JIVA FALLDOWN FROM SPIRITUAL WORLD

Collection of Evidences from SP Lectures and Previous Acaryas quotes

Compiled from various sources by Radheshyam das

Before presenting this compilation to you, I request one and all to bless me to approach
the subject matter in a respectful manner and keep my points focussed on the topic and
not judge or criticize anyone with any malicious intent. When I write `no fall’ theorists,
I use the term to present their opinion and I will continue to see them as my vaishnava
friend and brother and not maintain any wrong mood owing to their holding the
opinion of `no fall theory’. With this let us get started with the subject.

To hit the nail of the problem, the following points may be considered which will be
substantiated in the course of the article :

1. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, BVT and Srila Prabhupada all concur that all the
jivas in material or spiritual world are infinitesimal part and parcels of Krishna;
thus unlike Bhagavan Krishna, they are susceptible to falldown.

2. The jivas coming from the naval of Maha Visnu, having access to both Spiritual
energy and Material energy are not the only `weak jivas’. All jivas including the
one in the Spiritual world owing to their infinitesimal nature can falldown if
they choose to.

3. Jiva is endowed with freewill to choose to love Krishna and serve Him or choose
to leave Him BEFORE encountering material energy, as confirmed by Srila BVT.

4. The `tatastha’ jivas from Maha Visnu’s navel are already in a fallen position; if
the `no fall’ theorists who advocate that these are the jivas who fall, there is no
falling from fallen position.

Now you can read ahead to see the above facts confirmed from the statements of Srila
Prabhupada and previous Acaryas. I have made the following points easier to read by
giving them suitable headings :

[2] References from Six Goswamis Literatures

In his Brihad-Bhāgavatamrita (2.6.76) Śrīla Sanatana Gosvāmī while giving the story of
the journey of a soul attaining liberation, mentions here that ī
ṛṣṇ ī
ṛṣṇ
ī

ī
Here below the verse from Sri Brhat Bhagavatamrita 2.6.76. I am reproducing it along with word to word
translation. You can see the meanings yellow highlighted. :

cirädåñöa-präëa-priya-sakham iväväpya sa tu mäà

kare dhåtvä väma-sva-kara-kamalena prabhu-varaù
vicitraà sampraçnaà vidadhad akhiläàs tän vraja-janän
samänandya çrémän aviçad ibha-gämi vraja-varam

cira-for a long time; adåñöa-not seen; präëa-life; priya-dear; sakham-friend; iva-as if; aväpya-attaining;
saù-He; tu-indeed; mäm-me; kare-by the hand; dhåtvä-taking; väma-sva-kara-kamalena-in His own left
lotus hand; prabhu-varaù-the Lord; vicitram-wonderful; sampraçnam-question; vidadhat-placing; akhilän-
all; tän-them; vraja-of Vraja; janän-the people; samänandya-delighting; çrémän-handsome; aviçat-entered;
ibha-as an elephant; gämi-walking; vraja-varam-to Vraja.

Having attained me, a friend more dear than life He had not seen for a long time, taking my hand in
His left lotus hand, asking me wonderful questions, bringing happiness to all the people of Vraja, and
walking as gracefully as an elephant, the handsome Lord entered the village of Vraja.

In text 19 of Anuccheda 37 of Sri Paramatma-sandarbha, Jiva Goswami says:

ata evavidya-vimoksa-purvaka-svarupavasthiti-laksanayam muktau tal-linasya tat-

sadharmyapattir bhavati

“When he becomes free from ignorance and situated in his original constitutional
position, the soul is said to be liberated. In this liberated condition his spiritual nature is
like that of the Lord Himself.”

ata eva: therefore; avidya: ignorance; vimoksa: liberation; purvaka: before; svarupa: own
form; avasthiti: situation; laksanayam: in the nature; muktau: liberated; tal-linasya:
merged into Him; tat-sadharmyapattih: attainment of His nature; bhavati: is.

In text 20 of Anuccheda 90 of Sri Paramatma-sandarbha, Jiva Goswami, in discussing

how the soul becomes conditioned, again cites Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.87.38 —
 ṭ

To cite a few more:

In text 5 of Anuccheda 4 of Sri Bhagavat-sandarbha, Jiva Goswami cites Srimad-

Bhagavatam 4.11.30. In this text,

In text 19 of Annucheda 16, the

In text 4 of Anuccheda 1 of Sri Paramatma-sandarbha, Jiva Goswami described the jiva

as suddho ‘pi mayatah parah, There can be many such references.

[2] Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura’s References

`No fall’ theorists ask, “Māyā cannot influence the residents of Vaikuṇṭha, for it doesn’t
exist in the spiritual world. How, then, can the jīva fall down?”

In reality Māyā comes later and acts as giving temptations. First the desire comes within
a Jīva. Similarly regarding SB 3.7.5 Purport,
.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his “Sri Kalyana Kalpataru” —

jiba jadi hoilena Krishna-bahimukha

mayadevi tabe ta’r jachilena sukha

Similarly, the famous verse i.e. Śrī Jagadānanda Paṇḍita in his Śrī Prema-vivarta 6.2
states —

kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare pāṣate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare

ā ā
Srila Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura has explained that the conditioned jéva has suffered a real
falldown from Kåñëa consciousness; the following passage will make it clear. He states
this in no uncertain terms in a number of places in his writings. For example, in the
Second Chapter of Jaiva-dharma :
"The jéva has two states of being: the pure and bound states. In his pure state, the jéva is exclusively spiritual. At that
time he has no connection with inert matter. Even in this pure state the jéva is an infinitesimal entity. The jéva
possessing this quality of being infinitesimal can possibly change into the other state. The infinite Self of all living
force, Kåñëa, never undergoes any change of state in His manifest nature. He is in substantial essence infinite,
complete, pure and eternal. The jéva is in substantial essence infinitesimal, fragmental, capable of being impure and
newly manifest. But in his functional, manifest nature the jéva is also infinite, pure and eternal. As long as the jéva is
pure, for that long his nature manifests as perfectly pure. But when by contact with mäyä the jéva becomes impure,
then a distortion of his proper functional nature occurs and he becomes impure, devoid of shelter and pummeled by
happiness and distress. As soon as the jéva has forgotten his servitude to Kåñëa, the paths of saàsära confront him."

This passage first states that the jéva can be pure or impure, and that in his pure state he
is capable of changing to another state (his other, impure state) because he is very small.
What is this but a falldown? Later in the paragraph this falldown is described more
explicitly as a sequence of events in some sort of time: "As long as (yata kñaëa) but when
(yakhana)" he undergoes a change of state. What brings about that change? He"has
forgotten his servitude to Kåñëa." And what is the resultant changed state? He is trapped
in material existence. This is not a description of beginningless material life but of a
specific event ( as soon as") of falling from Kåñëa consciousness into

This means :
1. Jiva who is pure (susceptible to fall), turns away from Krishna & forgets service to Him
2. Then he is subject to Maya, like a man with low immunity catching disease
3. He becomes fallen.

Again from Çré Caitanya Çikñämåtam (1.4) Srila BVT says :

"All the jévas, [the Lord's] separated parts, are prone to enjoying the fruits of karma. For as
long as they are interested in serving Kåñëa by their own free choice, they continue to be free
from the control of either mäyä or karma. But at the very moment when by their free will they
deviate by wanting enjoyment for themselves or by forgetting their eternal function of serving
Kåñëa, they immediately become bewildered by mäyä and subordinate to the control of karma."

The same sequence of change is described here:"For as long as (yata-dina) but at the very moment (kintu
ye kñaëe)." In addition we are told the specific reason for this falldown-the jévas' free exercise of their
own choice. By"their own free choice" (svatantra icchä-krame) they can stay absorbed in Kåñëa's service
as long as they want, and also"by their free will" (svatantra icchära) they can at any time choose to forget
their eternal purpose and fall down into the world of karma.

This idea of jéva's fall by misuse of his free will is Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura's essential
teaching on the subject.

The `no fall’ theorists are fond of quoting this one from BVT :
The essence is that there are three types of jévas. Those that originate in Vraja manifest from Lord Baladeva. Those
in the Vaikuëöha planets manifest from Saìkarñaëa. Those in the material world manifest from Mahä-Viñëu. The
first two types of jévas are nitya-mukta and the third type are nitya-baddha.

The above describes the appearance of jévas with different manifest natures from
different forms of the Supreme Lord, but all the jivas appear from Lord Krishna as
BVT explains below :

All the jévas have appeared from the jéva-çakti of Lord Kåñëa... Presiding over His jéva-çakti, He manifests
His viläsa form of Baladeva in Vraja. Becoming situated in His mäyä-çakti, He manifests the three Viñëu
forms-Käraëodakaçäyé, Kñérodakaçäyé, and Garbhodakaçäyé. From His Baladeva form as Çeña tattva He
manifests the nitya-mukta jévas, who are associates that render service in eight ways to Lord Kåñëa, the Çeñé
tattva. Again becoming Saìkarñaëa as Çeña rüpa, He manifests eight types of eternal associates to render
service in eight ways to Çeñé, Näräyaëa. Mahä-Viñëu, an incarnation of Saìkarñaëa, becoming situated in
the jéva-çakti as Supersoul manifests the living entities of the material world.

BVT writes : `tathaapi atyanta anusvabhava prayukta sarvada tatastha-Bhave

eijagatera dike evam maya jagatera dike drstipata karite thakena’"Nonetheless, in
their perpetual marginal condition, brought about by their infinitesimal nature, they
are turning their glance both toward this [spiritual] world and toward the world of
mäyä."

Here comes the most important point. When `no fall’ theorists hear the above, they
make a naive conclusion that these jivas are `tatastha’ and not the ones in the Spiritual
world. Not only the"weak" jévas are marginal; marginality is the perpetual condition of
the jévas, and why can't we say of all jévas, since nothing in this passage rules out the
marginality of the liberated jévas also? This marginal condition is specifically said here
to be due to the jévas' being infinitesimal.

As we all have learned from Çréla Prabhupäda's explanation of Çrémad-Bhägavatam and

Çré Caitanya-caritämåta, Mahä-Viñëu's glance at mäyä is a repeated event in the Causal
Ocean, and material time is also a component of this glance. The conditioned jévas'
impregnation into mäyä is not their ultimate origin outside the scope of material time; it
is only what happens to them subsequent to their mistake of choosing independence. All
jévas are always marginal. They all share the same potential to fall or not."The essence is
that there are three types of jévas" is something which Kåñëadäsa Kaviräja, Bhaktivinoda
Öhäkura and Çréla Prabhupäda never taught.

The `no fall’ theorists argue that : “nitya-muktas have no contact with mäyä, indeed they
do not even know mäyä. They cannot be attracted to something they are not even aware
of. One has to know an object, properly or improperly, before desiring it or becoming
attracted to it.”
Not necessarily. The rebellious living entities are not attracted first to mäyä but to
independence. Kåñëa bhuli' jéva anädi-bahirmukha ("choosing to forget Kåñëa, the jéva
turns away from Him since time immemorial"). Ataeva mäyä täre deya saàsära-duùkha
("therefore mäyä subsequently introduces him to material suffering"). And should we
take it literally that nitya-mukta jévas are incapable of being aware of the material world,
that they couldn't become aware of mäyä's existence without immediately falling prey to
her attraction? What then is the situation of nitya-mukta devotees who come to this
world for the Supreme Lord's service? One such Vaiñëava, Çré Prahläda Mahäräja,
confessed to being very aware of mäyä: çoce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyärtha-mäyä-
sukhäya bharam udvahato vimüòhän. (Bhäg. 7.9.43, "I am lamenting for the fools and
rascals who are carrying false burdens of responsibility for the temporary happiness of
mäyä in sense gratification.") Was he not nitya-mukta? And if nitya-mukta souls can
come to this world and see mäyä here without losing their status, why can't nitya-mukta
souls contemplate the material world while still in their original position? To avoid this
improbability, we can instead interpret"they are not even aware of mäyä" as indicating
that liberated souls in the spiritual world generally do not pay any attention to the
material world.

Mahä-Viñëu's sending jévas into the material world is one of the Personality of
Godhead's pastimes, but we have been taught by Çréla Prabhupäda that the Lord
engages in this pastime only those jévas who have already themselves decided to be
noncooperative. Otherwise, Kåñëa in His Mahä-Viñëu expansion is not behaving very
fairly, subjecting living entities to suffering as a sport and then making them take the
blame. There are God-fearing people who seriously believe this, including Calvinists
and Madhvites, but Lord Caitanya's bona fide followers and most other Vaiñëavas
consider God perfectly fair even though He is playful.

Looking at the paragraph of Jaiva-dharma, Chapter Sixteen, we read,"The

characteristics of Kåñëa's essential nature are reflected in the essential nature of the
jévas. The free will of the jévas which reflects Kåñëa's independent will is innate in
them. When they properly exercise this free will, they remain favorably disposed to
Kåñëa, but when they misuse it they become inimical to Him and want to enjoy
mäyä." Lord Kåñëa is not to be blamed because He didn't impregnate any jévas
helplessly into mäyä without their consent.
Another Quote from Jaiva Dharma, where BVT speaks about how jiva is susceptible in
all situations, whereas Bhagavan, the Lord of jiva is not :

Vrajanätha: Respected master, I have understood that jéva's eternal form is spiritual and
the spiritual limbs and features of jéva are sublime and beautiful. In his conditioned
state, his subtle material body veils this beautiful form and the gross material covering
completely corrupts and perverts his original identity. I wonder if jéva in his
emancipated condition (mukta-avasthä) is fully flawless?
Bäbäjé: The atomic part and parcel of God, jéva's spiritual form, is certainly faultless but
incomplete, due to his extremely diminutive size and vulnerability. The only visible
weakness in this faultless condition is that in a close encounter with mäyä-çakti (illusory
potency) his spiritual form is capable of becoming eclipsed and concealed. This is how
Çrémad-Bhägavatam(Bhäg. 10.2.32) describes it:
ye 'nye 'ravindäkña vimukta-mäninas
tvayy asta-bhäväd aviçuddha-buddhayaù
äruhya kåcchreëa paraà padaà tataù
patanty adho 'nädåta-yuñmad-aìghrayaù
"O lotus-eyed one, those who think they are liberated in this life but do not render
devotional service to You have impure intelligence. Although they accept severe
austerities and penances and rise to the spiritual position to impersonal Brahman
realization, they fall down again because they neglect to worship Your lotus feet."

Çréla Bhaktivinoda himself gives a warning to those who debate on this subject matter
(Jaiva-dharma, Chapter Fifteen):
"Whatever descriptions we make must be made within the jurisdiction of material time
and space. Especially when we make such statements as 'the jéva was created,' 'the jéva
then became bound by mäyä,' 'the spiritual world became manifested' and 'the jéva's
constitution is spiritual and is not a product of mäyä,' our words are necessarily ruled by
material time. We cannot but thus express ourselves in our conditioned state.

But they all also know that the jéva is an eternal entity and is of
two varieties-nitya-baddha and nitya-mukta. Human intelligence speaks in this way on
this subject because it is subject to delusion. Those who are wise, however, perceive the
transcendental reality by deep spiritual meditation. Our words are just material, and
whatever we say will be tainted by the faults of language. Logic has no place to stand in
discussions such as this; indeed, it is worthless to try to harness logic to anything which
is acintya."

Other BVT Quotes :

"The

(BVT in Prema-pradépa, p. 96)

"When we are imprisoned in the material world

." (BVT in Prema-pradépa, p. 96)
"
. Therefore, their bondage is called anädi, and they are called nitya-
baddha." (BVT in Çré Caitanya Çikñämåtam, p. 48)

Service to Lord Kåñëa is the eternal duty, nitya-dharma, of the jéva. Forgetting that, the jéva
becomes possessed by mäyä.

. For this reason the words

anädi bahirmukha (the living entity's nondevotion to Kåñëa is beginningless) are used.

[2] Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur

confirming Falldown from Spiritual world

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in his work, ‘Sri Chaitanya’s teachings’, page no.
615, says —

He writes three pages later:

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī in his commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.38 says —

“Having forgotten Krishna, the conditioned living entity is suffering the misdirection and
perversion of his own so-called intelligence.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in his commentary on Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata

chapter 13, text 84 —

“The eternal pastimes that svayam-rupa Krishna performs with His ‘attracted’ associates
in Vraja are meant for removing the misfortune of the living entities, so to engage in
service other than the worship of Krishna is most unbecoming . Therefore, understanding
yourselves as ‘attracted’ in your relationship with the Lord, you should try to awaken your
constitutional propensities…

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in his “Forgetfulness of the Humanists”, an

article originally published in The Harmonist on Sept 19th, 1934 – Vol 21, No.2, says —

“We are expelled Adams and Eves from paradise…. Dislocated stars like us shooting from
the ever-glowing infinite fountainhead of the Transcendence. The shooting stars are
again retracted by the same fountainhead through the power of instructions and bliss….
this will carry them back to their original position to be dovetailed with the Absolute.”

Question: I cannot understand this world.

Answer: It is camp life. This world is not our original abode. It is meant for certain
purposes. After that we are to proceed to our original home. This world is not a desirable
place.

[3] Srila Prabhupada’s Public Lecture Quotes

(not just letters or private conversations)

Srila Prabhupada’s quotes from Public Lectures are not private reply to some disciple :

The `No fall’ theorists do not mention Prabhupäda's public lectures, in which he explained the
çästras. In such lectures, Prabhupäda often explained that we were originally with Kåñëa. Since
these lectures are not merely "personal" but rather public discourses on çästra, giving the
purports to revealed scriptures, and since in such lectures Prabhupäda consistently said that
we were with Kåñëa, the `no fall’ authors consistently leave out this source of evidence and
prefer to contrast books versus letters and conversations.

You can see a quote from Srila Prabhupada’s lecture at Tokyo, April 1972 below :

.
These fallen conditioned soul are claimed by the Vaiñëavas. Patitänäà pävanebhyo
vaiñëavebhyo namo namaù. That is Vaiñëava's duty. (Lecture, Tokyo, April 20, 1972)

Here is another Lecture of Srila Prabhupada (not letter or conversation) that he gave in
London 1973. If `no fall’ theorists say Srila Prabhupada’s letters and room conversations
are less authoritative, let them see this Public Lecture of Srila Prabhupada that was open
to all, where he clearly says we came from Vaikuntha. Thus when living entities (who
have already come down from Vaikuntha) come from body of Visnu, they should be
known to have already left Vaikuntha some millions of years ago and come to material
world, as Srila Prabhupada says below :

.
Anädi karama-phale. Anädi means before the creation. We living entities, we are eternal.
Even the creation is annihilated after millions and trillions of years, the living entities,
they are not annihilated. Na hanyate hanyamäne çarére. They remain.
.
Then when again another creation will take place, they will come out again to fulfill
their desires. The real desire is how to go to home, back to Godhead. (Bhagavad Gita
lecture, London, August 6, 1973)

In this Lecture on Caitanya Charitamrita QA Session at San Fransisco in 1967,

Srila Prabhupada makes points even more clearer about soul’s original position :

Bhaktijana:

Prabhupäda:

Bhaktijana:
Prabhupäda: Yes?
Devotee: Well, I believe you once said that once a conditioned soul becomes perfected
and gets out of the material world and he goes to Kåñëaloka, there's no possibility of
falling back.
Prabhupäda: No! There is possibility, but he does not come. Just like after putting your
hand in the fire, you never put it again if you are really intelligent. So those who are
going back to Godhead, they become intelligent. Why going back to Godhead? Just like
we are in renounced order of life. So we have renounced our family life after thinking
something. Now, if somebody comes,"Swamijé, you take thousand millions of dollars and
marry again and become a family man," I'll never become, because I have got my bad
experience. I'll never become. So if one is intelligent enough, if he has got actually the
bitter taste of this material world, he'll never agree. He'll never agree. But those who
have not advanced to such knowledge, oh, they think,"Oh, this material enjoyment is
very nice. Let me taste it and let me do business in my sannyäsé life, and stealthily and
privately, let me enjoy." These things are going on...
Bhaktijana: Has my soul ever been liberated?
Prabhupäda: That you know. I do not know.
Bhaktijana: If I was once liberated...
Prabhupäda: You are liberated.

This is called mäyä.

Actually, you are not conditioned. You are thinking. Just like in the dream you are
thinking that tiger is eating you. You were never eaten by tiger. There is no tiger. So we
have to get out of this dream. Don't you sometimes dream that tiger is eating you? Is there
any tiger? You are simply thinking. So if you keep in Kåñëa consciousness, that nonsense
thinking will go away. Therefore we have to keep ourself always in Kåñëa-thinking so that
this dream will never come. If you are always awakened, then dream never comes. So keep
yourself always awakened by Kåñëa consciousness. All right. Distribute prasädam. [end]
(Cc. lecture, San Francisco, February 18, 1967)

[4] Srila Prabhupada’s Purport Quotes

(not just letters or private conversations)

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.28.53 —

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.28.54 —

[3] What to do when Srila Prabhupada’s Purports differ from a Previous Acarya

Srimad-Bhagavatam (4.28.53-4) —

अपि स्मरपि चात्मानमपिज्ञातिखं िखे ।पित्िा मां िदमपविच्छन् भौमभोगरतो गत: ॥ ििं ाििं च त्िं चार्य िखार्ौ मानिार्नौ ।अभतू ामवतरा िौक:
ििस्रिररित्िरान्

❝ The brāhmaṇa (Krishna) continued: My dear friend, even though you cannot
immediately recognize Me, can’t you remember that in the past you had a very intimate
friend? Unfortunately, you gave up My company and accepted a position as enjoyer of this
material world. My dear gentle friend, both you and I are exactly like two swans. We live
together in the same heart, which is just like the Mānasa Lake. Although we have been
living together for many thousands of years, we are still far away from our original home.❞

Objection — Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur in his commentary on this verse says
that it is referring to the relationship & separation between the soul and Maha-vishnu at
the beginning of that creation among the infinite creations of material worlds. He also
said “The jiva gave up the Lord at the beginning of creation of the universe because of
previous karmas.” As there is no first world cycle, and before each individual world cycle
manifests, the infinite number of individual souls under the influence of karma remain
within Mahā-Viṣṇu in susupti, or deep sleep and content less experience. Thus not only
is there is no mention of fall down from Vaikuṇṭha by the acarya, but he gave a completely
different interpretation.

Refutation — But in his Purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.28.54, Srila Prabhupada gives

this explanation: ❝

Srila Prabhupada unequivocally states: “Since the living entity remains engaged in the
service of the Lord, they both share a blissful life in the spiritual world.” In other words,

The conditioned souls with Maha-vishnu are in a state of susupti,

or deep dreamless sleep, and not an active relationship of service.

Here we have a case of an apparent difference between the acaryas. We accept Srila
Prabhupada’s version. It is not that Srila Prabhupada always accepted the versions of
previous acaryas. Here is one example. In his purport to Bhagavatam texts 3.11.36-37, Srila
Prabhupada comments: ❝According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti, the Brahma-kalpa in
the beginning of the first half appears to be the Padma-kalpa. We can, however, simply
abide by the text and understand that the present millennium is in the second half of the
duration of the life of Brahma.❞

Srila Prabhupada is a proven Acarya, Senapati Bhakta, who didn’t talk just theory, but practically made
thousands of devotees all over the world and especially in the West. Only such an empowered Acarya
can hold another opinion about the Truth besides what is spoken by a previous Acarya.

If there is an apparent difference between the statements of Srila Prabhupada and Visvanatha
Cakravarti Thakura, it is better proposed that we should accept the version of Srila Prabhupada, and
place the statement of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, if apparently contradictory, in the category of
“differences among the acaryas.” We should accept that in reality, he is saying the same thing as Srila
Prabhupada, but in a way that we cannot yet understand.
But it could also be only a matter of different interpretation. These interpretations
aren’t contradictory, but they are digging various different meanings out of the same,
sometimes for to give a different interpretation apart from the most obvious reading of
that text. Srila Vishwanath Chakrawarti Thakur’s interpretation doesn’t negate or
disagrees that jīvas fall from Vaikuṇṭha. There are innumerable such instances where
different ācāryas often give different interpretation to the same.

Danger of interpreting and undermining Srila Prabhupada’s statements :

The
Indeed, we
have heard this from several representatives of the Gauòéya Maöha. They say that “we
will discover the higher truth which Prabhupäda did not present in his normal
preaching activities.” Thus they say to go to the higher stages of Kåñëa consciousness,
one must go beyond Prabhupäda's normal preaching and hear from this or that speaker
the intimate truths of Kåñëa consciousness. Of course, such speakers normally tell us that
these higher truths are in Prabhupäda's books, but Prabhupäda simply did not present them
in his preaching, and so we must now go beyond Prabhupäda's direct preaching. Just see the
trick!

Jumping over Prabhupada in the name of presenting a `higher’ truth than him :
We cannot jump over Prabhupäda and then look back at him through the eyes of the
previous äcäryas. If we say that Prabhupäda himself stated that the souls do not fall down
from Vaikuëöha, then we may note that Prabhupäda also said that we were originally with
Kåñëa. If we feel that these two statements cannot stand side by side, then we are making
the same criticism of Çréla Prabhupäda that Vallabha Bhaööa made of Çrédhara Svämé,
namely that there is no "single-assertion-ness." In text 113 of Chapter Seven
of Çré Caitanya-caritämåta, Antya-lélä, Vallabha Bhaööa claims that he has refuted the
explanations of Çrédhara Svämé. Literally, he claims that he has broken these
explanations.

Of course, the `no fall’ theorists constantly tell us that they are doing this in the
service of Prabhupäda and to save ISKCON from becoming an apa-sampradäya.

Difference between Falldown and Jumping out :

Now if you are really concerned about what Srila Prabhupada says and has repeatedly
said, you can hear his own words below :

So far your question, the

of material contamination. He is therefore called tatastha or marginal.
 This marginal point can be understood in this way; just like you are standing on
the shore of the sea.
as you will see on the beaches. So many young boys are enjoying. But that
is dangerous at the same time. One who does not know swimming expertly well he may
become drowned. Similarly the soul from the spiritual platform sometimes jumps over
the material ocean of nescience. The Vedic knowledge gives him specific instruction
how to swim over but if he is a rascal, he does not take the instruction through the bona
fide representative, the spiritual master, and he becomes drowned. That is the position.
[Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to: Upendra, Nairobi, 9 October, 1971, 71-10-09]

`JUMPING OUT BY CHOICE’ verses `FALLING DOWN BY ACCIDENT’

No one `falls’ from Vaikuntha; one `chooses’ to come to material world by `jumping out’
`No fall’ theorists like to quote Jéva Gosvämé’s verse from his Bhagavat-sandarbha to prove that the jéva never falls. The exact words used by Jéva
Gosvämé are tato 'skhalanam. They say that this means that the jéva never falls. Jéva Gosvämé says that it is so because the living entities are protected by
the pastime umbrella of the Lord's mercy and thus they do not fall.
When one goes to the Sanskrit-English dictionary and looks up skhalanam, he finds that there is only one definition of the word. The dictionary
says,"slipping or shaking." When the"a" is placed before it, it negates the definition, so askhalanam means,"not slipping or shaking." One can also say that
this means "not falling," as that is not against the words of the dictionary, but one must only understand this in terms of the original dictionary
definitions.
What this means is that no one slips, shakes and then falls from the spiritual world.

What this all obviously means is that by any means, since Kåñëa is protecting the souls with His
umbrella of mercy. Therefore Prabhupäda said in his books that
. Again, in the Seventh Canto Prabhupäda said, "otherwise it is a fact that no one
falls from Vaikuëöha."

No one falls from the spiritual sky, but we can "leap" or "jump" into the material world as we like. Just like when someone wants to commit suicide and is
standing on the edge of the building ready to drop. We do not say that he fell off, we say that he jumped off, intentionally, with the purpose to end his
life. It is a conscious act. It is not, of course, done with full knowledge, since that unfortunate person does not know that this is not a solution and that
he will become a ghost and remain in the same mental condition as before. So, since we are not possessing all knowledge, as our quantity of knowledge is
not equal to the Lord's but is very minute, we are not aware of the full implications of our falling into the material world when we jump. But we
definitely turn away from the Lord, as Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura has said, and as Prabhupäda has said hundreds of times in his books, letters, lectures and
conversations.

Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Letter to: Dr. Bigelow,Allahabad, 20 January, 1971 :

The central question you say is "where is the soul and where does it come from?'' That is
not difficult to understand. We've already discussed how the soul is residing in the heart
of the living entity and that it takes shelter after death in another body.
Just like a spark comes from fire, and when the spark falls down it
appears to be extinguished. The spark soul originally comes from the spiritual world to
the material world. In the material world he falls down into three different conditions
which are called the modes of nature. Just like the spark of fire when it falls on dry grass
and the fire quality continues. When the spark falls on the ground it cannot display its
fiery manifestation unless the ground is favorably situated. Similarly when the spark falls
on water it becomes extinguished. As such we find three kinds of living conditions. One
is completely forgetful of his spiritual nature. One is almost forgetful but still there is an
instinct of spiritual nature, and one is completely in search of spiritual perfection.
 . As soon as one chants the Hare Krsna Mantra with sincerity and without
offense (you know there are ten kinds of offenses to the Holy Name which we are to
avoid very, very carefully) his original Krsna consciousness is immediately revived.
Krsna consciousness means to be always remembering Krsna in some way or other, just
like we are immediately thinking of Krsna when we chant His Name, Krsna, and we are
always thinking how we can do something nice to please Krsna with some service or
other, or we are reading literature about Krsna or speaking about Krsna. In this way we
are always remembering Krsna and that is our natural conscious state. So

Original no fall-down theory as that of Ramanuja Sampraday & Madhva Sampraday

suggests we are nitya-samsaris, ever present in the material world, not that we came from
tatastha region or border-line of the two worlds. The tatastha theory is nowhere
supported by most of the no fallvadis themselves. Neither Vishwanath Chakrawarti
Thakur, nor any of the Goswamis, ever said anything about tatastha theory, it was later
found in the works of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur & Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
Thakur.

`Fall from Spiritual world’ or `No fall’, we are all like a Malaria patient bitten by a
mosquito. We can focus on cure or go on an expedition to find out the mosquito who bit
us! Similarly, it doesn’t really matter from where we fell down, what matters is to get
cured of the material disease & attain Lord’s abode, our original home.

Such little differences should not cause any disharmony in our relations. Śrīla
Prabhupāda defines Kali-Yuga as the age of quarrel and hypocrisy. Whenever there will
be disagreements, due to the influence of Kali-Yuga there will be unnecessary quarrels.
We should not let us be a victim of this influence.

I pray that may I never disrespect any vaishnava devotee while presenting my
viewpoints and may I always learn to fall at the dust of the lotus feet of all Vaishnavas
and earn their merciful blessings to be able to perform my devotional service
inoffensively. Hare Krishna.

References :

1. “Our Original Position” 1996 ISKCON GBC PRESS

2. Srila Prabhupada’s books
3. Jaiva Dharma by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakura
4. https://nitaigaurangablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/31/do-jivas-fall-down-from-vaikuntha/
5. https://nitaigaurangablog.wordpress.com/2022/05/08/jivas-fall-from-vaikuntha-scriptural-
 evidences-sastra-prama%E1%B9%87/comment-page-1/
6. HG Ravindra Swarup Prabhu’s Article : `On conceiving the Inconceivable’, Back to Godhead
Magazine, Issue 29-04, 1995.

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