Tatastha-sakti - Teachings from Srila Prabhupada

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jivera 'svarupa' haya--krsnera 'nitya-dasa'

krsnera 'tatastha-sakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasa'

suryamsa-kirana, yaiche agni-jvala-caya

svabhavika krsnera tina-prakara 'sakti' haya

 

SYNONYMS

jivera-of the living entity; svarupa-the constitutional position; haya-is;

krsnera-of Lord Krsna; nitya-dasa-eternal servant; krsnera-of Lord Krsna;

tatastha-marginal; sakti-potency; bheda-abheda-one and different;

prakasa-manifestation; surya-amsa-part and parcel of the sun; kirana-a ray

of sunshine; yaiche-as; agni-jvala-caya-molecular particle of fire;

svabhavika-naturally; krsnera-of Lord Krsna; tina-prakara-three varieties;

sakti-energies; haya-there are.

 

TRANSLATION

"It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant

of Krsna because he is the marginal energy of Krsna and a manifestation

simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular

particle of sunshine or fire. Krsna has three varieties of energy.

 

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains these verses as follows: Sri Sanatana

Gosvami asked Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, "Who am I?" In answer, the Lord

replied, "You are a pure living entity. You are neither the gross material

body nor the subtle body composed of mind and intelligence. Actually you are

a spirit soul, eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, Krsna.

Therefore you are His eternal servant. You belong to Krsna's marginal

potency. There are two worlds-the spiritual world and the material world-and

you are situated between the material and spiritual potencies. You have a

relationship with both the material and the spiritual world; therefore you

are called the marginal potency. You are related with Krsna as one and

simultaneously different. Because you are spirit soul, you are one in

quality with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but because you are a very

minute particle of spirit soul, you are different from the Supreme Soul.

Therefore your position is simultaneously one with and different from the

Supreme Soul. The examples given are those of the sun itself and the small

particles of sunshine and of a blazing fire and the small particles of

fire." Another explanation of these verses can be found in Adi-lila, Chapter

Two, verse 96.

 

(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 20.108-109, purport by Srila A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

 

 

Sometimes it is asked how the living entity falls down from the spiritual

world to the material world. Here is the answer. Unless one is elevated to

the Vaikuntha planets, directly in touch with the Supreme Personality of

Godhead, he is prone to fall down, either from the impersonal Brahman

realization or from an ecstatic trance of meditation.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.29, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

The jiva potency, or the ksetrajna-sakti of the Lord, has the tendency to be

overpowered by the external potency, avidya-karma-samjna, and in this way he

is placed in the awkward circumstances of material existence. The living

entity cannot be forgetful of his real identity unless influenced by the

avidya potency.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.5, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

The living entities in the material world are forgetful of their eternal

relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This forgetfulness is

called avidya, or nescience. The avidya-sakti, the avidya potency of the

material world, provokes fruitive activity. Although this avidya-sakti

(material energy, or nescience) is also an energy of the Supreme Personality

of Godhead, it is especially intended to keep the living entities in a state

of forgetfulness.

 

(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 6.154, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Swami Prabhupada)

 

 

The word dhama is significant. Dhama refers to the place where the Supreme

Personality of Godhead resides. In the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam

(1.1.1) it is said, dhamna svena sada nirasta-kuhakam satyam param dhimahi.

In the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no influence of

material energy (dhamna svena sada nirasta-kuhakam).

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.2.17, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

sri-yudhisthira uvaca

kidrsah kasya va sapo hari-dasabhimarsanah

asraddheya ivabhati harer ekantinam bhavah

 

SYNONYMS

sri-yudhisthirah uvaca-Maharaja Yudhinthira said; kidrsah-what kind of;

kasya-whose; va-or; sapah-curse; hari-dasa-the servant of Hari;

abhimarsanah-overcoming; asraddheyah-incredible; iva-as if; abhati-appears;

hareh-of Hari; ekantinam-of those exclusively devoted as exalted attendants;

bhavah-birth.

 

TRANSLATION

Maharaja Yudhisthira inquired: What kind of great curse could affect even

liberated vinnu-bhaktas, and what sort of person could curse even the Lord's

associates? For unflinching devotees of the Lord to fall again to this

material world is impossible. I cannot believe this.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.1.34)

 

 

>From authoritative sources it can be discerned that associates of Lord Vinnu

who descend from Vaikuntha do not actually fall. They come with the purpose

of fulfilling the desire of the Lord, and their descent to this material

world is comparable to that of the Lord. The Lord comes to this material

world through the agency of His internal potency, and similarly, when a

devotee or associate of the Lord descends to this material world, he does so

through the action of the spiritual energy. Any pastime conducted by the

Supreme Personality of Godhead is an arrangement by yogamaya, not mahamaya.

Therefore it is to be understood that when Jaya and Vijaya descended to this

material world, they came because there was something to be done for the

Supreme Personality of Godhead. Otherwise it is a fact that no one falls

from Vaikuntha.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.1.35, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

The conclusion is that no one falls from the spiritual world, or Vaikuntha

planet, for it is the eternal abode. But sometimes, as the Lord desires,

devotees come into this material world as preachers or as atheists. In each

case we must understand that there is a plan of the Lord.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.16.26, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

Ordinarily, there is no possibility that the four sages could be so angry

with the doorkeepers, nor could the Supreme Lord neglect His two

doorkeepers, nor can one come back from Vaikuntha after once taking birth

there. All these incidents, therefore, were designed by the Lord Himself for

the sake of His pastimes in the material world. Thus He plainly says that it

was done with His approval. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for

inhabitants of Vaikuntha to come back to this material world simply because

of a brahminical curse. The Lord especially blesses the so-called culprits:

"All glories unto you." A devotee, once accepted by the Lord, can never fall

down. That is the conclusion of this incident.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.16.29, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

This incident, therefore, proves that those who have once entered a

Vaikuntha planet can never fall down. The case of Jaya and Vijaya is not a

falldown; it is just an accident.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.16.12, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

Even if one reaches the post of Indra, Candra, or any other demigod, he must

be dissolved at a certain stage. A devotee is never interested in such

temporary pleasure. From Vedic scriptures it is understood that sometimes

even Brahma and Indra fall down, but a devotee in the transcendental abode

of the Lord never falls.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.15.48, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

A pure devotee continuously remembers the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna and

does not forget Him even for a moment, not even in exchange for all the

opulence of the three worlds.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.19, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

There are Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual world, and there are devotees

who are all liberated. These devotees are aksara, which means they do not

fall down into the material world. They remain in the spiritual world of the

Vaikunthas.

 

(Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Teachings of Lord Kapiladeva,

verse 6)

 

 

This ordinary living being is of two kinds-nitya-baddha or nitya-mukta. One

is eternally conditioned and the other is eternally liberated. The eternally

liberated living beings are in the Vaikuntha jagat, the spiritual world, and

they never fall into the material world.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.11.12, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

The expansions of His separated forms are called living entities, and these

living entities are classified according to the energies of the Lord. They

are divided into two classes-eternally liberated and eternally conditioned.

Eternally liberated living entities never come into contact with material

nature, and therefore they do not have any experience of material life. They

are eternally engaged in Krsna consciousness, or devotional service to the

Lord, and they are counted among the associates of Krsna.

 

 

(Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Teachings of Lord Caitanya,

Chapter 10)

 

 

The living entities are divided into two categories-the eternally liberated

and eternally conditioned. Those who are ever-liberated never come in

contact with maya, the external energy. The ever-conditioned are always

under the clutches of the external energy. This is described in

Bhagavad-gita: daivi hy ena guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya "This divine

energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is

difficult to overcome." (Bg. 7.14) The nitya-baddhas are always conditioned

by the external energy, and the nitya-muktas never come in contact with the

external energy.

 

(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 22.15-15, purport by Srila A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

 

 

Amongst the devotees of the Lord there are several divisions, mainly

nitya-siddhas and sadhana-siddhas. The nitya-siddha devotees never fall down

to the region of the material atmosphere, even though they sometimes come

onto the material plane to execute the mission of the Lord. The

sadhana-siddha devotees are chosen from the conditioned souls.

 

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.3.26, purport by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada)

 

 

The fact is that those who are always engaged in Krsna consciousness and

mature, pure devotional service are given the chance, after death, to gain

Krsna's association in one of the universes within the material world.

Krsna's pastimes are continuously going on, either in this universe or in

another universe. Just as the sun globe is passing over many places across

this earthly planet, so krsna-lila, or the transcendental advent and

pastimes of Krsna, are also going on continuously, either in this or another

universe. The mature devotees, who have completely executed Krsna

consciousness, are immediately transferred to the universe where Krsna is

appearing. In that universe the devotees get their first opportunity to

associate with Krsna personally and directly.

 

(Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Krishna-book, Chapter 28)