The word dveṣa in Bhagavad
Gītā 7.27 does not mean envy of Kṛṣṇa, for you cannot be envious of someone you
don't know. In Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta Sarūpa calls himself a newcomer, 'nūtna' –

dūre'stu tāvad vārteyaṁ tatra nitya nivāsinām;

na tiṣṭhed anusandhānaṁ nūtnānāṁ mādṛśām api, B.B. 2.6.359)

And in 2.6.366 -
tallokasya svabhāvo'yaṁ kṛṣṇa saṅgaṁ vināpi yat;
bhavet tatraiva tiṣṭhāsā na cikīrṣā ca kasyacit
"Nobody desires to leave Goloka."

When Gopakumāra arrived in Goloka, the gopīs did not recognise him, which they
would have if he had previously fallen from Goloka. Instead, they said: ko’trāgato vā
kim idaṁ cakāra – “Who has come here and what has he done (to our Kṛṣṇa, who has
fainted)?” (B.B. 2.6.62) Kṛṣṇa Himself saw Gopakumāra as if he was a long lost
friend, not an actually lost friend - cirādṛṣṭa prāṇa-priya sakham ivā vāpya sa tu
māṁ – “He attained me as if I was a long lost friend.” (iva means ‘as if’) (B.B. 2.6.76)
Earlier in this chapter Kṛṣṇa said to Śrīdāma: “Now I have found my friend Sarūpa”,
sarūpaḥ prāpto me suhṛd iti vadann (B.B. 2.6.55), without any adjective like ‘the fallen
devotee coming back’ or so. If one argues “Well, why did Kṛṣṇa recognise
Gopakumāra at all then, if he had never been to Goloka before?”, Kṛṣṇa Himself
replies to that (Bhagavad Gītā 7.26):
vedāhaṁ samatītāni vartamānāni cārjunaḥ
bhaviṣyānāṁ ca bhūtānāṁ māṁ tu veda na kaścana

“Arjuna, I know past, present and future and all living beings, but nobody knows
Me.” The conditioned soul does not know Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa knows the conditioned
soul and its future.
Baladeva Vidyabhūṣaṇa writes in his Govinda Bhāṣya on Vedānta Sūtra
4.4.22: na ca sarveśvaraḥ śrī hariḥ svādhina muktaṁ svalokāt-kadācit pātyitum
icchet mukto vā kadācit taṁ jīhased iti śakyaṁ saṅkitum. “One cannot even imagine
that the Supreme Lord Hari would ever desire that the liberated souls fall down, nor

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would the liberated souls ever desire to leave the Lord.” In his Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta
(5.235) Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī glosses the word sādhvasa in Śrīmad Bhāgavata
2.9.9 as ‘the residents of Vaikuṇṭha being free from the fear of falling.”
Commenting on Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.87.30, by the personified Vedas, Śrīla
Sanātana Gosvāmī quotes a question to Mārkaṇḍeya in the Viṣṇudharmottara
Purāṇa (1.81.12):
ekaikasmin nare muktiṁ kalpe kalpe gate dvija
abhaviṣyaj jagac chūnyaṁ kālasyāder abhāvataḥ

“ O Brāhmaṇa, because time has no beginning, even if one person achieved

liberation in each of the bygone kalpas, by now the world would be empty.”
Mārkaṇḍeya replied (81.13,14):

jīvasyānyasya sargeṇa nare muktim upāgate

acintya-śaktir bhagavān jagat pūrayate sadā
brahmaṇā saha mucyante brahma-lokam upāgatāḥ
sṛjyante ca mahā kalpe tad-vidhāścāpare janāḥ

“When someone is liberated, the Supreme Lord who has inconceivable potency,
creates another jīva and thus always keeps the world full. Those who achieve brahma-
loka become liberated along with Brahmā. Then in the next Mahā kalpa the Lord
creates similar beings.” Haridās ṭhākur explains in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Antya
3.78-79)

haridāsa bole,—"tomāra yāvat martye sthiti; tāvat sthāvara-jaṅgama, sarva jīva-

jāti
sab mukta kori' tumi vaikuṇṭhe pāṭhāibā; sūkṣma-jīve punaḥ karme udbuddha
koribā

Haridāsa said, "My Lord, as long as You are situated within the materiaI world,
You will send to the spirituaI sky all the deveIoped moving and nonmoving living entities
in different species. Then again You will awaken the living entities who are not yet
developed and engage them in activities. In this way all moving and nonmoving living
entities will come into existence, and the entire universe will be filled as it was
previously.”
This means they are even lower than immobile beings, it does not mean they are
new creations. They are simply completely unconscious. This is quite the reverse of the
theory that we not only fell from the spiritual world, but then started off as Lord Brahmā
as our first conditioned life-form.
Assuming that previously fallen jīvas that return to the spiritual world are
superior to those who have stayed, because they are shocked by their experience, is a
speculation and an offence to the nitya muktas, as if it is better to fall down than to stay.
That would make devotion out of fear of punishment greater than spontaneous loving
devotion, and would really make the spiritual world into a concentration-camp.
Regarding the fall of Jaya and Vijaya:

There are instances where marginal energy jiva souls have fallen from the spiritual
world, just like Jaya and Vijaya. So the potency to fall under the influence of the lower energy is
always there. And thus the individual jiva soul is called as Krishna’s marginal energy.”
– A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, letter to Rayarama, December 2, 1968

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Refutation: The feeling of enmity they acquired for the Lord was not because of
the Kumāras' curse, but by the will of the Lord. Even so, the Lord did not consider them
His enemies. He just wanted to enjoy fighting with them.
Sārārtha darśinī 3.16.26 states –
jaya-vijayayor eva prema-vijṛmbhitā kācid icchā. sā tu bho prabhuvara
devādhideva vaikuṇṭha-nātha anyatrālpa-balatvāt. asmāsu prātikūlyābhāvāt yadi
tatra bhavato yuyutsā-sukhaṁ na sampadyate, tadā āvām eva kenāpi prakāreṇa
pratikūlīkṛtya tad-yuddha-sukham anubhūyatām ity āvayos tvat-sarva-sukha-
paripūrṇatāyām aṇu-mātram api nyūnatvam asahamānayoḥ kiṅkarayoḥ
prārthanā haṭhaḥ sva-bhakta-vātsalya-guṇam api laghūkṛtya niṣpādyatām ...
“Jaya and Vijaya had a desire arising from prema. “O best Lord! O Lord of lords!
Lord of Vaikuṇṭha! If your fighting instinct is not satisfied because everyone else is so
weak, and because we are not your enemies, then make us two guards unfriendly
towards you, and you can have pleasure in fighting us. Since we servants cannot
tolerate even a small degree of decrease in your full happiness, we pray that this should
be done, by necessarily ignoring your quality of affection for your devotee.”
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that their inimical feelings were not real but feigned (
ābhāsa). They entered into demoniac bodies but remained untouched within.
The verse in Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Madhya 20, 118) daṇḍya jane rājā yena
nadīte cubāya – ‘The conditioned soul is like a culprit who is being keelhauled in a
river” does not say the conditioned soul is a culprit (guilty of being envious of Kṛṣṇa),
but is just like a culprit, in the sense that he sometimes enjoys and sometimes suffers,
just like a keelhauled culprit. It is a metaphor and not a literal fact.

Śrīpāda A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes in his commentary on Bhagavad

Gītā 3.37:
“When a living entity comes in contact with the material creation, his eternal love
for Kṛṣṇa is transformed into lust, in association with the mode of passion. Or, in other
words, the sense of love of God becomes transformed into lust, as milk in contact with
sour tamarind is transformed into yogurt.”

This is not in any śāstra and totally contradicts the above proven point that
spiritual advancement is irreversable. Prema is the irreversible, supreme goal of life and
such a statement is a great offence against prema. Caitanya Caritāmṛta says:

ataeva kāma-prema bahut antara; kāma andhatama prema nirmala bhāskara

“There is a great difference between lust and prema - lust is deep darkness and
prema is clear light.”
And:
nitya siddha kṛṣṇa prema – “Love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally perfect.” If it is
eternally perfect it can thus also never be corrupted in any way.

23) THE LIVING ENTITY, AFTER FALLING DOWN FROM THE SPIRITUAL WORLD,
FIRST BECOMES BRAHMĀ, AND THEN TAKES LOWER AND LOWER BIRTHS –

“Both the Lord and the living entity, being qualitatively spirit soul, have the
tendency for peaceful enjoyment, but when the part of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead unfortunately wants to enjoy independently, without Kṛṣṇa, he is put into the
material world, where he begins his life as Brahmā and is gradually degraded to the
status of an ant or a worm in stool (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.24.58, Bhaktivedanta

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purport).”

This verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavata (4.29.4) is sometimes quoted to prove that we fall
down from the spiritual world and then start our material life as a demigod:

yadā jighṛkṣan puruṣaḥ kārtsnyena prakṛter guṇān

nava-dvāraṁ dvi-hastāṅghri tatrāmanuta sādhv iti

'When the puruṣa (soul) wants to grab the material modes, there it thinks 'ah,
beautiful' of the (form with) nine gates, two hands and two feet."

“Originally the living entity is a spiritual being, but when he actually desires to
enjoy this material world, he comes down. From this verse we can understand that the
living entity first accepts a body that is human in form, but gradually, due to his
degraded activities, he falls into lower forms of life — into the animal, plant and aquatic
forms. By the gradual process of evolution, the living entity again attains the body of a
human being and is given another chance to get out of the process of transmigration.
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.29.4, Bhaktivedanta purport)
First of all, the word 'first' is not there in this verse. Secondly, the context in which
this verse appears makes it clear that it is all allegorical (the Purañjana-story) and thus
purely based on philosophy, not on historical facts. That means that, without any
historical sequence (time-factor), the living entity generally thinks the two-armed, two-
legged form is the best. That can be either a human or a devata-body. This is, therefore
not evidence that we first become demigods (or that we fall down), nor do I know of any
other evidence of this theory.

Concluding:
1. There is no scriptural evidence for the jīvas falling from the spiritual sky,
2. It is not supported by our ācāryas, nor by those of any other sampradāya,
3. The spiritual world would not be Vaikuṇṭha, the perfect abode,
4. nor would it be free from māyā

24) PURE LOVE FOR KṚṢṆA, OR THE SIDDHA DEHA, ARE EXTERNAL GIFTS OF
THE LORD, THEY ARE NOT DORMANT WITHIN THE HEART OF THE
CONDITIONED SOUL.

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami: “When you go back to home, back to Godhead, you
haven't got to accept this material body. Your spiritual body is already there within this
material body. And in that spiritual body you shall exist along with God. That is the
highest perfection of life.” (lecture Bhagavad-Gītā 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972)

“So go to God, or Kṛṣṇa, means you'll have to acquire your original, spiritual
body. The spiritual body is already there, but we are now covered by this material body.
So how we are eternal, that is described in the Bhagavad-gita:”
(lecture Bhagavad-gita 2.13 -- Public Lecture -- Hamburg, September 10, 1969)

However, Śrīmad Bhāgavata (1.6.29 and 8.3.19) say that the spiritual body is
a gift by the Lord. The Bhāgavata-verse 1.6.28 starts with the word prayujyamāna,
which means, according to Śrīdhara Swāmī and Jīva Gosvāmī, that it is
bhagavata nīyamāna, brought by the Lord. Śrīmad Bhāgavata (8.3.19) says
similarly: kiṁ cāśiṣo rāty api deham avyayaṁ ‘the Lord gives the imperishable body.”

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Furthermore, Rāmānanda Raya speaks in Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 8.222

about a sādhaka’s acquiring an appropriate spiritual body for serving the Lord:

vraja-lokera kona bhāva layā yei bhaje

bhāva-yogya deha pāiyā kṛṣṇa pāya vraje

“Whoever accepts the feelings of the residents of Vraja and engages in bhajan
appropriate for that bhāva, he receives a body suitable for it and attains Sri Kṛṣṇa in
Vraja.”

Neither love of Kṛṣṇa, nor the spiritual body are dormant within the heart.
Śrīmad Bhāgavata says (1.6.29):

prayujyamāne mayi tāṁ śuddhāṁ bhāgavatīṁ tanum

ārabdha-karma-nirvāṇo nyapatat pāñca-bhautikaḥ

Nārada said: “When my prarabdha karma was depleted, my body of five gross
elements fell and the Lord brought me a transcendental body of His associate.”
Śrīdhara Swāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda comment: yā bhāgavatī
bhagavat-pārṣada-rūpā śuddhā sattva-mayī tanuḥ pratiśrutā tāṁ prati bhagavatā
mayi prayujyamāne nīyamāne – “This body is transcendental, functions as an
associate of the Lord and is brought by the Lord.” If it is brought by the Lord it was not
dormant but an external gift.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, stating the purpose of Śrī Caitanya’s advent, says in
his most famous verse:
anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam
hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ
sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ ś acī-nandanaḥ

anarpita—not bestowed; carīm—having been formerly; cirāt—for a long time;

karuṇayā-by causeless mercy; avatīrṇaḥ—descended; kalau—in the Age of Kali;
samarpayitum—to bestow; unnata—elevated; ujjvala-rasām—the conjugal mellow; sva-bhakti
—of His own service; śriyam—the treasure; hariḥ—the Supreme Lord; puraṭa—than gold;
sundara—more beautiful; dyuti—of splendor; kadamba—with a multitude; sandīpitaḥ—lighted
up; sadā—always; hṛdaya-kandare—in the cavity of the heart; sphuratu—let Him be manifest;
vaḥ—your; śacī-nandanaḥ—the son of mother Śacī.

TRANSLATION
May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Śrī matī Śacī devī be
transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with
the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy
to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant
mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love.
Translation by: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

It is clearly written samarpayitum here, ‘to bestow’, which means the siddha deha
is not dormant within the heart, nor is it lost from Goloka, but it is an external gift.

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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami translates Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 22.107 as

follows:

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema 'sadhya' kabhu naya

sravanadi-suddha-citte karaye udaya
SYNONYMS
nitya-siddha — eternally established; Kṛṣṇa-prema — love of Kṛṣṇa; sadhya — to be gained; kabhu
— at any time; naya — not; śravanadi — by hearing, etc.; śuddha — purified; citte — in the heart;
karaye udaya — awakens.

"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.”

Refutation: The words ‘eternally established’, and ‘in the hearts of the living entities’
are nowhere in the original Bengali text. ‘it is not to be gained from another source’ is
also totally opposite, as it is gained from an external source. Caitanya Caritāmṛta
(Madhya 19.151) says:
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kon bhāgyavān jīva,
guru-kṛṣṇa prasāde pāy bhakti-latā bīja.

“Wandering throughout the universe, some fortunate soul receives the seed of
devotion, by the grace of Guru or Kṛṣṇa.”
Every word is significant here - kon means “some”, not that everyone gets it. pāy
means 'he gets', not that it is intrinsic – it is coming from outside. prasād means that it is
not deserved, but is causeless grace. One cannot work in advance to attain it. Only in
this way the verse nitya siddha kṛṣṇa-prema sādhya kabhu noy can be understood.
hlādinī is the missing ānanda in the svarūpa of the jīva and it is an external gift.
Regarding “sādhya kabhu noy” - The verse nitya siddhasya bhāvasya from the
Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu (1.2.2, quoted just before the nitya siddha kṛṣṇaprema
verse in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta) confirms this - this nitya siddha bhāva is the goal, it
is not to be achieved artificially.
Sanskrit dictionary for sādhya -
साध्य sAdhya adj. to be found out by calculation
साध्य sAdhya adj. taking place
साध्य sAdhya adj. to be set to rights
साध्य sAdhya adj. attainable
साध्य sAdhya adj. to be formed
साध्य sAdhya adj. obtainable
साध्य sAdhya adj. to be proved or demonstrated
साध्य sAdhya adj. to be prepared or cooked
साध्य sAdhya adj. being effected or brought about
साध्य sAdhya adj. to be cultivated or perfected

BENGALI DICTIONARY - [sādhya] within the range of one's capability; capable

of being done or accomplished or attained; curable; to be proved or deduced or inferred.
n. (log.) a major term, an inference; (pop.) capability, ability. n. attainability; the range of
one's ca pability; feasibility. adv. as much as one can do, to the best of one's ability.

The word nitya siddha means nitya-siddha bhaktas according to Mukunda

Goswāmī in his comment on this verse (Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 1.2.2): nitya-siddha

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-bhakteṣu śuddha-sattva-viśeṣa-rūpatayā sadā vartamānasyātra svayaṁ

sphuraṇān na kṛtrimatva-śaṅkā. ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam
indriyaiḥ (bha.ra.si. 1.2.234) iti vakṣyamāṇatvāt. sādhana-bhaktir eva na kṛtrimā,
kim uta bhāvaḥ – “The pure sattva which is ever present in the nitya siddha devotees
manifests itself and thus should not be seen as artificial. This can be seen in verse
1.2.234, ataḥ śrī kṛṣṇa nāmādi. Surely sādhana bhakti is not artificial, what to
speak of bhāva.” The words ‘established in the hearts of the living entities’ are not
anywhere in the verse at all. kṛṣṇa-prema is not sādhya as we usually understand it,
because it has no material cause. Although the word sādhya is also used in the case of
bhakti, it is not in the sense of an action being performed for a specific result. For
example in karma-kāṇḍa sacrifice is performed to go to heaven. That sacrifice is
sādhanā and going to heaven is sādhya (a direct result). If one does it properly, the
result is bound to come. In Bhakti that cause and effect relationship is not there.
Although Bhakti is sādhya, it is not sādhya in this common sense. It is sādhya in the
sense that it comes from the people, who have it. It appears in the heart of a sādhaka.
Bhakti comes by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and His devotees, and not because one performs
certain mechanical actions. Otherwise it would not be transcendental. Since the
association of saintly people is not material, the outcome also cannot be material.
Bhakti is causeless, yadṛcchayā, and it is eternal, a type of consciousness or a liking to
do service. This consciousness of actual liking for devotional service without any
material motives and without desiring anything cannot be the result of certain physical
actions. Once the liking for service has been attained, it will never turn into disliking. So
Bhakti comes by the grace of the nitya-siddhas, eternally perfect devotees. The
appearance of Bhakti in the heart is called sādhya.

durūhādbhuta vīrye’smin śraddhā dūre‘stu pañcake

yatra sv-alpo‘pi sambandhah sad-dhiyam bhāva-janmane

(Bhakti Rasā mṛta Sindhu 1.2.238, quoted in Caitanya Caritā mṛta Madhya 22.133)

BBT translation: “‘The power of these five principles is very wonderful and
difficult to understand. Even without faith in them, a person who is offenseless can
awaken his dormant love of Kṛṣṇa simply by being a little connected with them.’

The translation is wrong in the last part. Even a slight contact (of these five) can
give rise to bhāva in those who are offenseless. The key word of contention is bhāva-
janmane. janman means birth, appearance, manifestation, coming up, rise, etc.
Obviously there is no mention of dormant in the verse. Awaken also does not make
sense. Moreover it is not the person who is awakening the dormant love (even if that
translation is accepted) but the contact with any of these five things. So to make 'the
person' as the agent of the verb 'awaken' is another mistake.

The dormant love-theory is actually the philosophy of the Sahajiyas. The word "
sahaja" means "that, with which one is born with (innate). The term 'sahaja’ is a Sanskrit
word which etymologically means 'that, one is born with' and thus it refers to the natural
tendency which one possesses from birth. In the conception of divine nature, the quality
to which the Sahajiyas have given prominence is the attribute of love. Maintaining that
love is a natural characteristic of the Supreme being, which is possessed by man, by
virtue of his origin from the Eternal Spirit. Some Baul sects, one sect of the Sahajiyas,
under Vaiṣṇava influence, started their sā dhana only with the mind - they go through a
yogic process, which takes them to higher and higher states. All along the way they

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gradually transmute the sex-energy into the higher creative force. Eventually, the life
energy is completely divinized and then it can be directed into their play with the Divine
Being on the spiritual level.

In the introduction to his „Kṛṣṇa-book“, A.C Bhaktivedānta Swāmi writes:

"This Kṛṣṇa katha will also be very much appealing to the most materialistic persons
because Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with the gopīs, cowherd girls, are exactly like the loving
affairs between young girls and boys within this material world. Actually, the sex feeling
found in human society is not unnatural, because this same sex feeling is there, in the
original personality of Godhead". One is pure and one is perverted. "The pleasure
potency is called Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the attraction of loving affairs, on the basis of
sex feeling, is the original feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead....And we, the
conditioned souls, being part and parcels of the Supreme, have such feelings also".

Which is exactly what Sahajiyas are saying.

A.C Bhaktivedānta Swāmī’s commentary to Bhagavad-Gītā 3.37:

"When the living entity comes in contact with the material creation, his eternal love for
Kṛṣṇa is transformed into lust. And it is the eternal love which itself becomes lust, in
association with the mode of passion".

And then later on, in the same purport, A.C Bhaktivedānta Swāmī says

"Therefore, the origin of lust is also in the Supreme. If, therefore, lust is transformed into
love for the Supreme, or transform into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or, in other words,
desiring everything for Kṛṣṇa, then both lust and wrath can be spiritualized".

A.C Bhaktivedānta Swāmī says in his commentary on Bhagavad-Gītā 12.9 that

"This love of God is now in dormant state, in everyone's heart, and therefore the love of
God is manifested in different ways, but it is contaminated by material association".

The second last paragraph of A.C Bhaktivedānta Swāmī’s comments on the very first
verse of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam:

“…… Therefore sex life is not unreal. Its reality is experienced in the spiritual world. The
material sex life is but a perverted reflection of the original sex. The original sex is in the
Absolute Truth and thus the Absolute Truth cannot be impersonal.”

Refutation - Prema cannot be dormant and prema cannot be covered. Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu has said that prema is the Lord’s Internal potency, and the Internal
potency is superior to intermediary and external (potencies). It is the intermediary
energy which can be covered, for that reason only it is called intermediary. If prema can
be covered too, then it is also intermediary. Bhakti is svarūpa-śakti and the jīva is
taṭastha sakti. Therefore, bhakti cannot be intrinsic to the jīva. ānanda that comes
with bhakti is a function of cic-chakti which manifests as sandhini, samvit and hlādinī.
bhaktyānanda is the hlādinī-aspect of cic-chakti. The Lord's ānanda is two-fold
according to Jīva Gosvāmi's Prīti Sandarbha (66): svarūpānanda and svarūpa-
śaktyānanda. The Lord Himself is depending on svarūpa-śaktyānanda (svarūpa-

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śaktyānanda-rūpā yadānanda-parādhīnaḥ śrī-bhagavān apīti). This ānanda is

bhakti.
The Śruti quite clearly says that ānanda is not a property of the jīva: raso vai
saḥ, rasam hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati, “God is verily rasa. If one attains rasa,
one becomes blissful“. Apart from that, in the ānandamayādhikaraṇa of Vedānta-
sūtras, the ācāryas explain that the jīva is not ānandamaya. In the ṭīkā to the sūtra
vikāra-śabdān neti cen na prācuryāt, our Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa refutes the idea
that the word ānanda-maya could be applied to the jīva (tasmād ānandamayo na
jīvaḥ), and this is the case also in the liberated state which means non-existence of
suffering (na cānandamaya-śabdena muktau duḥkhāpty-asadbhāvāj jīva iti vācyam
).
In addition, commenting on the definition of the jīva as cid-ānandātmaka, Jīva
Gosvāmī explains in Paramātma Sandarbha (29) that the jīva is not ānanda in the
proper sense of the word: duḥkha-pratiyogitvena tu jñānatvam ānandatvaṁ ca ...
ānandatvaṁ nirupādhi-premāspadatvena sādhayati. “Because the jīva is beyond
misery it is said to be of the nature of consciousness and bliss ... The jīva attains bliss
when it attains causeless love of God.“ However, Jīva Goswāmī mentions the
ānanda of the jīva in Prīti Sandarbha (65): ato natarāṁ jīvasya svarūpānanda-
rūpā, atyanta-kṣudratvāt. He says that it is extremely minute. However, one has to
understand the statement in connection with the previous one, i.e. that the ānanda
means just non-existence of misery.
If one argues “What about the verse jīvera svarūpa hoy kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa
from Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Madhya 20.108)? How to explain that in the light of bhāva
not being inherent? The words nitya and svarūpa also imply inherence, after all.”
The answer to that will be: “The verse jīvera svarūpa hoy kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa
does not say that bhakti is inherent to the jīva. It just means that the jīva is a śakti of
the Lord, and thus it is subordinate to Him who is the śaktimān, the Owner of the śakti.
This relationship is eternal. It never was and will never be different. The verses
subsequent to this one in Caitanya Caritāmṛta make the point clearly. The Bhagavad
Gītā statement mad bhaktiṁ labhate paraṁ (18.54) “He attains My devotion and thus
the Supreme” proves bhakti is not intrinsic but gotten (labhate) from outside.
The translation of the word udaya in the nitya siddha verse above should not be
‘awakened’, but ‘arises’, as prema is not dormant in the heart.
If it were described in scripture as dormant it would have been called supta
prema or nidrita prema, but such terminology does not exist at all in scripture.
The fact that bhakti and prema are said to be rare proves that they are not
dormant in the heart. Otherwise they would be easily accessible to all.

25) SAHAJIYA VĀDA -

In the previous paragraph we mentioned sahajiyaism as the source of the dormant love
theory. There is another example in which Bhaktivedanta spoke sahajiya vāda –
On November 11, 1972, in Vṛndāvana, Swāmi Bhaktivedānta said:
“There may be thousands of beautiful women before a devotee, but that does not
disturb his mind. He sees:
*They are all energies of Kṛṣṇa.
*They are gopis of Kṛṣṇa.
*They are enjoyable by Kṛṣṇa.
*I have to serve them. They are gopis.
A devotee should try to engage all beautiful women in the service of Kṛṣṇa. That is his
duty. Not to enjoy them. That is sense gratification. This is the position of a devotee. He
is not pierced by the arrows of Cupid, but he sees everything in relationship with

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Kṛṣṇa, nirbandhe kṛṣṇa sambandhe yukta vairāgyam ucyate.” (BBT Folio:

721111ND.VRN)

Refutation - Mundane women are mundane women and gopīs are gopīs. Very
attractive young girls in Vraja-attire can serve as an uddīpana vibhāva, incitements for
remembering gopīs, but factually they are not gopīs. It would be an insult to compare
conditioned souls in female bodies of flesh and blood to the actual gopīs who are
Kṛṣṇa’s internal transcendental hlādinī-śakti. Śrīmad-bhāgavata (10.33.30) says:
naitat samācarej jātu manasāpi hyanīśvara “Not even mentally should this Rāsa-
līlā be imitated by those who are not God.”

26) FREE WILL – HOW MUCH OF IT WE REALLY HAVE?

Acyutananda – "But in the Gita, it says, "Once coming there, he never returns. He can
return?"
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami – "If he likes he can return".
Guru-kripa – "How is it that one can become envious of Kṛṣṇa?"
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami – "You have got little independence, you can violate.
Because you are part and parcel of God, God has got full independence, but you have
got little independence, proportionately, because you are part and parcel, if he likes, he
can return. That independence has to be accepted, little independence. We can misuse
that. Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha haiā bhoga vānchā kare. That misuse is the cause of our
falldown".
(Conversation, Mayapur, February 19, 1976)

Refutation - We have the innate ability to desire, but not the free will to carry out that
desire. Bhakti is about purification of desire by the destruction of avidyā (ignorance)
and ahaṅkāra. We don’t have the free will to choose what path we go down in anything
we do or experience. People take birth after birth deluded by avidyā and ahankāra until
their desire is purified. Their desire shapes their actions, not by their own free will, but by
the will of Paramātma in deciding what the jīva needs to experience to become free
from aversion to God’s control. Often karma is seen as a simple action-reaction; if you
do bad you are punished. The reality is that karma is designed to purify the desire of the
jīva. It’s not about vengeance; it’s about changing aversion to acceptance of God’s
control. As for free will, we need to understand what that means — it’s the concept of
being able to act independently of some other controlling factor. The śāstra is quite
clear that free will is an illusion. We simply don’t possess the knowledge or the ability to
think or act independently.

ajño jantur anīśo‘yam ātmanaḥ sukha-duḥkhayoḥ

īśvara-prerito gacchet svargaṁ vāśv abhram eva ca

“The ignorant living entity is not God – his happiness and distress are prompted
by the Supreme Controller and so he goes either to heaven or hell.” (Mahābhārata
3.31.27)
eṣa eva sādhu-karma kārayati taṁ yamebhyo lokebhya unninīṣate. eṣa
evāsādhu karma kārayati taṁ yam adho ninīyate (Kauśitaki Upaniṣad 3.8)
“The Lord makes whomsoever he wishes to lead up from these worlds do good
deeds and makes him whom he wishes to lead down from these worlds do bad deeds.”
It is said in the Vedānta sūtra and Govinda Bhāṣya 2.1.34-35 –

vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇye na sāpekṣatvāt tathā hi darśayati

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“There is no partiality and cruelty in the Lord, because the pleasure and pain
suffered by the living beings, has regard to their karmas - that is shown thus by śāstra.”
(2.1.34)
na karmāvibhāgād iti cen nānāditvāt

“(The theory of karma cannot explain the inequality and cruelty seen in this
universe, because when the creation first started) there was no distinction (of souls and
consequently) of karmas.” This (objection however) is not valid, because there is no
beginning of karma and the mundane creation.” (2.1.35)
In his Govinda Bhāṣya commentary, Baladeva quotes Bhaviṣya Purāṇa –

puṇya-pāpādikaṁ viṣṇuṁ kārayet pūrva-karmaṇā

anāditvāt karmaṇaś ca na virodhaḥ kathañcana

« Lord Viṣṇu causes the jīvas to engage in pious and sinful acts according to
their previous karma, but there is no contradiction because karmas are beginningless. »
The idea of having no free will, of there being a destiny set in stone that cannot
be altered, for everyone and the world, seems so counter-intuitive only because we are
ignorant on how we function. It’s not easy to come to terms with the reality of having no
control, of there being a controller over everything you do and think, and of what
everyone else does and thinks. When we’re ready, all the truths of God’s ontological
presence and control in our lives is gradually revealed to us. Usually through religious
philosophy, and ultimately through Vedanta.

mayādhyakṣena prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram

“prakṛti (matter) works under my supervision, O son of Kunti.” (Bhagavad Gītā

9.10)
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamānāni sarvaśaḥ
yah paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati

“All activities taking place, in all respects, are performed by material nature. He
who sees that the ātmā is not the doer, he sees.” (Bhagavad Gītā 13.30)

na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāni lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ

na karma-phala-saṁyogam svabhāvas tu pravartate

“The jīva is not the doer nor is the cause of actions, nor is he connected to the
reactions from actions (not the controller, doing or doer), nevertheless they take place
because of the nature of the jīva.” (Bhagavad-Gītā 5.14)
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravarti comments - nāpi tat-kartṛtvena karmāṇy api, na
ca karma-phalair bhogaiḥ saṁyogam api, kintu jīvasya svabhāvo’nādy-avidyaiva
pravartate. taṁ jīvaṁ kartṛtvādy-abhimānam ārohayitum iti bhāvaḥ
“He does not make the jīva do activities nor does He give the jīva the results of
his activities. Rather the nature of the jīva in the form of his beginningless ignorance
alone produces this. That ignorance makes the jīva assume the false identification as
the doer.”
The statement “yathecchasi tathā kuru” (“Whatever you like, you can do”) in
Bhagavad-Gītā 18.63 does not indicate free will. The Lord has already told Arjuna to
act according to his adhikāra and svabhāva, 3 verses earlier. Therefore, the statement

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means, he must understand his adhikāra and act according to that adhikāra. The
ṭīkā of Rāmānujācārya is very clear. He says etad aśeṣeṇa vimṛśya
svādhikārānurūpaṁ yathā icchasi tathā kuru - 'Act as you wish according to your
adhikāra'. Madhusūdana Saraswati comments: svādhikārānurūpyeṇa
yathecchasi tathā kuru na tv etad avimṛśyaiva kāma-kāreṇa yat kiṁcid ity arthaḥ “
Do as you wish according to your adhikāra but not that you act rashly and according
to your own desires!!!!”
If he does not, he will suffer and that too has been pointed out in previous verses –

svabhāva-jena kaunteya nibaddhah svena karmana

kartuṁ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasy avaśo‘pi tat

“Out of illusion you do not wish to act, but due to your nature which binds you to
your actions you will act helplessly anyway.” (Bhagavad-Gītā 18.60)

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtanam hṛd-dese‘rjuna tiṣṭhati

bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

“The supreme controller is in the heart of all beings Arjuna, prompting the
movements of all living beings, who are mounted on the machine of his deluding
potency.” (Bhagavad Gītā 18.61)
Free will seems another Christian insertion into Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava philosophy
so popular with western rationalists. There is anādi karma (Vedānta-sūtra 2.1.35) and
there is no question of free will when there is anādi-karma. The entry into bhakti is not
due to free will.
As to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa's ṭīkā to Bhagavad Gītā 18.14, there is a
difference between free will and agency or being the doer of things (kartṛtva). If being
the doer is not there, scriptural statements will become meaningless. The will of the
jīva is not beyond its svarūpa. This is said in Brahma-sūtra 2.3.39.
kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate
puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate

“Material nature is said to be the cause of all material activities and phenomena,
while the living entity is the cause of its happiness and distress.” (Bhagavad-Gītā
13.20)
The line puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate in this verse does
not refer to free will, as the results of activities are prompted by Bhagavan or the jīvas’
svabhāva. Vedānta Sūtra 2.3.39 and 40 says –

parāt tu tacchruteḥ

“Activities of the living beings come from (are prompted by) the Supreme. The
scriptures declare it so.”

kṛta prayatnāpekṣas tu vihita pratiṣiddha avaiyarthyādibhyaḥ

“The Lord makes the soul act and the results are accordingly, so that injunctions
and prohibitions of the scriptures may not become meaningless.”
The jīvātma has kartṛtva (power to act), but that kartṛtva is granted by God
only. It is limited kartṛtva. An object in darkness cannot get into the sunlight unless the

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sunlight falls on it. Free will is like the will to see. The eyes can see - that much capacity
is there. But the eyes can see only that which is within its field of vision. If the eyes are in
darkness, they can only see darkness. They cannot see light. Bhagavān prompts the
jīva according to his svabhāva, karma, saṁskāras etc. The jīva always has the
capacity to will, feel and act, but what he wills, feels and does is restricted by his own
karma, svabhāva and the Lord's sanctions. By free will, one who is under bahiraṅgā-
śakti cannot come under antaraṅga and vice-versa. His free will under bahiraṅga
śakti is restricted to acting within bahiraṅgā śakti.
Sanātan Goswāmī says there is freedom for the siddhas in Vaikuṇṭha, but
that is freedom compared to this material world - freedom from the bahiraṅgā śakti, but
not freedom to leave/fall from Vaikuṇṭha. The jīva is then under the antarāṅgā-śakti
and it will be impossible for him to fall. The mamatva (possessiveness) has changed
from a dead body to parama-saccidānanda-vastu. It will be impossible for mamatva to
change again. siddhi is siddhi - otherwise it is not siddhi - perfection.
Therefore, the jīva's free will is within the limits of his freedom as granted by
īśvara and is bound by his own karma. If minute independence is not there, then the
jīva would become like jaḍa (dead matter). Then all scriptural injunctions will become
useless and the defect of not following them will come to the Lord. But that
independence is no way called free will. That is not there in the jīva's svarūpa. It is a
dependent independence. Like a bird able to fly inside a zoo. And the bird is a turkey or
a hen. Not a peacock, eagle or dove.

27) ONE CANNOT FALL DOWN FROM BRAHMAN

Brahma-bhū ta living entities are allowed to stay in Brahmaloka or Siddhaloka, but
unfortunately they sometimes again fall into the material world because they are not
engaged in devotional service. This is supported by Śrī mad-Bhā gavatam (10.2.32):
ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa. These semi-liberated souls falsely claim to be liberated, but unless
one engages in devotional service to the Lord, he is still materially contaminated.
Therefore these living entities have been described as vimukta-māninaḥ, meaning that
they falsely consider themselves liberated although their intelligence is not yet purified.
Although these living entities undergo severe austerities to rise to the platform of
Siddhaloka, they cannot remain there perpetually, for they are bereft of ā nanda (bliss).
Even though these living entities attain the brahma-bhūta stage and realize the
Supreme Personality of Godhead through His bodily effulgence, they nonetheless fall
down due to neglecting the Lord's service. They do not properly utilize whatever little
knowledge they have of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not attaining ā nanda, or
bliss, they come down to the material world to enjoy. This is certainly a falldown for one
who is actually liberated. The bhaktas consider such a falldown equal to achieving a
place in hell."
(A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami purport to Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya 6.269)

Refutation - Śrīdhara Svāmī comments on Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.2.32:

kṛcchrena bahu janma tapasā paraṁ padaṁ mokṣa sannihitaṁ sat-kula tapaḥ
śrutādi -"After many births of penance he attains the supreme abode, nearness to
liberation, birth in a good family, learning..." 'sannihita' means "close, near, at hand,
proximate, prepared to, ready or", so he's not really merged in brahman yet and thus
cannot fall down from it either.
Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī explains this 10.2.32-verse as follows in Bhakti-sandarbha
(111) - kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ jīvan-mukti-rūpām āruhya prāpyāpi – “With great
penance they ascended to the accomplishment of jīvan-mukti’ jīvan-mukti means
liberated, but still in the body. After all, a merged soul cannot offend anyone.

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28) SVARŪPA IS NOT A FORM

SB 4.29.65, Purport - “If the mind is purified by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one will
naturally in the future get a body that is spiritual and full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Such
a body is our original form, as Śrī Caitanya Mahā prabhu confirms, jī vera 'svarūpa'
haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa': (CC Madhya 20.108) "Every living entity is constitutionally
an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." If a person is engaged in the devotional service of the
Lord, he is to be considered a liberated soul even in this life.”

Refutation: The word svarūpa in Sanskrit can mean one's own form (sva-rūpa), or
nature. The first meaning is not applicable because atma is aṇu (atomic). Besides, it
cannot mean form here, because it is ridiculous to say that the form of a jīva is to be
eternal servant. It is not that some particular form can be servant and others not.
Rather, it is the nature of the jīva to be servant because one’s nature can be of servant
or not servant. In Paramatma Sandarbha, Anuccheda 19, the jīva is listed there as aṇu
(atomic). Aṇu in indian philosophy is the minutest particle which is formless and
indivisible. Aṇu has no parts and thus it is indivisible. A partless object cannot have
form. That is why Kṛṣṇa says in the Gītā thatātma is avyakta and acintya. Therefore
svarūpa here means nature.

29) THE JĪVA IS NOT A PART OF BRAHMAN, BUT OF PARAMĀTMĀ:

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami in Śri Īśopanisad, 16, Purport –

“The all-pervading feature of the Lord -which exists in all circumstances of
waking and sleeping as well as in potential states and from which the jīva-śakti (living
force) is generated as both conditioned and liberated souls - is known as Brahman.”

Refutation – in Paramātmā Sandarbha (19), Jīva Gosvāmī quotes the sage

Śrī Jāmātṛ Muni (1370-1443), a follower of Rāmānujācārya and popularly known
as Varavara Muni:
tathā jñātṛtva-kartṛtva-bhoktṛtva-nija-dharmakaḥ
paramātmaika-śeṣatva-svabhāvaḥ sarvadā svataḥ

“The jīva has the characteristics of knowership, agency and enjoyership; it is

naturally always the part of the Paramātmā.”

Jīva Gosvāmī further quotes the Śrutis which confirm that the jīva is Part of
Paramātmā because they are His potency (Paramātma Sandarbha 39):

sva-kṛta-pureṣv amīṣv abahir-antar-asaṁvaraṇaṁ

tava puruṣaṁ vadanty akhila-śakti-dhṛto’ṁśa-kṛtam (10.87.20)

30) ARE SINS COMMITTED IN IGNORANCE PUNISHED?

CONCLUSION: Jiva Doesn’t fall from Vaikuntha as it has been
“Those who are not in knowledge, who commit violations of the standard laws, are
subject to be punished under criminal laws. Similarly, the laws of nature are very
under ignorance without a beginning (anādi), Siddha Deha/
stringent. If a child touches fire without knowing the effect, he must be burned, even
Prema is not dormant in the ātmā as they are different śaktis,
though he is only a child. If a child violates the law of nature, there is no compassion.
Only through ignorance does a person violate the laws of nature, and when he comes to
there is little to no free will, One doesn’t fall from Brahman,
knowledge he does not commit any more sinful acts.”

Svarūpa is not Form

A.C. Bhaktivedanta as it means
Swami commentary on Śrīmad “inherent nature”, Jiva is a
Bhā gavat 4.26.34

Part of Paramātmā aspect of Bhagavān.

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