Bhagavat Sandarbha, Part 63
BY: SUN STAFF
Jul 30, 2019 — CANADA (SUN) — Sad Sandarbhas by Srila Jiva Goswami
Bhagavat Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION SIXTY-THREE, Part Three
Lord Kapila says that devotees have different relations with Him (Bhag.3.25.38). According to Srila Rupa Gosvami there are five basic mellows, or rasas, which the Lord enjoys with His devotees. Out of these five, the devotees in neutrality, or santa rasa, have the least love for the Lord. Still they are completely devoid of material desires and have strong faith in the Lord. Santa bhaktas cannot be considered non-devotees, nor is there any possibility of their falling down.
While commenting on Lord Kapila's statement cited in the text (Bhag. 3.25.38), Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti says that priya refers to the devotees in conjugal mellow, atma to those in neutral mellow, suta to those in vatsalya rasa, and sakha to those in sakhya rasa. Guru refers to a devotee in a specific type of dasya rasa, suhrida to a devotee in a specific type of sakhya rasa, and ishtam and daivan to those in dasya rasa.
Santa-rupe (S.B. 3.25.38) means that Vaikuntha is beyond the material modes (vishuddha sattva.) Although Vaikuntha is a planet, it has a different nature. The opulence of the devotees in Vaikuntha never perishes. That is to say, they never descend to the material platform. This is confirmed by hundreds of verses both in Sruti and Smriti. The Chandogya Upanishad states (8.15.1):
"Drawing his senses within, he does not cause violence to any creature, except for what is prescribed in the scriptures, up to his death. He attains the spiritual planet. He does not return. He does not return."
Srila Vyasa concludes Vedanta Sutras with (4.4.22), anavrittih sabdatanavrittih sabdat. "There is no return (from Vaikuntha) because the scriptures say so."
Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana, while commenting on this Sutra, confirms this by quoting the following mantra from Chandogya Upanishad (4.15.6):
"He leads them to Brahman. This is the path of devas that leads to the Lord. Those who walk on that path do not return to this human life. Surely they do not come back."
Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana says the Lord is determined not to abandon His devotees, and His devotees are equally determined to love Him. Thus they can never leave Him. One should never doubt this.
While instructing Yudhishthira Maharaja regarding the Aranya-dvadasi vrata, Lord Krishna says (Bhavishya Purana, Uttara Parva 66.26):
"Therefore they attain the auspicious and blissful place of liberation. Having attained it they neither lament for anything nor return to the cycle of birth and death."
In Bhagavad-gita (15.6) the Blessed Lord says:
"That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world."
And there are many other such verses in the Gita.
Despite this evidence, one might claim that the above verses mean that those who reach Vaikuntha from this material world never return, and that only those who have never been to this material world can fall down. In other words, those who achieve Vaikuntha have experienced the miseries of the material world, but the nitya siddhas are ignorant of it, and are subject to fall down. The logic is that a person who has burned his tongue with hot milk, is so careful that he blows on buttermilk before drinking it.
This is an inconsistent argument. Before reaching Vaikuntha the devotee casts off his subtle and gross bodies. The experience of the material world remains in the subtle body so the devotee does not carry it with him. In the material world we carry our stock of impressions in our subtle body, but how much of it do we remember? Indeed, we do not recollect most of the things we did in this life. Then how is it expected that a liberated soul will remember the miseries of the material world? And why would he? What is the gain? Is the remembrance of material miseries more pleasurable than service to the Lord? The tendency is to remember pleasurable moments and not misery. Moreover even if the Vaikuntha devotee wants to recall his material experience, he does not have the subtle body in which all the impressions are stored. In Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu (1.1.23) Srila Rupa Gosvami writes that bhakti destroys all varieties of karma.
It has been shown that falling from Vaikuntha is not possible under any circumstances, furthermore, there is no scriptural evidence to support such an event. However, there is much scriptural evidence which supports that it is impossible to fall down from the spiritual world, irregardless of whether one has been eternally residing there, or has attained it after many lifetimes in the mundane world.
Still to satisfy all opponents, we ask, "Have the nitya siddhas attained Vaikuntha or not?" If you answer in the affirmative, then they cannot fall down. If they have not, where are they? They must be in Vaikuntha, otherwise they are not nitya siddhas. So how is it that they exist in Vaikuntha, but have not attained it? Or is it that they are not in Vaikuntha? If yes, then there is no fall down, and if no, then there is no fall down.
The reason most of the verses use verbs like "having attained", or "after reaching" is because these instructions are meant for the conditioned soul. The Lord has no need to say this to the nitya siddhas. First, the nitya siddhas are not in ignorance of this knowledge. Second, when something is denied it indicates the possibility of opposite action. If the Lord tells a nitya siddha "You will never fall because you are my devotee," this implies the possibility of fall down. But the Lord never says one can fall from Vaikuntha and thus there is no need to reassure nitya siddhas. But the Lord assures the conditioned souls that His abode is distinct in nature-it is a place of no return. He does this because conditioned souls know from the scriptures that one falls from the heavenly planets. Scriptures inform us about subjects unknown to us and which we are unable to know by ourselves- sastro'jnata-jnapakah. Scriptural instructions are meant for the conditioned souls. Perfected souls are called nirgrantha (Bhag. 1.7.10) and dure-yama (Bhag.3.15.25)-those who are beyond rules and regulations of scripture. Lord Krishna says (Bg.2.52) tada gantasi nirvedam srotavyasya srutasya ca. Pure devotees hear scriptures to relish the Lord's pastimes, not to get assurance that they will not fall. For them there is no difference between heaven and hell, svargapavarga-narakeshvapi tulyartha-darsinah, (Bhag.6.17.28).
Therefore, Srila Jiva Gosvami says tato'skhalanam - Vaikuntha is a place of no fall down. He did not say "A place of no return" otherwise he could have said tato'navartanam. He knows very well the difference between the two statements. Vaikuntha is called acyuta-padam (Bhag. 4.12.37). This can either mean the place of Lord Acyuta, or the place from where no one falls. "Acyuta" is a name of the Lord but it also means "one who never falls" and "whose devotees never fall"- na cyavati cyavayati va iti acyutam. This is confirmed in Skanda Purana (4.20.10):
"His devotees do not fall down even during the great dissolution, therefore, He is Supreme, imperishable and omnipresent in all the planetary system."
Thus, His abode is called acyuta-padam - the place of no fall down. Lord Krishna says (B.g.2.40):
"In this endeavour there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear."
This is an assurance for those in the material world, what to speak of those who are in the perfected state.
Another objection is raised: "Conditioned souls are called patita, or fallen, and this implies that previously they were not fallen. When we say, "This is a mashed potato" it means that it was not mashed previously. So although we are unable to understand how we fell, we must have, otherwise we would not be designated as "fallen." The Supreme Lord, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in the mood of a devotee, says that He has fallen into the ocean of birth and death - patitam mam vishame bhavambudhau (Sikshashtakam 4). If we have fallen, it must have been from Vaikuntha, because every other place is a fallen position."
The defect in this argument is the assumption that the fallen condition precedes a non-fallen state. If one's fall down has no beginning (anadi patita), then that person is also called patita, as there is no other word to describe that state. The adjective anadi is not always used. An adjective separates one object from others in the same class, and conveys a special quality one object may have. For example, when we say "red lotus," we separate a particular lotus from a blue, or yellow one. A red lotus is also a lotus, and can be referred to as such when there is no need to distinguish it from others. Similarly, when patita is used without the adjective anadi, it refers to all fallen living entities. Hell is a fallen place and there was never a time when it was not fallen. Calling it a fallen place does not imply that it was not previously fallen.
Patita is formed when the suffix kta is added to the root pat (to fall). This suffix is called a nishtha (Panini 1.1.26) and applied in the various ways some of which are described below: (1.) To indicate something done in the past-as in bhuktam (eaten), (Panini 3.2.102). (2.) When it is used actively, it indicates the beginning of an activity for example prakritah katam devadattah-Devadatta begins to make the mat (Panini 3.2.102 vartika 3). (3) The sense of activity of the present tense applied to roots marked with mute n (these are the roots which end in n) as also to the roots in the sense of desire, knowledge and worship (Panini 3.2.187,88) rajnam ishta-desirable of kings (4.)The sense of mere verbal activity such as hasitam - laughs, which is always used in the neutral gender (Panini 3.3.114). (5.) The sense of benediction when the word ending in kta is used as a name as in Devadatta (Panini 3.3.174 and its Kashika vritti). The suffix kta, therefore, is not always used to indicate the past. When patita is used to indicate a conditioned soul, it means he is eternally fallen.
While commenting on Ujjvala Nilamani (19.2) Srila Jiva Gosvami explains the meaning of sannihita, which is also formed by adding the suffix kta to the root dha, in the same sense. He is trying to prove the eternality of the Lord's pastimes. He says the kta suffix is used in the sense of present tense lat-pratyayavat ktapratyayasya. To substantiate his view, he gives an example from the Sruti: ayamatma apahata papma-"The Lord is free from sins". Apahata is formed with the kta suffix and when combined with papma, it literally means "He has kicked away sins".
Does this mean that the Lord was previously sinful? No. Here the kta suffix signifies eternality-without any beginning. Thus the meaning is that the Lord is eternally free from sins. The kta suffix is applied to the term pratilabdha, which was used by the Lord to indicate eternality when He spoke to the Kumaras (Bhag. 3.16.7):
Here Lord says that "He has acquired such a disposition," pratilabdha-silam. This certainly does not imply that once upon a time He did not have such a disposition. The word bhakta is also made by putting kta suffix on the root bhaj, "to worship." This word does not always mean that previously a devotee was a non-devotee. Associates of the Lord, like Nanda Maharaja, are bhaktas. Does it mean they were non-devotees once upon a time? Therefore, it is incorrect to assume that patita implies a previously liberated state.
The eternal associates of the Lord such as Mother Yasoda are liberated persons, nitya-mukta. Mukta is also formed with the kta suffix, however, it does not imply that liberated persons were previously fallen. Similarly, patita, or baddha (bound), which are formed with kta, signify eternal conditioning when used to describe the state of a jiva in the material world. It does not mean that those who are fallen were previously liberated.
But the opponent poses another objection: "If this Text is analysed, we can conclude it refers only to those devotees who reach Vaikuntha from the material world. This can be understood by studying the six items like the opening statement, closing statement, and so on as described in the following verse:
"'The purport of a doubtful text may be understood by the study of six indications: (1.) the beginning and the concluding part; (2.) what is repeated; (3.) the peculiarity described; (4.) the result; (5.) what it glorifies, and; (6.) logical establishment.'"
The opponent may argue that the opening verse, concluding verse, and the Upanishads mantra quoted in Text sixty-three, which is under discussion, all refer to the jivas who attain Vaikuntha from the material world.
Answer: This type of analysis is applied only when ambiguity exists about the subject of a book, chapter, or essay. But such is not the case here. It is very evident that Srila Jiva Gosvami is discussing the qualities of Vaikuntha. He listed ten characteristics of Vaikuntha in Text Sixty-one, and now explains them in detail. In this present Text he describes that no one falls from Vaikuntha. Moreover, even if one analyses as mentioned above, and concludes that the subject of the Text is that those who attain Vaikuntha from the material world never again fall, still that does not prove that eternal associates fall. This Text makes no such statements, directly or indirectly, and to conclude this is highly improper. On the contrary, the second verse spoken by Lord Kapila (Bhag.3.25.38), clearly states that the opulence of His devotees is never lost. This means they never fall.
Still another objection is raised: "The cycle of creation and destruction of the material world is beginningless, and thus has occurred innumerable times. During the maintenance period, occasionally some jivas attain liberation. If living entities only exit the material world, and none enter by falling from Vaikuntha, then the universe would be empty at present. Thus, it is logical to assume that an equal number of souls fall from Vaikuntha to replace those who achieve liberation from the material world."
Answer: Such a concept is reached owing to ignorance of the unlimited nature of the Lord. There are unlimited material universes and each contains unlimited living entities. Unlimited means that when some are removed, still an unlimited number remains. Even in material mathematics, infinity, minus infinity, equals infinity. There are an infinite number of points existing in the line between A and B. If this line is divided into two parts, say AC and CB, each line still contains an infinite number of points.
Moreover, the opponent's logic backfires. If nitya siddhas fall to replace the jivas who achieve liberation, and those who go to Vaikuntha from the material world never come back, then, as time is beginningless (anadi), by now all the nitya siddhas would have fallen into the material world and returned to Vaikuntha. Thus the material world would be empty. Obviously this imagined state is far from truth, otherwise I would not be here writing this commentary.
