Srila Prabhupada on the origin of the jiva

[Guest guest]

Excuse me for addressing you like this, Bhuta-bhavana prabhu. You

are after all my God-uncle and thus my superior. I just didn't

like what you said.

 

> On 19 Mar 1999, Payonidhi Dasa wrote:

>

> > Prior to falling or whatever you want,that is what Prabhupada

> > was talking about,if you don't understand this please visit

> > your local Hare Krsna temple and ask.

>

>

> You seem pretty fanatical. Is this from your training from

> HKS?

 

What a really cheap shot.

 

> I've studied this issue for 25 years now and am still

> uncertain.

 

Of course you are uncertain about it. How could you be certain

about it unless you were a fully liberated soul who heard it

directly from Krishna? Personally I just take it from Srila

Prabhupada. He seemed to favor that we fell from Krishnas

pastime. That this is not in accordance with the followers of

Ramanuja, Madhvacarya, Kundali, Satyanarayan (the

grand-disciple), or the Babajis at Radhakund, doesn't concern me

or worry me the least. I stick to Srila Prabhupada's version.

Some things, because we cannot know them, we have to accept

blindly from the authorities. If the authories differ on a

certain subject we have to pick the authority we want to listen

from. I have picked Srila Prabhupada. It seems to me that the GBC

resolution on the subject is in accordance with Srila

Prabhupada's version.

 

It is certainly true that no one falls from Vaikuntha, for they

leave voluntarily. Thus it is not a fall. You don't fall from

anywhere voluntarily, you fall accidentally. I heard this

explanation from one devotee.

 

> However, it is no big deal -- the tal fruit

> parable. To get really defensive about it shows that you

> perhaps are uncertain about it.

 

Aren't we all uncertain about it? So what's your point? You just

admitted that _you_ were uncertain about it. The only ones who

seem not to be uncertain about it are Krishna Susarla and Vijai,

who seem quite convinced that we didn't come from Krishnas lila.

Krishna says in the Gita that no one, including the sages and the

demigods can know his origin. If we cannot know Krishnas origin,

how can we know our own, except that we came from Krishna? If we

cannot know, we have to accept it from the acaryas. If the

acaryas say different things, we have to accept one of them and

take it from him. It is my humble opinion that it is the duty of

the devotees of ISKCON to accept Srila Prabhupada's version. He

seemed pretty clear on the point that we came from Krishnas lila.

 

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

Your servant

Jahnu das

[Guest guest]

At 22:29 -0800 3/22/99, COM: Jahnu (das) DAS wrote:

 

>The only ones who

>seem not to be uncertain about it are Krishna Susarla and Vijai,

>who seem quite convinced that we didn't come from Krishnas lila.

 

I'm probably going to regret this as I don't really care one way or another

about getting to the truth of this issue, but it was my clear impression

from Krishna Susarla's letter that he wasn't sure about the answer either.

I thought he just wanted to have a discussion and voice different

arguments.

 

I certainly have no idea where we came from, but I have too many other

issues I'm worrying about to have had much time to think about this issue.

However, I have found Krishna Susarla's texts interesting from an

intellectual standpoint.

 

Personally, I have a hard enough time remembering where I was yesterday,

never mind where I was lifetimes ago, and neither inability seems to impact

my life very much. It seems to be more important (again, *for me*, I'm not

speaking for anyone else) to keep track of where I'm going today and

tomorrow.

 

Hopefully we'll all be back Home soon, and then we'll know - if any of us

still care.

 

Ys,

Madhusudani dasi