independance / free will / destiny
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Because he is a living soul, he has the capacity to desire by his free will. The Sanskrit word vibhuḥ means the Supreme Lord who is full of unlimited knowledge, riches, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation. He is always satisfied in Himself, undisturbed by sinful or pious activities. He does not create a particular situation for any living entity, but the living entity, bewildered by ignorance, desires to be put into certain conditions of life, and thereby his chain of action and reaction begins. A living entity is, by superior nature, full of knowledge. Nevertheless, he is prone to be influenced by ignorance due to his limited power. The Lord is omnipotent, but the living entity is not. The Lord is vibhu, or omniscient, but the living entity is anu, or atomic. Because he is a living soul, he has the capacity to desire by his free will. Such desire is fulfilled only by the omnipotent Lord. And so, when the living entity is bewildered in his desires, the Lord allows him to fulfill those desires, but the Lord is never responsible for the actions and reactions of the particular situation which may be desired. Being in a bewildered condition, therefore, the embodied soul identifies himself with the circumstantial material body and becomes subjected to the temporary misery and happiness of life. The Lord is the constant companion of the living entity as Paramatma, or the Supersoul, and therefore He can understand the desires of the individual soul, as one can smell the flavor of a flower by being near it. Desire is a subtle form of conditioning of the living entity. The Lord fulfills his desire as he deserves: Man proposes and God disposes. The individual is not, therefore, omnipotent in fulfilling his desires. The Lord, however, can fulfill all desires, and the Lord, being neutral to everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the minute independant living entities. However, when one desires Krsna, the Lord takes special care and encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain to Him and be eternally happy. The Vedic hymn therefore declares:
(More...) "The Lord engages the living entity in pious activities so he may be elevated. The Lord engages him in impious activities so he may go to hell. The living entity is completely dependant in his distress and happiness. By the will of the Supreme he can go to heaven or hell, as a cloud is driven by the air."
(More...) Therefore the embodied soul, by his immemorial desire to avoid Krsna consciousness, causes his own bewilderment. Consequently, although he is constitutionally eternal, blissful and cognizant, due to the littleness of his existence he forgets his constitutional position of service to the Lord and is thus entrapped by nescience. And, under the spell of ignorance, the living entity claims that the Lord is responsible for his conditional existence. The Vedanta-sūtras [2.1.34] also confirm this:
(More...) By thus understanding that God grants material facilities according to our desires, we can understand that our suffering in the material world is due to us, not the Lord. The Lord is neutral to all His children, giving us whatever we want. God never interferes with the desires of the living entities, for if He did, what would be the meaning of the minute independence He has given us, and where would there be any possibility for love? In ignorance we think we are God or that we can enjoy independently of God, and so the Lord gives us this material body and material world. But the Lord is hoping that we will give up our material desires and come to Him. In the material world, the state provides both prisons and universities. Although wishing for everyone to enter the universities, it provides the prisons because it knows that some individuals will misuse their freedom and thereby merit entrance into the prisons. Similarly, God is kind even to the demons. As stated in the Vedanta-sūtra, "The Lord neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to." Atheistic persons who are envious of God and wish to forget Him undoubtedly suffer, but even this suffering is God's kindness. Since demons are desirous of forgetting Krsna, Krsna simply gives them the particular birth and body just suited to their forgetting Him, which is actually what they want: "These do I put into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life. Gaining repeated birth among the species of demoniac life, such persons can never approach Me, and gradually they sink down to the most abominable position of existence." Such an abominable position is actually the desire of the demons and it is the mercy of God that such a desire is fulfilled. Desire is a subtle form of conditioning. The demon initially puts himself into demoniac conditions by misusing his independence, and only then does the long chain of material actions and reactions begin. Falsely identifying with such temporary situations, the bewildered demon wrongly blames the Lord for his condition, which in actuality is due to his own desire: "The living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world." (Bg. 13.20)
(More...) Imported quote 13052 In this verse the word svarajyam, which means complete independence, is very significant. A conditioned soul does not know what complete independence is. Complete independence means situation in one's own constitutional position. The real independence of a living entity, who is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is to remain always dependent on the Supreme Lord, just like a child who plays in complete independence, guided by his parents, who watch over him. The independence of the conditioned soul does not mean to fight with the obstacles offered by maya, but to surrender to Krsna. In the material world, everyone is trying to become completely independent simply by fighting against the obstacles offered by maya. This is called the struggle for existence. Real independence is to be reinstated in the service of the Lord. Anyone who goes to the Vaikuntha planets or Goloka Vrndavana planet is freely offering his service to the Lord. That is complete independence. Just contrary to this is material overlordship, which we wrongly take to be independence. Many great political leaders have tried to establish independence, but due to such so-called independence the people's dependence has only increased. The living entity cannot be happy trying to be independent in the material world. One has to surrender, therefore, unto the lotus feet of the Lord and engage in his original eternal service.
(More...) Imported quote 17301 But the demons, being... Instead of taking shelter of Krsna, instead of taking shelter of Krsna's bona fide servant, he takes shelter of this lust, lusty desires and pride and false prestige, this, that, so many. He has to take the shelter; he cannot remain independent. But when he's less intelligent, he takes shelter of all these material things, and when he's intelligent, he takes shelter of Krsna. But when you takes shelter of these lusty desires, false pride, false prestige, illusion, then you are demon, and when you give up the shelter of all these nonsense and you take shelter of the Supreme Person, then you are divine. But you cannot say at any stage that "I am independent." That is not possible. Your constitution is to remain dependent.
(More...) So the temple worship should go on; at the same time, sravanam kirtanam of Visnu must go on. Two things, parallel. Then it will be done very nicely. So actually this life is meant for this purpose, sravanam kirtanam visnoḥ [SB 7.5.23]. There is no other purpose. All other activities secondary. So those who are very much advanced in spiritual life, just like the brahmanas, the sannyasis, they did not bother about what to eat, where to sleep. Sex life is completely forgotten. Even what to eat, where to sleep, there is no such consideration. Simply engaged in Krsna consciousness. That is the only business. Of course, we cannot do that in the neophyte stage, but actually that is the only purpose. Unfortunately, the modern civilization has discovered so many artificial ways of life that it is very, very difficult to execute Krsna consciousness business. So therefore Prahlada Maharaja says that simply for sense gratification, if we waste our time, that is not good. Tat prayaso na kartavyam-don't waste your time for increasing the scope of sense gratification. That is not at all required. Tat-prayaso na kartavyam yata ayur-vyayaḥ param. Ayuḥ means duration of life. Simply wasted. Vyayaḥ, vyayaḥ means expended or wasted. Param. This duration of life, human form of life, is param. Param means the supreme. Not like cats and dogs. Their ayuḥ, they also live for some time, we also live, but their life is useless. They cannot understand Krsna. But we human beings, if we are trained up, we can understand Krsna consciousness; therefore it is called param. Everything is param. Just like anna. Anna means ordinary rice. And paramanna, paramanna means the first-class, sweet rice, cooked with milk. You have got good experience. [laughter] So similarly, ayuḥ, the ant has got ayuḥ, the worm has got ayuḥ, the cat has got an ayuḥ, some duration of life. But so far the human being is concerned, that is param ayuḥ. Param ayuḥ. So if we waste our time simply for sense gratification, then we waste our this valuable life. Prahlada Maharaja advises:
(More...) Imported quote 19959 The answer for this is also given in the Bhagavad-gita. It is said that there are two classes of men in the creation. One class is called the devas (godly) and the other class is called the asura (demonic or godless). As sons of the almighty Father Supreme Godhead, all individual living individuals have their respective independence. One can utilize this god-gifted independence properly or improperly.
(More...) When a living entity improperly uses god-gifted independence and apply such independence for sense-gratification without fulfilling the will or the plan of Godhead, he at once develops the demonic qualities in contact with the illusory Energy of Godhead and becomes a full-fledged asura. But one who do not misuse the God gifted independence and does not engage himself in the act of sense-gratification but fulfills the plan of the Godhead, continues to be a deva or godly. In this act of sense-gratification the asura children of Godhead forgets the plan of Godhead and therefore tries to exploit the state of Godhead for their own benefit which is sometime centralized but sometimes extended. The gods or the godly sons of Godhead do not act like this and they are therefore distinguished from the asuras.
(More...) Imported quote 22370 The answers are all right and you directly write him. Also invite him to question further if he does not understand. In this way go on and if there is difficulty consult me. ACBS P.S. Krsna has made all living entities perfect and therefore every living entity has independence. Misuse of independence is the cause of imperfection. Living entity being minute there is always a chance of misuse of his independence. This is unavoidable because that is the meaning of independence.
(More...) Imported quote 24211 So what is the difference between this material world and the spiritual world? The difference is that in the material world you have to change your body, although you are eternal. Nityaḥ sasvato na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg 2.20]. You are not destroyed after the annihilation of this body, material body, but you transmigrate to another body. And that body may be one of the 8,400,000's of forms. There are 8,400,000's of forms. Jalaja nava-laksani [Padma Purana].
(More...) One can use this body to go to the higher planetary systems, to Pitṛloka, or he can remain in this lower planetary system, but if one tries he can also return home, back to Godhead. This prowess is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the The five material elements, the ten senses and the mind all combine to form the various parts of the gross and subtle bodies. The living entity comes in contact with his material bodies, whether high or low, and later gives them up by his personal prowess. This strength can be perceived in a living entity's personal power to possess different types of bodies.
(More...) The conditioned soul has knowledge, and if he wants to fully utilize the gross and subtle bodies for his real advancement in life, he can do so. It is therefore said here that by his high intelligence (svena tejasa), by the superior power of superior knowledge achieved from the right source-the spiritual master, or acarya-he can give up his conditional life in a material body and return home, back to Godhead. However, if he wants to keep himself in the darkness of this material world, he can do so. The Lord confirms this as follows in Bhagavad-gita (9.25):
(More...) The human form of body is valuable. One can use this body to go to the higher planetary systems, to Pitrloka, or he can remain in this lower planetary system, but if one tries he can also return home, back to Godhead. This prowess is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the Supersoul. Therefore the Lord says, mattaḥ smrtir jnanam apohanam ca: "From Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness." If one wants to receive real knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can become free from bondage to repeated acceptance of material bodies. If one takes to the devotional service of the Lord and surrenders unto Him, the Lord is prepared to give one directions by which to return home, back to Godhead, but if one foolishly wants to keep himself in darkness, he can continue in a life of material existence.
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