Fall of the Jiva and Guru Wars
BY: KSHAMABUDDHI DASA
May 25, 2010 — HIGH SPRINGS, FLORIDA, USA (SUN) — The issue of origins or the fall of the jiva controversy might be inconsequential to many devotees, but as is quite evident from the debate here on the Sampradaya Sun, it is a major bone of contention in the Krishna Consciousness movement and a philosophical matter that is seriously debated by many devotees.
This controversy did not really exist during the time of Srila Prabhupada. This kind of controversy was quickly settled by Srila Prabhupada. He never allowed these kinds of philosophical battles over matters of Gaudiya philosophy. However, it appears that the issue has arisen after the passing of Srila Prabhupada as a point of philosophy that remains yet unclear in the minds of many devotees who follow Srila Prabhupada or accept his spiritual authority.
The books of Srila Prabhupada and his many lectures and conversations seem to leave some doubt or uncertainty about the subject, as it appears that one can support either position (fall from Goloka or not) with the statements and books of Srila Prabhupada. Amongst the disciples of Srila Prabhupada there seems to be much confusion, debate and discussion about the topic.
Outside greater ISKCON there seems to be philosophical harmony and accord regarding the issue within the other Gaudiya organizations that experienced a surge in popularity as ISKCON suffered one scandal after another in the wake of the guru fiasco.
The fall of the jiva controversy is an ISKCON exclusive phenomenon and betrays a philosophical vacuum in the minds of many ISKCON devotees who are grappling with the Gaudiya philosophy.
We have never heard of any such controversy ever besetting the Gaudiya Math or any of its daughter missions apart from ISKCON. The issue and the debate seems to be an exclusively ISKCON matter. Outside of ISKCON and the followers of Srila Prabhupada, all the other Gaudiya organizations and institutions are quite unanimous in their positions on the matter of the fall of the jiva. None of them believe that the jiva fell or can fall from Goloka. The notion that a siddha parsada of Radha-Krishna can fall from prema-bhakti and become a worm in dirt is most laughable and preposterous outside of ISKCON.
However, if we really look at the issue and the debate and the parties involved we can see that in fact, the issue is as much a political issue in the Hare Krishna movement as it is a philosophical matter. There are many prominent ISKCON gurus, GBC, Swamis and temple authorities who have reputations at stake in the debate. They have taken a position on the issue and expressed their support for one side or the other in the debate. Their followers want that their guru is on the right side of the argument. Not everyone can be on the right side of the argument -- that is, unless both sides of the argument are correct. But, that is not likely the case or the conclusion.
We have prominent and prestigious disciples of Srila Prabhupada who have taken a position on the issue. Their reputations as scholars and pundits of the philosophy are on the line. They don't want to be wrong. Being wrong is not an option at this point.
They must prove that they are correct and that they cannot possibly have misunderstood this particular point of shastric siddhanta. If they were proved wrong on this matter, then that might weaken the faith of their disciples or followers or even hurt book sales. They don't want that, even if they must turn their heads and their eyes from the scriptural statements being presented by the opposing party in the debate.
So, can we ever get at the truth? Will ISKCON politics and the politics of the Hare Krishna movement ever be fertile soil for getting at the truth of the matter? How can the ISKCON gurus who have once taken a position on the fall of the jiva issue ever retreat and take an unbiased look at all the shastric statements concerning the matter? The ISKCON GBC commissioned Drutakarma das to compile a document delineating the fall-from-goloka theory. He was not asked to get to the bottom of the issue and find out which position is correct, he was told to compile the document supporting the official GBC position that the jiva has fallen from Goloka as an eternal associate of Krishna. He complied with the order, as it is also his own personal opinion that the Gaudiya shastra teaches that all jivas have fallen from service to Krishna in Goloka due to an infection of terminal jealousy that resulted in the eternal damnation of the jiva by Krishna.
So, unfortunately, due to ISKCON politics, the issue will never be left unmolested, as one devotee after another attempts to present shastric evidence supporting one side of the argument or the other. The relentless back-and-forth, tit-for-tat debate on the argument will never end in such a public domain as the Sampradaya Sun unless and until the editors decide to stop covering the issue.
Most all the older, original ISKCON devotees were indoctrinated into this fall-from-goloka theory that was the dominant understanding that many of us encountered in our early ISKCON careers. We all assumed that this is what Srila Prabhupada was teaching. We accepted it as such. However, in later years the devotees became much more familiar and acquainted with the Gaudiya philosophy. In the minds of many devotees, the fall-from-goloka theory was contradictory to the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Gita and the Bhagavat as well. Senior Godbrothers of Srila Prabhupada were asked to weigh in on the matter and they all universally rejected the fall-from-goloka theory and endorsed the theory of fall from the marginal position of the Viraja River or Causal Ocean.
However, within the ISKCON parameters, the fall-from-goloka theory still persists largely because of political considerations; gurus and their disciples are trying hard to defend their fall-from-goloka theory and prove the other party to be philosophically wrong.
None of the Gaudiya Math institutions or organizations associated with it advocates this fall-from-goloka theory and in fact, considers it to be quite the departure from shastric siddhanta. If ISKCON wants to persist on into the indefinite future maintaining this fall-from-goloka theory, it might find itself in the position of being seen as philosophically challenged by the greater Gaudiya community which unanimously agrees that there is no such thing as falling down from Sri Goloka Dhama.
Of course, it appears that ISKCON proposes to advocate itself as the only Gaudiya Vaishnava authority on the planet while summarily rejecting any other institution as a legitimate organization due to it's not being under the authority of the GBC. The future of Gaudiya Vaishnavism around the world is expansion and growth. At what point will the ISKCON authorities decide that the theories of early ISKCON will no longer be an acceptable substitute for actual shastric siddhanta in a world of multiple Gaudiya Vaishnava organizations? When will ISKCON stop presenting Srila Prabhupada or even Srila Bhaktivinode as an authority above and beyond the shastra who has the power to change the siddhanta?
There are probably some gurus in ISKCON today that reject the fall-from-goloka theory as being a misunderstanding evolved out of the early years of ISKCON, before the books were even printed. However, due to their desire to remain politically correct and keep their cushy positions in the institution, they choose to remain silent on the debate or just play along with the official GBC position.
Let's be real here. This debate over the fall of the jiva is as much a political hot potato as it is a philosophical issue. ISKCON is now in the position of having to defend years of preaching the fall-from-goloka theory from the philosophical challenges of a growing and threatening section of bitter critics who share different opinions on the fall of the jiva controversy.
Is this where ISKCON really wants to be -- challenging all the Godbrothers of Srila Prabhupada who discredited the fall-from-goloka theory summarily?
The fall-from-goloka theory is a controversial subject that has been dragging on for years and years because the Hare Krishna devotees can't agree on what the shastra teaches. There will never be a unanimous agreement on this issue.
There is just so much more involved here than sincere devotees trying to understanding spiritual knowledge. There is a political element to the debate that forever renders the topic as irresolvable due to the politics of the Hare Krishna guru wars.
None of the ISKCON gurus or their disciples are prepared to accept any conclusion that does not allow them to come out victorious in the debate. So, that being said, arguing the issue will continue as long as we have the ISKCON guru wars and an ISKCON elite who are all posing as finished professors, even if they are philosophically mental midgets who cannot grasp even basic elements of the Gaudiya philosophy.
The latest theory that Radharani creates the jivas and they subsequently fall down because of envy of Krishna is indeed another ridiculous extrapolation from the writings of the acharyas that contradicts numerous shastric references that state that the perfected jivas enjoy the same quality of perfection as Lord Krishna. Radharani does not create jivas, though she does manifest the whole spectrum of female consorts of Lord Krishna. These kinds of misunderstandings arise when neophyte devotees approach Gaudiya rasa shastra without proper conceptual study. They take the bhavas of the great devotees as scientific fact when in fact, they are simply bhavas which sometimes express in ways that harmonize the finite with the infinite as the jiva ascends into the immortal plane. We should not attempt to rewrite or overwrite the very statements and claims of even Lord Krishna himself with emotional outbursts of the great saints.
When Lord Krishna and his lost servant (the fallen jiva) unite again in Vrindavan there is an overwhelming emotional situation at that time. The Lord and the devotee both speak in madness and ecstasy many things incomprehensible to the bystander. These stories of such reunions and the Lord talking as if his devotee has been away for a long time are full of bhavas and prema. We cannot deduct scientific conclusions from such transcendentally mad talks and meetings.
In the absolute world there is no beginning and no end to anything or anyone. When a jiva soul is actualized into Krishna-lila, the bhava of it being an eternal relationship, the yogamaya of Lord Krishna bewilders the jiva soul into thinking and feeling as if he has been there eternally. In the spiritual world there is no such idea as a beginning to the bhakti-rasa. As such, we find that in the actual situation of a jiva being eventuated into eternity, there is the requisite application of the yogamaya which causes the atma to assume the sense of eternity.
The actual truth from the spiritual world as perceived from there, is different from the perspective here in Mahamaya; this material world. Here in conditioned life we understand the Bhagavat theory of emanations and how the One became many for his own enjoyment and how he creates unlimited souls simply by glancing over Prakriti Devi and how these souls emanating from the Viraja are incomplete souls being sorely deficient in certain required potencies necessary for performing Vishnu bhakti in Vaikuntha. After the full cycle of evolution, the living entity attains the human form of life and possibly a chance to attain God consciousness.
However, when the jiva attains actual eternal existence in Goloka, he will not be allowed to remember or to think that there was ever a time that he was not serving Krishna. This is the power of the Yogamaya potency. This is the illusion that all in Goloka are under. It is, of course, a spiritual illusion.
