Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 155, Sampradayas and Lord

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Digest 155, February 10th, 2006. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami

Maharaja

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The four sampradayas and Lord Caitanya

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Q: Which are the things which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has taken from four

sampradayas?

 

Ans: The list of items that Lord Caitanya accepted from the four sampradayas

are as follows.

 

Madhva : 1. Complete Rejection of Mayavad philosophy

2. Dedication to the Service of the Deity of Krsna

 

Ramanuja: 1. Pure devotional service, unpolluted by karma and jnana

2. Service to the vaisnavas

 

Visnuswami: 1. Sentiment of Exclusive Dependence on Krsna

2. Raga-marg or Spontaneous devotion

 

Nimbarka: 1. The utter Necessity of taking shelter of the lotus feet of Sri

Radha

2. The high esteem of the gopis worship for Krsna

 

 

Living Entities and Marginal Energy

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Q: I have read that all living entities are generated from tatastha- shakti (SB

3.7.9). Living entities can be influenced by the internal or external potency

of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

Please explain how do living entities behave while under the influence of

Tatastha-sakti. Is the marginal potency an intermediate state between Pradhan

and Prakriti? How long they belong to this region of marginal energy of Lord?

What is the characteristic of marginal potency with regards to Internal and

external potencies?

 

Answer: There seems to be some fundamental misconception in how you relate the

living entities to the tatastha-shakti within your question. Lord Vishnu or

Krishna is the Supreme Energetic and He possesses multifarious energies. These

energies are generally classified into three principal categories, one of which

*is* the living entity belonging to the tatastha category (marginal energy).

 

The statement from Vishnu Purana, from which Srila Prabhupada makes this

inference in SB 3.7.9, identifies these three distinct categories of energy:

"The internal potency of the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, is spiritual, as verified by

the sastras. There is another spiritual potency, known as kshetra-jna, or the

living entity. The third potency, which is known as nescience, makes the living

entity godless and fills him with fruitive activity." The same idea is conveyed

in Bhagavad-gita (Bg 7.4, 5). In other words, the jiva souls are the third

category of energy, called marginal energy and they constitutionally belong to

that category eternally, sometimes coming under the influence of inferior

material potency and otherwise under the influence of spiritual potency; they

are not 'under the influence' of tatastha shakti as if the latter was another

and a separate category.

 

The word 'tatastha' can be thought of as the meeting place between water and

land, as at a riverbank or shoreline. Just as the seashore is sometimes under

water and sometimes exposed, similarly the marginal living entities, although

spiritual in quality, can either be under the influence of the internal or

external energy, which is decided by their own attitude towards the Supreme

Lord.

 

The Bhagavatam purport you have referred to gives a graphic example ---

although the sun's rays are qualitatively non-different from the sun, they are

sometimes overpowered by another energy of the sun, namely by clouds or by

snowfall, although the clouds can never cover the sun itself. Likewise, a spark

of fire can become extinguished when it is separated from the original fire.

Similarly, although the living entities are qualitatively one with the superior

energy of the Lord, because they are marginal they have the tendency to be

overpowered by the inferior energy when they turn their attention away from the

Lord. The modes of material nature then react upon and cover the ray-like

living entities.

 

Tatastha-shakti therefore refers to the spirit souls and is not an intermediate

state between pradhan and material nature. Pradhana refers to nothing but the

unmanifested totality of material energy prior to creation and in its manifest

state, it is called prakriti - both belong to the category of material energy.

At the time of creation, the undifferentiated Pradhana becomes agitated by the

glance of Maha Vishnu and at this time the living entities are also impregnated

into the material energy. The three modes of material nature and subsequently

the 24 material elements then become manifest.

 

 

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Christ, spiritual and material relationships and morality of Lord Krsna's

conjugal pastimes, spiritual master, spirit soul/jiva/living entity):

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