Srila Prabhupada Speaks on the Tatastha Shakti-Marginal Potency
BY:BAHUSHIRA DASA (ACBSP)
Sep 28, USA (SUN) — During a morning walk in Los Angeles on June, 1975, Revatinandana heard Srila Prabhupada explain about the marginal potency. Revatinandana begins:
"We were walking right along the shoreline and Prabhupada was talking about the pebbles on the shore line that we are like those pebbles. He said, "Tatastha shakti means in the margin, it can turn towards Krsna or away from Krsna. Sometimes the pebbles are covered by the water and sometimes they are uncovered."
He made it sound like it was almost very random. He also said, "That’s similar to the position of the living entity as marginal energy." For him the tatastha region was not an area in space or something, it was the attitude of the souls, the jivas form the Tatastha shakti they have the capacity to turn towards Krsna or away from Krsna by nature. And that is the meaning of this marginal energy."
Some examples from the sastra can be given showing that the tatastha shakti, marginal potency, is a quality, potency, nature, or characteristic of the jiva soul and not just a place in space. In chapter 15 of Jaiva Dharma by Bhaktivinode Thakura, the 1975 edition, he says:
"Herein has been stated the border characteristic of the jiva-potency. This Brhad Aranyaka Upanisad IV 3/18 says again: Just as a large fish in a river at one time visits its eastern bank, at another the western one, so also does the jiva move to both the sides, i.e., that of dream (i.e., nescience) and the other of wakefulness (sentience)…The jivas emanate from the tatastha-shakti (border-potency) of Sri Krsna; so is the nature too tatastha (border potency) of Sri Krsna."
In Bhagavatam 2.5.19, Srila Prabhupada states in the purport, "Because they are between the internal and external potencies, the eternally transcendental living entities are called marginal potency of the Lord." Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura has written in his book, The Bhagavata: Its Ethics and Its Theology:
"The individual souls are detachable infinitesimal emanations of the marginal potency of God, sharing the essence of the plenary spiritual power. The individual souls appear on the borderline between the inner and outer zones of the divine power. They have no locus standi in their nascent or marginal state."
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura in his Caitanya’s Teachings, p. 101, states, "The position of the jiva is a part of the tatastha shakti (marginal potency) that can enjoy, cease to enjoy and go back to his original position." Here the Acarya is saying that one can switch from one position to another, just like what Srila Prabhupada was saying. Prabhupada in a letter to Lilavati, April 25, 1969 stated:
"Regarding your question about our relationship with Srimati Radharani, She is the internal potency and we are the marginal energy. Marginal means sometimes internal, sometimes external. When we are under the internal energy, that is our normal life, and when we are under the external energy that is our abnormal life. Therefore, we are called marginal energy. We can be either this way or that way. But being qualitatively one with the Purusa our tendency is to remain in the internal energy. Being in the external energy is our artificial attempt."
Here Srila Prabhupada is saying that marginal sometimes means internal, which means that the devotee is under the sway of the hladini shakti (the internal potency) of the Lord. And when we misuse the God given freewill then we are under the external energy. Furthermore, in a letter that was written to Madhudvisa in 1972, Srila Prabhupada wrote:
"There is a dormant attitude for forgetting Krsna and creating an atmosphere for enjoying independently. Just like at the edge of the beach, sometimes the water covers, sometimes there is dry sand, coming and going. Our position is like that, sometimes covered, sometimes free, just like at the edge of the tide. As soon as we forget, immediately the illusion is there. Just like as soon as we sleep, dream is there."
Srila Prabhupada describes in Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi Lila, ch. 5, Verse 41, the jiva as potency. He states, “Because the living being can appear either in matter or in spirit, the jiva is called the marginal potency.” In Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya Lila, Ch.20, Verse 117, the purport explains:
"The living entity is originally part and parcel of Krsna and is therefore the superior energy of Krsna. He is endowed with inconceivable minute energy that works inconceivably within the body. However, the living entity, forgetting his position, is situated in the material energy. The living entity is called the marginal energy because by nature he is spiritual but by forgetfulness he is situated in the material energy. Thus he has the power to live either in the material energy or the spiritual energy, and for this reason he is called marginal energy. He is sometimes attracted by the external illusory energy when he stays in the marginal position, and this is the beginning of his material life."
Visnu Purana describes the tatastha shakti as superior energy or the internal potency of the Lord:
Visnu-shakti para prokta ksetrajnakhya tatha para
Avidya-karma-samjnanya trtiya shaktir isyate
“Lord Visnu’s internal potency is called para, or superior, and so also is that potency to which the living entities belong. The third potency is known as avidya, or ignorance, which manifests material activities.”
Hladini sakti, which is of the internal potency, assists the jivas who are in the spiritual world in service. This hladini shakti is pure love of Godhead. But it can become adulterated. How is that? Prabhupada gives the answer in Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi Lila, Ch.4, Verse 68. The purport reads:
"The product of the Hladini sakti is love of Godhead, which has two divisions- namely pure love of Godhead and adulterated love of Godhead. Only when the hladini sakti emanates from Sri Krsna and is bestowed upon the living being to attract Him does the living being become a pure lover of God. But when the same hladini sakti is adulterated by the external material energy and emanates from the living being, it does not attract Krsna; on the contrary, the living being becomes attracted by the glamour of the material energy."
Balavidya, along with other Neo-Gaudiya Vaisnavas, think that once being protected by the hladini-sakti, under Srimate Radharani’s watch, the jiva never falls from his service in Vaikuntha, or Goloka. Balavidya even thinks that this idea is part of the Vedic Paradigm of the soul. But Prabhupada states here in the quote above, that the hladini sakti that assists the marginal jiva can become adulterated. The jiva who has pure of Godhead, and is in a particular service, but due to his minute independence, misuses his free will, makes the wrong choice and is immediately covered by the material energy.
In the Gaudiya Math edition, page 13, 1975, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Jaiva Dharma has stated:
"The spiritual function of the jiva is perverted in association with these false egotisms. Unalloyed love is the only proper function of the jiva in his pure state. Spiritual love manifests itself perversely in the subtle material body in the forms of pleasure and pain, likes and dislikes. This perverted love, thereafter, appears in the physical body in more concentrated material forms as pleasures of eating, drinking, and sensuality."
Srila Prabhupada also speaks along these same lines in Bhagavata Gita, “When a living entity comes in contact with the material creation, his eternal love of Krsna is transformed into lust, in association with the mode of passion” (3.37 purport). So the jiva soul having this tatastha nature can go this side or that side because of his marginal nature.
In Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi Lila 5.66 Srila Prabhupada states that “The marginal jiva, or living entity, misuses his independence and becomes adverse to the eternal service.” In Jaiva Dharma, Ch. 1, Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “A living entity is certainly a transcendental particle, but by some divine power he becomes liable to be in contact with matter. That divine power is called the tatastha or marginal potency.”
Furthermore, the Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.13.48, purport states:
"The living beings are also manifestations of His marginal energy, qualitatively one with the Lord, and there are innumerable living beings both within and without the external and internal energies of the Lord. Since the spiritual world is a manifestation of the Lord’s internal energy, the living beings within that internal potency are qualitatively one with the Lord without contamination from the external potency. Although qualitatively one with the Lord, the living being, due to contamination of the material world, is pervertedly manifested, and therefore he experiences so-called happiness and distress in the material world. Such experiences are all ephemeral and do not affect the spirit soul. The perception of such ephemeral happiness and distress is due only to the forgetfulness of his qualities, which are equal to the Lord’s…the forgetful ones are perverted reflections only."
In the above quote Prabhupada is saying that some living entities, in the spiritual world, who are qualitatively one with the Lord, fall down into the material world. But both types of souls, fallible and infallible, who are both qualitatively one with the Lord, come from the same place. The souls who fall down due to their free will are a perversion of the soul. Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura in the Brahma Samhita, verse 21 purport says:
"Apareyam itas tv angam prakrtim viddhi me param. By this verse of the Gita it is made known that jivas are His transcendental potency…This potency has another name, vis., tatastha or marginal potency, being located on the line demarcating the sphere of spiritual and mundane potencies. He is susceptible to the influence of the material energy owing to his small magnitude. But so long as he remains submissive to Krsna, the Lord of Maya, he is not liable to the influence of Maya."
Moreover, in text 44 purport, the Thakura states:
"When jivas begotten of the marginal potency (tatastha sakti) forget the service of Krsna, they are confined in the mundane prison house, the citadel of Durga…When he forgets his service of Krsna he is at once deflected by the attracting power of Maya in this world."
Thakura also says in Sri Caitanya’s Teachings, p.101 that “The position of the jiva is part of the tatastha shakti (marginal potency) that can enjoy, cease to enjoy, and go back to his original position.”
In 1968 Rayarama asked a question about the marginal nature. Srila Prabhupada answered on December 2. 1968 as follows:
"The answer to your question about the marginal energy is that the jiva soul is always called marginal energy whether he is in the spiritual world or in the material world. There are instances where marginal energy jiva souls have fallen from the spiritual world, like Jaya and Vijaya. So the potency to fall under the influence of the lower energy is always there. And thus the individual jiva soul is called as Krsna’s marginal energy."
A point to be noted here is that some say that Jaya and Vijaya are not always the same jivas that come to this world and that would appear to be the case as Prabhupada states here. Also Prabhupada is making it very clear that marginal jivas are in the spiritual world of Vaikuntha, in the Lord’s Lila, and not just in the brahmajyoti as some devotees think.
In addition, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.5.19 purport clarifies:
"Because they are between the internal and external potencies, the eternally transcendental living entities are called marginal potency of the Lord. Factually, the living entities are not meant to be so conditioned by material energy, but due to their being affected by the false sense of lording it over the material energy, they come under the influence of such potency and thus become conditioned by the three modes of material nature. This external energy of the Lord covers up the pure knowledge of the living entity’s eternally existing with Him, but the covering is so constant that it appears that the conditioned soul is eternally ignorant. Such is the wonderful action of maya, or external energy manifested as if materially produced."
In Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi Lila, verse 103 states, “The marginal potency, which is between these two, consists of the numberless living beings. These are the three principal energies, which have unlimited categories and sub-divisions.” Some devotees think that the tatastha-shakti-jivas are only in the material realm. This is not true. The marginal tatastha-jivas that are in Vaikuntha-Goloka are fully immersed in the internal potency, hladini shakti. One has to remember what Prabhupada said in Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi Lila 4, verse 68 purport:
"But when the same hladini shakti is adulterated by the external material energy and emanates from the living being, it does not attract Krsna, on the contrary, the living being becomes attracted by the glamour of the material energy. At that time instead of becoming mad with love of Godhead, the living being becomes mad after material sense enjoyment, and because of his association with the qualitative modes of material nature, he is captivated by its interactions of distressful, unhappy feelings."
The Bhagavata has a verse that relates to this, S.B. 2.5.19:
Karya-karana-kartrtve dravya-jnana-kriyasrayah
Badnanti nityada muktam mayinam purusam gunah
"These three modes of material nature, being further manifested as matter, knowledge and activities, put the eternally transcendental living entity under conditions of cause and effect and make him responsible for such activities. "
The key words here are nityada muktam mayinam. Nitya muktas are the same as nitya siddhas, i.e. eternally, transcendentally, liberated, marginal tatastha shakti jivas. The next word that follows is mayinam, which is translated as affected by material energy.
Srila Prabhupada starts out in the purport saying, “Because they are between the internal and external potencies, the eternally transcendental living entities are called the marginal potency of the Lord.” So the nityamuktas-nitya siddhas are marginal potency. These are the ten percent of the marginal jivas that Prabhupada talks about that fall down into the material pool as stated in this verse. He says that the three modes of material nature put the nityamuktas under conditions of cause and effect (karma). So maya is stronger than the internal potency one may ask? No, but free will which we eternally have is a two edged knife, and Prabhupada has repeatedly told us that free will is eternally with us as marginal tatastha jivas. Some misuse it and ninety percent don’t.
The nityasiddhas, as marginal tatastha jivas can be living anywhere. That means they can be living on the Vaikuntha planets within this material universe, Dhruvaloka etc, or in the Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual world.
The idea that nityasiddhas/nityamuktas are only in Vaikuntha/Goloka is not
correct. They can live on any loka and they have freewill to do whatever they want. Ninety percent of them do not deviate at all from the eternal engagement of service to RadhaKrsna or Vishnu. They can come and go as they please to do service in different places for the pleasure of the Lord. But the freewill to leave Krsna and give up their service is eternally with them being a unique quality of marginal tatastha jivas. Remember Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that by some divine power the jiva becomes covered by material energy. That divine power is called the tatastha or marginal potency.
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya Lila, ch.20, verse 109, purport:
"Actually you are a spirit soul, eternal 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 spiritual worlds; therefore you are called marginal potency."
Bahushira Dasa (ACBSP)
