Category: Vishnu Tattva

No One Falls from Vaikuntha

Swami Tripurari 2 Comments

Sadhana siddhas cannot fall anymore than any other kind of siddha (krpa-sidha, nitya-sidha). No one falls from Vaikuntha other than examples like Jaya Vijaya who come to this world for the purpose of facilitating rasa (in their case vira rasa). The baddha jiva on the other hand is “fallen,” and this materially conditioned soul can become a devotee and cause Bhagavan to enter his or her heart as a sweeper. He is so kind.

Regarding the difference between nitya-siddhas and sadhana-siddhas, there is no difference in that they are both siddha. According to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur (BVT), some souls emenating from Maha Visnu go “up” and become nitya siddhas, whereas others go “down” and become nitya-baddhas. These two would be constitutionally the same, either as sadhana or nitya-siddhas. However, there are different kinds of nitya-siddhas, and those constituted of svarupa-sakti like Nanda Maharaja, Subala, Lalita, etc., are constitutionally different from those constituted of tatastha-sakti that “originate” in Maha Visnu. Nonetheless, all siddhas are for all intents and purposes equal becasue they function equally, being motivated by pure love under the influece of Bhagavan’s svarupa-sakti.

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Paramatma and Bhagavan

Swami Tripurari

The Paramatma feature of God is the overseer of the material world in sristi lila. He presides over the cosmos, each universe, and each atom. Thus he is described in three phases. The point here is that he is all pervasive (Visnu). There is no place where he is not.

The description of his being in the heart the size of a thumb, etc. is for conceptualization during meditation. His omniscience is not dependent upon his being in the heart, although he does appear there when his devotees meditate upon him. This is explained by Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya (1.2.7, 1.3.24-25.)

God is all pervasive and all knowing. He manifests in relation to the material world as the Paramatma and in the spiritual world as Bhagavan. Because the Paramatma is a partial manifestation of Bhagavan, the omniscience of Paramatma must also be present in Bhagavan.

In Vaikuntha, Narayana’s omniscience is tied to his love for his devotees rather than being employed for the purpose of witnessing the deeds of the jivas, as in the case of the Paramatma. Narayana is all knowing in the context of a loving relationship with his devotees.

In Goloka, Maha Vaikuntha, the abode of Krsna, God’s loving relationship with his devotees shifts from formal, as in Vaikuntha, to intimate. In loving intimacy, God’s omniscience necessarily recedes to the background to facilitate that intimacy. For example, in Dvaraka Krsna sometimes asks Uddhava for advice as if he were not omniscient in order to experience an intimate loving exchange with him, subordinating himself to his devotee.

In Dvaraka his omniscience is prominent and his divine ignorance less so. This is reversed in Vrindavana, where his omniscience is clearly subordinate to his divine ignorance, in which he thinks of himself as the son of Yasoda, the friend of Madhumangala, the lover of Radha, etc. rather than God. While God never losses his omniscience, it becomes less important to the extent that love permeates the relationship between himself and the individual soul.