AFFECTIONATE GUIDANCE: CHAPTER THREE

Secure at Home

Question: In Srimad Bhagavad-gita it says that the jiva-soul when in the spiritual world is perfect but when in the material world is fallible. Therefore my question is, how can the infallible spirit soul change his perfect nature thereby falling into this material world?

Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj: There is the spiritual world and the material world, but in between them is the middle section, the abscissa. Jiva-sakti is the middle potency of the Lord. There is maya-sakti, jiva-sakti and svarup-sakti. Maya-sakti is the garden of the material world and svarup-sakti is the garden of the spiritual world but the jiva-souls are being produced from the middle portion: jiva-sakti.

Originally the jiva-souls are coming from the middle potency and by nature they are generally looking towards the light and are going there to the spiritual world. But a few of the jiva-souls are unfortunately looking towards the mundane world. They are attracted by that, and that is who we are, and that percentage is very very small. By far the greater percentage are going towards the spiritual world.

Those who are looking towards maya are feeling, "Oh, we are the soul. We are light but there is darkness and we are masters of that dark world." It is their misfortune. They are attracted and are coming towards maya. The jiva-souls are produced from the middle section and are very tiny and therefore some are attracted by maya although most are attracted by the light, the spiritual realm, and are going there. Although there are only relatively only a few who are coming here, still that means crores and crores but that is few compared with the whole spiritual universe.

The fallen jiva-souls are coming here from the middle portion but there are others who are coming from the light section, but they are not fallen. Amongst them are sadhu, Guru, Vaisnava, Bhagavan and many Avataras. They are coming here in order to take the jiva-souls towards the world of light. Whoever goes to the light world, the spiritual world, does not come back to this plane as a fallen soul but sometimes may come down by the will of Krishna in order to rescue the fallen jiva-souls. Whoever is serving in the transcendental world does not come back here. Only by the will of Krishna someone may come here but that is not 'falling down.' We can also see the case of Jaya and Vijaya. They were Vaikuntha gate-keepers and came down here, but that was by the will of Krishna. And they went back also.

Anyone who is living in the spiritual world or who goes there does not come back here, yad gatva na nivartante. Whoever is living there is always living there and they will only come back from that world in order to rescue the jiva-souls from this plane and take them to the spiritual world. Those who are living in this world are the fallen souls, but there is no possibility for those who are living in the transcendental world to come back here as fallen souls; only they may return here by the will of Krishna. Everything there is the will of Krishna, it may be offence or anything but it is all happening by His will. One who is living here can go there and once going there he will not return.

Not only the perfect jiva-soul may come here by the Lord's wish but also the transcendental plane can come here and play here. Krishna with His whole paraphernalia comes down to this mundane world and they play here, but their play is the play of the transcendental plane. Transcendental means infinite. The transcendental plane is always infinite. Krishna can go anywhere and do anything, so He can come down to this plane. Also He can expand any place and can contract any place, everything is possible and that is the meaning of transcendental.

Anyone living in this mundane plane who does not have a permanent residential permit for the spiritual world may fall down even though he may have attraction to that plane. Up to and including the stage of mahabhagavata there is always the possibility of going down again in this mundane world. A mahabhagavata can also fall down, but not from the transcendental world. When the transcendental world comes here and appears to be attracted to this world, it is not attachment really. It may appear to be attachment but there is no possibility for the transcendental to be mixed with the mundane.

mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-characharam

(Bhagavad-gita 9.10)

Maya, the mundane plane, is always like a shadow. But the abscissa is everywhere otherwise there cannot be both light and shadow. In the middle there is always an abscissa, tatastha-sakti, and that is where the jiva-souls are coming from by the will of Krishna. Krishna is looking at the jiva-sakti.

Tal-lingam Bhagavan Sambhur, He is throwing His vision of jiva-sakti and there the jiva-sakti are immediately active. Although ultimately it is the ray of Krishna but actually it is the ray of Narayan. Really Krishna is not interested in doing that. Rather He is playing with His paraphernalia and is not interested about the mundane plane. What He is producing is transcendental, it has no connection with maya. But Narayan, Visnu, is always in the middle portion.

The upper level of the spiritual world is Krishnaloka, the lower level is Brahmaloka and the middle portion is the area of Visnu, Narayan, and many Avataras. In that section are Karanodakasayi Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu, Ksirodakasayi Visnu, Purusavataras, Lilavataras, Yugavataras and many more. Each of their worlds is transcendental and infinite. Where Nrsimhadev is staying is also the transcendental world and is infinite, but with our puppy brains we cannot imagine. It is called achintya-sakti. It is beyond prakrti, beyond our thinking.

At the same time Krishna can take His food through His mouth, through His hand and through His feet. It is so. In the mundane world we cannot think that it is possible. But it is true in the transcendental world. The transcendental world is infinite. Where Krishna is staying, that is the transcendental world and infinite, similarly it is so with Ramachandra and other incarnations of Krishna. Everywhere it is transcendental but we are unable to think of such things, that is called achintya. All the worlds are infinite but we cannot accommodate that within our puppy brains, it is not possible. But a devotee can clearly understand all these things because he has strong faith. When Krishna says, "This is a rope," then certainly this is a rope, but if Krishna says, "This is a snake," then, "Oh yes, it is a snake."

At present we do not have the transcendental type of knowledge but when illusion will leave us then we shall be able to see everything in the proper way by Krishna's grace. With our thought we may be able to go to the opposite side of the world and think what is happening there, but the transcendental plane is above and beyond the mind. Sometimes if we see the transcendental plane we may find that we are too close to see clearly, but can focus better from far away. If I hold the newspaper too close then my eyes cannot focus on the print, but from a proper distance I can read it clearly.

Proper adjustment is necessary with everything. We may want to see what Pastimes are going on in Vrindavan at this moment but we cannot. The morning, the evening and all things there are going on transcendentally. First we must go there, get entrance there, and then we shall be able to see everything. By chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra without offence we shall be able to see everything as clear as daylight. Otherwise we cannot understand the infinite nature of the transcendental world. If you can think you can make a garland out of all the peaks of the Himalayas and the peaks of all the mountains of the world and offer that to Krishna, and if you think you can make a rope out of spiders' webs and bind an elephant, then you may be able to understand something of that plane.

So it is not necessary to think too much, but instead our main attention is to try to chant 'Hare Krishna' properly. This is our main channel to go there and this is our one hope.

Contents

Section 1 — 'Siddhanta'
1 The Divine Service of Krishna
2 In Praise of the Devotees
3 Secure at Home
4 Our Life-line of Devotional Practice
5 Affection
6 Going Deeper
7 Transcendental World
8 Divine Service
9 Transcendental Knowledge and The Fortunate Soul
10 A Life of Service
11 Emotion or Devotion?
12 Our Lord’s Beloved Power
13 The Plane of Dedication

Section 2 — 'Biographical'
14 Srila Madhavendra Puripad—the Sprout of Love Divine
15 The Appearance of Sri Gaurasundar
16 The Flow of Mahaprabhu's Line
17 In Praise of Srila Narottam Das Thakur

Section 3 — 'Our Devotional Line'
18 Message to Massage the Devotees' Hearts
19 Harmony is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's conception
20 The One Channel of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math
21 The Eternal Service of Sri-Gaura-Saraswati
22 The Voice of Sri Chaitanyadev
23 Puri Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Jagannathdev, and His Dham
24 A Day at Hapaniya
25 Caringly Educating
26 Address to the Assembled Devotees

Section 4
27 Excerpts from Letters
28 Treasures

Appendix 1
Appendix 2