Explaining Maha-Visnu's (an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa) mysterious material creation is difficult to understand.
The material world is visited by a minority of individual jiva-souls (less than 10% in the spiritual world) whose original natural position and home is the spiritual world known as the Vaikuntha planets and Goloka-Vrindavana, and not the temporary lifeless material world where individual life can only visit and never originates from there.
In Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4 Chapter 28 text 53 and text 54/5 is explained that the individual jiva-soul's original home is with Visnu or Krsna in either the Vaikuntha planets where Visnu resides, or in Krsna's Personal Abode known as Goloka-Vrindavana.
The individual jiva-souls are not suppose to be in the material world, or after becoming frustrated with material life within a material bodily vessel as a passenger and artificially escaping from the painful bodily cycle of repeated birth and death, by attempting to enter the dormant inactive (impersonal) brahmajyoti effulgence.
In Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4 text 28, Krsna in the disguise of a Brahmana, asks the individual jiva-soul, now trapped in the material world,
"Do you remember Me!"
So how is it possible to remember what you never knew? This clearly means we the individual jiva-souls originate from Goloka Vrindavana or the Vaikuntha planets and from there, entered the temporary material world.
It must be made clear that the individual jiva-souls do not originate from the inactive (dormant) impersonal brahmajyoti. In fact life only exists in both the material world and the impersonal brahmajyoti after coming from the Vaikuntha planets or Goloka-Vrindavana (the Kingdom of God)
The mysterious workings of Maha-Visnu's material world works in a way that not even science fiction writers can imagine, all material bodily vessels the individual jiva-souls are passengers in, originate from the "dreams" of Maha-Visnu.
The individual jiva-souls, also known as the marginal living entities, can choose to remain in the spiritual world, or enter the temporary material world.
Marginal (tatastha-sakti) means the individual jiva-souls are on the "border-line" between the spiritual world and the material world - it is NOT a place! It means that the individual jiva-souls can go either side, remain in their original position and home in the spiritual world, or choose to enter the temporary material world of repeated birth and death confined as a passenger in a temporary material bodily vessel.
In the temporary material world, they must go to Maha-Visnu and "hire" from Him a suitable material bodily vessel from His already dreamed dreams of the material world, that is in sync and matchess their own desires.
All material bodily vessels are provided to the individual jiva-souls to be a passenger in while in the material world who reject Krsna and Visnu in the spiritual world, by Maha-Visnu who owns them all.
Srila Prabhupada - "We are not the owner of this body, not the owner of the material senses. The senses are "hired" from the Supreme Lord. This is very subtle understanding; one should know the proprietor of the senses is God." (March 1966, New York City)
Krsna's expansion Maha-Visnu creates the material world (matter) that outside of the spiritual world (anti-matter).
Nothing material (matter) can exist in the spiritual world where only individual life exists as "everything" taking up 75% of Krsna's Spiritual Sky creation. The material world (matter) created by Krsna's expansion Maha-Visnu on the other hand, takes up 25% of Krsna’s Spiritual Sky creation.
All facilities in the material world are provided by Maha-Visnu for those individual jiva-souls who can no longer stay on the Vaikuntha planets and Goloka Vrindavana because of their rejection of Krsna or Visnu.
No individual jiva-souls (marginal living entities) originate from Maha-Visnu, or His material world, or the impersonal inactive brahmajyoti, they can only move to Maha-Visnu's material world via His dreams, which is an array of of unlimited material bodily pathways made material bodily vessels, stretching through material time's past, present and future they journey in as a passenger, moving through repeated birth and death experienced in linear time.
There are unlimited material bodily vessels available to the individual jiva-souls instantly placing them in Maha-Visnu's material world according to their desires.
The individual jiva-souls (marginal living entities), just like Krsna, were never created and have no origin, they are eternal just like Krsna.
Krsna and the individual jiva-souls are like the Sun-disc and the sun-rays that cannot exist without each other, therefore Krsna and the individual jiva-souls have always existed together and were never created.
Although the real home of the individual jiva-souls is always in either the Vaikuntha planets of Lord Visnu, or Krsna's central planet of Goloka Vrindavana, and not the temporary mundane material creation, or merged inactively (dormant) in the impersonal Brahmajyoti, or the Body of Maha-Visnu.
From Maha-Visnu's point of view, the movement through material time's past, present and future all exist simultaneously, and is always existing as a "permanent pathway" for those individual jiva-souls who choose to leave their real spiritual home in the spiritual world to continuously move through.
Srila Prabhupada – “This material creation is the spirit soul’s dream. Actually all existence in the material world is a dream of Maha-Visnu, as the Brahma-Samhita describes-
“This material world is created by the dreaming of Maha-Visnu. The real, factual platform is the spiritual world, but when the spirit soul wants to imitate the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is put into this dreamland of material creation." (SB, Canto 4 Ch 29 text 83)
Srila Prabhupada – “Everything happening within time, which consists of past, present and future, is merely a dream. This is the secret in understanding in all the Vedic literature.” (SB, Canto 4 Ch 29 text 2b)
Srila Prabhupada – “Our contact with matter is just like dream. Actually we are not fallen. Therefore, because we are not fallen, at any moment we can revive our Krsna consciousness, we break the dream.” (Tokyo Japan 1972 lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam)
Srila Prabhupada – “Factually all of material existence is only a dream. Thus there is no question of past, present or future. Persons who are addicted to karma-kanda-vicara, which means ‘working for future happiness through fruitive activities’, are also dreaming. Similarly, past happiness and present happiness are merely dreams.” (SB, Canto 4 Ch 29 text 2b)
The material bodily pathway is how the individual jiva-souls travel through past, present to future as a passenger, from the material bodies start (birth) to its end (death)
The is material bodily vessel's pathway in the material world is already set in stone from its beginning to its end, this means each material bodily "pathway" that the visiting individual jiva-soul travels in as its passenger, comes from the already "dreamed" dreams of Maha-Visnu, and can only be lived through but can never be changed because they are already set in stone (because He has already dreamed them).
The visiting individual jiva-souls enter the material creation by first "hiring" a material bodily vessel to be a passenger in from Maha-Visnu's dreams.
As said above, such vessels from the dreams of Maha-Visnu are a already set in stone from beginning to its end because Maha-Visnu has already dreamed the entire material creation also known as the block universe.
This is why once the individual jiva-souls have entered one of Maha-Visnu's dreams as a passenger, nothing in that "hired" bodily material pathway can be changed.
Each material bodily vessel "hired" from Maha-Visnu's dreams are continuously available for other visiting individual jiva-souls from the spiritual world, who fall down and enter the temporary material world.
"Linear-time" is movement from past to present and then to future that is a pathway that flows in a forward motion through space-time's past, present and future.
In other words "linear-time" is where time is seen as a sequence of unfolding events along a pathway from its beginning, to middle and then end. Seeing this entire journey of past, present and future all at once is like viewing a long winding road from above in an aircraft where one can see its beginning point, its middle, and its ending all at once, or viewing each frame on a movie canister that are still there after watching the film reel.
One is able to see where the road began, its middle and its end. This is how in the "block material universe" where the movement of "linear time" (flowing through past, present and future) is seen all at once where the past, present and future are eternally existing "now."
Only Maha-Visnu and rare mystic yogis and devotees can see above linear time, just like one sees an entire roadway from above, its beginning, middle and end all happening at the same time.
All material bodily vessels (matter) are "hired" from Maha-Visnu's dreams, from His vast "Library Of Dreams" hired from Him by those visiting individual jiva-soul whose desires simultaneously match and are insync with Maha-Visnu's dreaming material world.
All material bodily vessels are like costumes "hired out" constantly from the costume shop owner Maha-Visnu, to the visiting individual jiva-souls.
The individual jiva-soul's desires, choices and expressions of "free will" are factored in to a particular material bodily vessel they enter as a passenger, before they are given that suitable material bodily pathway in the temporary material world.
However, free will only partially exists in the material creation in the human species of life but not in the other eight million lower species of life who only respond to the instincts of eating, sleeping, mating and defending.
Free will does not exist in lower species of life, there is only the urges of eating, sleeping, mating and defending.
Maha-Visnu sees all - the beginning, middle and end of all material bodily vessels that the individual jiva-souls are passengers in because He is God and knows past, present and future.
All material bodily vessels (matter) occupied by the individual jiva-souls (anti-matter) are the dreams of Maha-Visnu.
There is always "free will" however, each material body's destiny that the visiting individual jiva-souls experiences, is already mapped out from the dreams of Maha-Visnu explained above.
As said above, "free will" is always factored into the equation in such a way that the free will of each individual jiva-souls is never effected.
Free will always exists in the spiritual world that allows the individual jiva-souls to voluntarily except or reject Krsna as they choose and leaving Krsna's association in the spiritual world.
But it must be made clear that very few ever fall down from the spiritual world, in fact it is less than 10% meaning over 90% choose to never fall down.
The freedom to choose must be there for loving voluntary exchanges to be expressed therefore free will eternally exists on the Vaikuntha planets and in Goloka-Vrindavana.
So from the mistaken desires of the rebellious individual jiva-souls, that begins when they put their own selfish desires in the centre, instead of first pleasing Krsna, they are "forced" to "hire" a material bodily vessel to be a passenger in, from Maha-Visnu's "Library Of Dreams" that transfers them into that temporary material bodily vessel (as a passenger) so they can enter the material world.
This is the beginning of the individual jiva-soul's fall down to the material world from the Vaikuntha planets or Goloka-Vrindavana (the spiritual world).
But such fall downs are very rare, less than 10% of individual jiva-souls fall down from the spiritual planets as explained above.
Rejecting Krsna means the individual jiva-souls can no longer stay in the spiritual world and are therefore instantaneously transferred out of the Vaikuṇṭha planets or Goloka-Vṛndāvana, and relocated to the dreams of Maha-Visnu, where they "hire" a particular material pathway made of material bodily vessels they enter as a passenger.
The individual jiva-soul already knows and agrees with the entire pathway or journey they have because their "desires" are in sync with the bodily pathway (material bodily vessel) from Maha-Visnu's dreams they will enter as its passenger.
Within Maha-Visnu's material world exists every possible "dream" to fulfil every desire the visiting individual jiva-souls have, every scenario they can come up with is eternally existing in Maha-Visnu's dreams.
This means the individual jiva-soul's ability to express "free will" is already factored into the equation of their destiny in a particular material bodily vessel they have chosen to enter its passenger as explained above.
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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is Chapter 11 Text 7- "O Arjuna, whatever you wish to see, behold at once in this body of Mine! This universal form can show you whatever you now desire to see and whatever you may want to see in the future. Everything moving and nonmoving is here completely, in one place." (BG, Ch 11 Text 7)
Srila Prabhupada - "No one can see the entire universe while sitting in one place. Even the most advanced scientist cannot see what is going on in other parts of the universe. But a devotee like Arjuna can see everything that exists in any part of the universe. Kṛṣṇa gives him the power to see anything he wants to see, past, present and future. Thus by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna is able to see everything." (BG, Ch 11 Text 7 Purport)
The great sages and devotees in previous ages thousands of years ago were "tri-kāla-jñā."
Tri-kāla-jñā means they could understand-
1 - What was in the past,
2 - What there shall be in the future,
3 - And what is at present.
4 - ''Five thousand years ago instructions from the great Vedic sages were written down for this degraded age of Kali-yuga. Sages and great devotees back then could see past, present, and future.
The sages were known as tri-kāla-jñā. Tri means three. There is almost similarity, tri and three. Tri is Sanskrit, and three is English or Latin, but there is similarity. Tri-kāla-jñā.
Tri means three, and kāla means time. As said above time is experienced by three ways-
past,
present,
future.
Material time is limited to past, present and future that only exists in the temporary material world. Whenever you speak of material time, it is past, present or future.
So, the sages in those days were tri-kāla-jñā. Tri-kāla-jñā means they could understand, they could know what was in the past, what there shall be in the future, and what is at present.
Just like in the Bhagavad gītā Kṛṣṇa says,
"My Dear Arjuna, you, Me, I, and all these kings and soldiers who have assembled in this battlefield, they were all individuals, and we are still individual. And in this past, in the future, we shall all remain individuals. That past, present, and future, he explained.
Another place Kṛṣṇa says, vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). Atītāni, atītāni means past. Vartamānāni ca, "and present." So that is yogic power, one can know past, present, and future." (SB, Canto 12 Ch 2 text 1, San Francisco, March 18, 1968)
There is still a lot more to learn about the movement of the marginal living entity (jiva-soul) through material space/time's past, present and future.
We have only scratched the surface in understanding Vedic texts in the 50 years since Srila Prabhupada made his valuable contribution to the western world.
The movement of space/time in the temporary material creation is eternally divided into past, present and future as a roadway that has its beginning point (birth), middle (youth and middle age) and end of the roadway (old age and death), but only while the individual jiva-souls are covered by these material bodily vessels governed by the movement of material time.
Temporary means the decaying progression of material nature forced by time's movement of past, present and future and its side effect of birth, youth, middle age, old age and death.
Whereas in the spiritual world there is only the "permanence" of the "eternal presence of Krsna" where everything is eternally fresh, youthful and never decomposes or fades away.
In the spiritual planets the individual jiva-souls are their body and no longer possess a material decaying bodily vessel or covering.
All material bodily vessels or bodily containers, are part of the fabric of material energies space/time (matter) that belong to the temporary material world created by Maha-Visnu that takes up 1/4 of the Spiritual Sky.
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The other 3/4s of the Spiritual Sky are the permanent eternally youthful spiritual worlds (anti-matter) eternally existing in the "eternal presence of Krsna" beyond the decaying influence of past, present and future that only exists in the temporary material world.
The material world's temporary bodily vessels (made of lifeless matter) are what the fallen individual jiva-souls (living units of anti-matter) are always a passenger in while confined to the mundane material world created by the dreaming Maha-Visnu.
The individual jiva-souls travel through the temporary material world "housed" in Maha-Visnu's material energies as a passenger.
These individual bodily units or bodily containers, keep the embodied individual jiva-souls strictly under the laws of material nature (birth, disease old age and death) that govern the mundane material world.
Each material bodily vessel (dead matter) is made of material energy that the individual jiva-souls (living anti-matter) travel in as a passenger.
The individual marginal living entities (individual jiva-souls) are the passengers in the material body made of material energy.
Material energy is "all-one," which means all material bodily forms (matter) the individual jiva-souls (anti-matter) are passengers in, are not who they really are.
All material bodily vessels the individual jiva-souls are passengers in, eventually wear out and become unfit for the individual jiva-souls to occupy, they eventually break down to dust and merge back into the oneness of material energy (matter).
Our material bodily vessels are ultimately impersonal dead matter when the body is no longer held together by the presence an individual jiva-soul who possess the material body.
Only the presence of the individual jiva-soul gives the appearance of life in a material body.
The individual jiva-souls are living anti-matter bodily forms, they are not the material bodily vessels they are passengers in within the temporary material world (matter).
1 - "Matter" is lifeless dead energy in the material world that all material bodily vessels that the individual jiva-souls are passengers in, are made of.
2 - "Anti-matter" is the individual jiva-souls full bodily potential and eternal position, being the individual's natural spiritual bodily form in the spiritual world of the Vaikuntha planets and Goloka-Vrindavana where everything is alive and never decays like mundane matter does.
Material energy does not exist in the spiritual world, this means all material bodily vessels do not exist there.
The individual jiva-souls are "living" units of anti-matter, whereas the material energy has no life, it is simply dead matter that confines the individual jiva-souls who enter the material world, to become a passenger "housed" in that material bodily vessel.
All material bodily vessels are "hired" to the individual jiva-souls by Maha-Visnu (from His dreams) according to their "desires."
And as the embodied individual jiva-soul continues their journey in the material creation life after life, the accumulation of the reactions from acting out those desires, creates pious and impious reactions however, only in a human material bodily form does the individual jiva-souls create Karma.
There is no Karma for the individual jiva-souls in the lower species of life (8 million different species) where each species of life acts only on the instincts of eating, sleeping, mating and defending and not free will only found in the humans pecies.
From the viewpoint of Maha-Visnu and great sages, they see past, present and future in the material creation existing simultaneously.
Just like from above a roadway, one can see the beginning, middle and end of that long winding roadway.
Because material energy is eternal, it maybe possible that the material desires of an individual jiva-soul who chooses to remain in the material world, would eventually come to a point over an eternity, that they again repeat their existence in the material world. Remember, the stage is eternity (no beginning and no ending) and this idea is very possible over that eternity. This is because every combination of material elements would be exhausted to the point they would again repeat themselves over that eternity.
In other words, if the individual jiva-souls choose to remain in the material world for an almost eternity, they can experience this phenomenon. As said above, this is possible because the individual jiva-souls (marginal living entities) are eternal.
So what is really going on?
Even though the material energy is temporary and always decays, the material energy itself is eternal, but when material worlds and material bodies decay and are destroyed, the material energy will again eventually reappear as different forms and bodily vessels due the movement of past, present and future.
Many have asked, could the past activities of a material body one chooses from Maha-Visnu's dreams, still be happening in the universe's "same space" but happening in a different "time", with another individual jiva-soul playing that same part?
The answer is yes, infact that is exactly what's going on.
This is because past, present and future are happening "always" simultaneously and are a permanent fabric of the material energy.
This means all material bodily vessel are a permanent 'fixture' in material nature, like a roadway is in a city or a frame on a movie picture reel.
in other words, many individual jiva-souls travel on that same roadway (in that same material body) and also experience the same journey in the material creation.
Lord Brahma's material body is also a "hired out" position that many different individual jiva-souls have experience, if they are qualified to enter that material bodily vessel.
All material bodily vessels the individual jiva-souls are passengers in, are "hired" from Maha-Visnu (God) from His vast dreams.
This further means only those individual jiva-souls with the right qualifactions can experience what ever bodily vessel they are offered, but only if they deserve it.
To be qualified for any material bodily vessel, one must be trained up and simultaneously have corresponding desires and Karma to qualify and enter a particular material bodily vessel and be its passenger they deserve, desire, rewarded with or punished with.
Once in the material creation, the individual jiva-souls will eventually take a material body created by their own karma (past good and bad actions)
It is also seems to some that the material universe of material bodily containers or vessels are repeating itself, except with a different batch of individual jiva-souls possessing all material bodily vessels.
Some philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche call this the "eternal reoccurrence"
But no, that is not what is going on, there is no such thing as eternal reoccurrence which is nonsense, there is only the permanent roadway made of material bodily vessels that the individual jiva-souls eternally travel through as its passenger.
The material bodily vessels the individual jiva-souls are passengers in, are a permanent fixture made of past, present and future that is the pathway for the individual jiva-souls to pass along/through while in the material world. This is also called the block material universe.
This means everything already exists eternally and the individual jiva-souls just move through those permanent pathways of material energy which are the dreams of Maha-Visnu.
The material bodily vessels are NOT living persons, they are dead lifeless matter. However, the individual jiva souls who are in those material bodily vessels as its passenger, are the real living 'persons" in those bodily vessels who occupy those material bodily vessels in the material world.
The material bodily vessel is made of material elements that the individual jiva-souls are covered by and travels in while in the temporary material world.
The individual jiva-soul (anti-matter) is the real PERSON, and the material bodily vessel is dead matter and NOT a PERSON, it is the outer covering (matter) of the eternal individual jiva-souls (anti-matter).
So, who are famous personalities like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin? Who really is Hitler and Stalin?
Actually the answer is no-one because ach material bodily vessel the individual jiva-souls are in as a passenger is NOT a person, it is a material container made of material energy that an individual jiva-soul "hires" from Maha-Visnu's dreams and becomes its passenger as explained above.
Many individual jiva-souls have travelled that same pathway because it is a permanent fixture within Maha-Visnu's dreaming of the material world.
In fact as explained above, un unlimited number of individual jiva-souls can experience those bodily pathways of the rich, famous and infamous that are permanent pathways in the fabric of space-time in the material world by also "hiring" those bodily pathways (vessels) from Maha-Visnu.
As explained, each material bodily pathway (vessel) is the creation of Maha-Visnu that originate from His dreams.
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The dreams (material bodily vessels) of Maha-Visnu are a permanent fixture of His material energies.
They are all simply material vehicles for the jiva-souls to travel in. This means no jiva-souls are created by, or come from Maha-Visnu.
Unlimited jiva-souls who enter the material creation can "hire" such material bodily pathways (dreams) from Maha-Visnu and also experience that dream in sync with their own desires.
In other words the material body is NOT the PERSON (spiritual bodily form), it is the outer material vessel.
The PERSON within the material body are the jiva-souls.
This means the individual jiva-souls within the material body of Hitler, Stalin, Churchill etc, are the real persons occupying those material bodies, they are NOT those bodies.
The point made here is the jiva-souls are NOT the material bodily vessel they are in, were in, or will be in.
This is a little complicated to understand, but just like one can wear many different suits, similarly the jiva-souls, over millions of life times, "wears" millions of material bodily vessels.
All jiva-souls have had millions of different material bodies based on desires and karma, all material bodily vessels in the material creation the visiting jiva-souls can experience, is based on desire and reactions from ones actions while in human form.
As explained earlier, all material vessels are "hired" from the dreams of Maha-Visnu which means unlimited jiva-souls over time have travelled the many bodily roadways, including the material body the individual jiva-souls are in now.
The important point to understand here is we are NOT the material bodily vessel we are presently in.
And, as explained above, so called "eternal reoccurrence" is NOT what is happening here because like a roadway, the "hired" bodily vessels always exist as the roadway the jiva-souls journey along as a permanent pathway above the movement of past, present and future.
The material energy is an eternal fabric of space-time that perpetually exists as a pathway of material energy (material bodies) where unlimited jiva-souls traverse along as the passengers of those material bodily pathways made from material energy.
This means all material bodily vessels (matter) are existing from past, present to future in different stages like the different points on roadway that also always exists.
In other words, if one can observe past, present and future of the material energy (meaning the different stages from birth to old age of the material bodily vessel) it would look like a permanent pathway the individual jiva-souls are passing through continuously as its occupants like one passes over an already established roadway that is permanently there.
Therefore, it only appears that the material bodily vessels are continually reoccurring when in actual fact, they are not because they are permanent fixtures on a long a winding roadway divided into past, present and future.
In other words, the individual jiva-souls are the passengers on a permanent pathway made of material bodily vessels within the fabric of material energy which exists eternally as Mahā-Viṣṇu's dreaming material creation.
Everything is temporary in the material creation in a constant state of decay experienced as one moves along the pathway.
This is because of the movement of past, present and future that has the side effect of impermanence, decomposition, birth, youth, disease, old age and death.
In the Spiritual worlds of Vaikuṇṭha and Goloka Vṛndāvana, only the "eternal presence" of Krsna exists with no concept of past or future and therefore there is no impermanence or decay there.
This means everything there is eternally fresh and youthful in Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrindavana the eternal Kingdoms of God.
Temporary material energy makes up all material bodily vessels or containers that the jiva-souls enters as a passenger (covered by).
When these material bodily vessels wears out and decays, they break down into material elements and merges again back into the material energy.
Only the jiva-souls who are no longer covered by material energy, are a perpetual spiritual (anti-matter) bodily form (vigraha) and NEVER decays.
The jiva-souls eternally remains individual PERSONS separate from the mundane material creation, even though covered by decaying material material energy in the form of these material bodily vessels.
Therefore, the material universes concept of time is governed by past, present and future, but exists ALL at the same time to those who can see from above this mundane movement material time that Maha-Visnu always sees.
All material bodily vessels (made from material energy) we occupy, are a permanent fixture of the material energy owned by Maha-Visnu.
Such material vessels originate from His dreams of the material universe that are eternally existing through the continuous flow of material space-time as explained above.
All such material bodily vessels exist in Maha-Visnu's "Library Of Material Dreams" and are available to be "hired out" to those jiva-souls who have chosen to visit His material creation after choosing to leave the Spiritual Planets.
It is the constant flow of the material time of past, present and future that is seemingly repeating itself as material bodily vessels but NO, there is NO repetition or eternal reoccurrence going on, there is ONLY the constant movement of jiva-souls travelling through material vessels on a permanent roadway that eternally exists for unlimited jiva-souls to travel through.
Only by properly understanding the fabric of material time can we see each stage of the journey of past, present and future. In other words, past, present and future are eternally exist together, all at the same time.
Srila Prabhupada always encouraged us to have personal realizations and yes, the ones here are thought provoking because they are based on Vedic teachings.
Keep in mind, the "dreams" of Maha-Visnu are almost inconceivable to understand, even when Arjuna viewed past, present and future simultaneously and being able to see everything (past, present and future), he was scared and confused because he was seeing his own future and the future of his family.
The reason he could see his future was because it was already existing like an entire roadway from its beginning, to its middle and at its end.
Each dream of Maha-Visnu is always existing like a pathway that the jiva-souls traverse down (as explained above) This means the jiva-souls are traveling through what is already there, what has always existed.
Another way of understanding this is just like when one rewinds a video tape, the contends captured will always be the same at every stage on the tape.
Similarly, the material bodily vessels we are now in always exists for other individual jiva-souls to enter and experience.
This means material time and space is permanently recorded and always exists as a block universe, such are the material dreams of Maha-Visnu.
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This also means we take our next birth in a material bodily vessel that already eternally exists in a past, present and future time zone, where the jiva-soul moves though the stages of past, present and future, experiencing each moment of the "present" now, meaning birth, childhood, youth, middle age, old age, death of the material vessel the jiva-soul is "moving through".
That further means when we choose a bodily vessel, the pathway in its different stages of childhood, youth, middle age, old age etc of that material body, already exists in its time zone because each material bodies time zone is a permanent fixture of this material universe known as the Maha-tattva (material creation).
What we are learning here, is all the 'dreams' of Maha-Visnu are all happening in the "present" which means past, present and future exist simultaneously and we only moving through the stages of a past, present and future.
The dreams (material pathways) of Maha-Visnu are eternal.
The material energy (matter) is "all-one" lifeless matter, and is not the individual jiva-souls (anti-matter) who are individual PERSONS whose real home and origin is the spiritual world as Srila Prabhupada has taught us.
This is important to understand as there are many impersonalists who believe there is one all pervasive life force that is also all the material bodily species are also material energy.
Such philosophy is called impersonalism, their ideas are wrong and dangerous.
So to be clear in the material creation everything in under the movement time (past, present and future) already exists, like a long winding roadway already exists from its beginning to its end.
This means the pathway or roadway of the material bodily vessels, gross or subtle, the individual jiva-soul possess and enters, like the roadway, is already carved out and we are simply passengers on that roadway in that material bodily vessel for it's journey.
In other words, one who worships the rich and famous can take birth in those material bodily vessels they admire, after being trained up and qualified to take that birth, which in itself would take many, many, many births just for that opportunity to be that famous "material body" for one insignificant life time, similar to Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Bill Gates etc.
What an ignorant selfish waste of time compared to just choosing to return home back to Godhead and be in Vaikuntha or Goloka Vrindavan, the jiva-soul's real home.
If those individual jiva-souls in those material vessels knew what they had to go through to attain that famous wealthy materialistic bodily existence, they would have second thoughts about seeking material fame and wealth on this planet or the material heavenly planets.
All material bodily vessels in the material creation must be deserved, and qualified to enter and experience by all individual jiva-souls in the material world.
Usually the most pious living entity in each material universe can take up the post of Lord Brahma when the next universe manifests.
In the same way; we are all awarded with a material bodily vessel according to our past pious and impious activities known as karma.
All individual living entities (individual jiva-souls) who understand the fabric of space-time, know each jiva-soul is moving along the many stages of the roadway representing past, present and future (also the pathway of each material bodily vessel)
However, from above just like one sees the entire journey of a roadway, one is able to see the beginning, middle and end, all at once of that pathway.
This means "materially" one can see all past, present and future existing together, and its every twist and turn on that roadway.
The explanation in the above essay is correctly suggesting that all material bodily vessels are like "permanent" fixture or pathway (real but temporary) that ETERNALLY exists in the dreams of Maha Visnu.
As said above, this may give the impression of eternal repetition but no, the material universe is in a constant state that is ABOVE the movement of past, present and future that the jiva-souls only experience by moving or flowing through the material energy existence of the fabric of past, present and future.
In other words, moving along the pathway of twists and turns on the road is compared to the jiva-soul experiencing the birth, childhood, youth, middle age, old age and death of the material bodily vessel the jiva-souls are in.
This birth, youth, middle age and death DOES eternally repeat itself, but ONLY because of the material fabric of time (past, present and future), that is continuously existing with the constant flow of visiting jiva-souls passing through it.
In other words, what is seen from above (the entire roadway from beginning, middle and end) is the movement of all material time which are Maha Visnu's dreams all existing simultaneously.
Such dreams (pathways) are always available for lease to those jiva-souls who choose to enter Maha-Visnu's material creation.
This means all past, present and future are ALWAYS existing simultaneously to Maha Visnu and some advanced devotees and yogis.
So clearly there is a constant movement of material "space-time"(past, present and future) on the "permanent" pathway from its beginning, middle and end (birth, disease, old age and death)
This pathway or roadway is always available for others jiva-souls to also traverse the same permanent fixture of the material energy (roadway) and experience the same material body billions of other jiva-souls have passed through (along this pathway).
Modern science cannot understand the material universe in this way where time travel has ALWAYS been possible into the past or into the fu&
This is because the "roadways or pathways" of space-time's "past, present and future" NEVER disappear as explained above, they always exist because they are a permanent fixture within the fabric of the material universe.
The material bodily vessels, pathways or containers we are in/on, are always the property of Maha Visnu's dreams that are leased out to any jiva-soul qualified, but will always remain his property and part and parcel of His dreaming material creation, available for other jiva-souls to also "travel through" to experience their desires found also in Maha Visnu's material creation.
In Maha Visnu's dreams, every scenario conceivable is possible and is ALREADY existing and available for lease to any visiting jiva-souls who qualify from their own desires.
Leasing the material dreams off Maha Visnu are similar to visiting a "costume shop" that is full of many different costumes (material bodily pathways) that the jiva-soul can choose to enter/travel in or possess.
Every jiva-soul who enters the material creation must go to this so called costume shop of material bodily vessels (dress shop) that are all from the dreams of the sleeping Maha Visnu.
And then choose which material bodily vessel they want to enter as an attempt to imitate Krsna and enjoy separate from Krsna.
This is where the jiva-souls are offered a particular material bodily vessel by Maha Visnu according to their material desires, so they can enter into the material creation with a suitable material body that is in accordance with their own material desires.
Maha Visnu always owns all such material vessels that are part and parcel of His material creation that He is dreaming.
Therefore, those who have chosen to enter the material creation, must go to Maha Visnu's "library of dreams" and choose a material bodily vessel from His unlimited dreams of all material affairs.
Everything conceivable material bodily vessel or container exists in Maha Visnu's dreams, every scenario is possible as said above, no matter how strange or bizarre it is, ALL realities already exists in the dreams of Maha Visnu.
This means all that there is and all that there will be, every combination of material existence possible, ALREADY exists in His dreams.
It is the material bodily vessels (coming from Maha Visnu's dreams) all jiva-souls in all the billions of Brahmanda universes coming from Maha Visnu, must choose from, just like one chooses from a variety of costumes from a Fancy dress store.
Regarding eternal associates of Krsna like Arjuna, there is a different set of rules here.
The fact is, Arjuna is always with Krsna in innumerable different material universes at one time, and there is only one jiva-soul who is Arjuna.
The individual jiva-soul who surrenders to Krsna, CAN expand or project their consciousness into many different material bodies at the same time and still be just the "one jiva-soul" in all those material bodies.
Advanced yogis can also do this but limited to eight expansions however, for Krsna's eternal associate like Arjuna it is in many, many universes simultaneously.
Yes this is very true as sastra tells us but very rare to understand especially in this degraded age of Kali-yuga.
The fact is the individual jiva-soul in Arjuna's material bodily vessel is the same "jiva-soul" in all the different Arjunas throughout all the material universes according to Srila Prabhupada.
This is achieved because the "one" individual jiva-soul (Arjuna) expands himself into many different material bodily vessels or containers that are all him in different pastimes with Krsna.
This means no one can become Arjuna because his position is not like Brahmas, the jiva-soul of Arjuna is always the the one individual Arjuna no matter where he is with Krsna.
Such a position like Arjuna is very rare.
As said above, yogi can also project his consciousness and be in 8 different material bodies at one time.
But this is NOT the case with every material bodily vessel in the material creation!
Only some rare jiva-souls can possess more than one material bodily vessels at once.
This is NOT the case with the billions of different Lord Brahmas who are each in their small material universe that is deep within the greater Brahmanda universal shell.
In each case each Lord Brahma is occupied by a different individual jiva-soul.
So as said above, in every material bodily vessel of Lord Brahma, there is a different jiva-soul every time Maha-Visnu creates all the billions of Brahmanda universes in the material creation.
All the different Brahmas are NOT the same "jiva-souls", there are billions of different individual jiva-souls who can become a Brahma in all the different material univeses that are deep inside each outer Brahmanda universe that comes from the Body of Maha-Visnu.
There are those who believe the material universe is continuously repeating itself each time Maha-Visnu creates the material Brahmanda universes, but is that true?
Actually, it only "seems" that way because in true reality everything that is, and can be, already exists within the dreams of Maha Visnu.
A dream the jiva-souls lease off Maha Visnu is also a permanent roadway or pathway that many jiva-souls can travel on.
This means the material universe, including all bodily vessels, are continuously existing with an endless flow of individual jiva-souls possessing those material bodies by passing through them like one passes over a roadway.
Therefore it only seems⁹ the material universe is repeating itself when in actual fact it is complete like travelling on a roadway.
This is also because each material bodily vessel or container eternally exists within the material dreams of Maha Visnu that can be leased out by any visiting jiva-soul who has matching desires that are in sync with Maha-Visnu's dreams.
The dreams of Maha-Visnu gives the visiting jiva-souls the facilities to fulfill their desires.
The fact is such dreams (material bodies) are a permanent "fixture" or PATHWAY of linear time that "always" exists within the dreams of Maha-Visnu so the visiting jiva-souls can travel within and simultaneously have their desires fulfilled while in the mundane temporary material creation.
Remember all these material bodily containers ARE a creation coming from the dreams of Maha Visnu.
In this way all facilities in the material creation come from Maha Visnu.
The jiva-souls by their desires, move through the journey of material existence in a material body on the pathway of birth, youth, middle age, disease, old age and death and then again rebirth if one fails to get out of this temporary material mundane world of repeated birth and death.
Being in a material bodily vessel or container is being on the pathway or road that leads to a one's destination.
All "pathways" (the journey of a material body from the dreams of Maha-Visnu) have always existed as part and parcel of the fabric of material space-time that many other visiting jiva-souls have/can also experienced and continue to move through.
In other words, there is always a flow of jiva-souls experiencing the road journey of material bodily containers or vessels coming from the dreams of Maha Visnu.
This is what is really happening in the material creation instead of eternal repetition or reoccurrence.
Each point along the roadway is eternally there as part of the road that the jiva-soul passes through experienced as linear time.
The pathway of material bodily vessels (Maha-Visnu's dreams) that confine or cover the jiva-souls, are always covered by the fabric of material energy that moves through past, present and future due to space-time where one experiences the effect of time which is birth, youth, disease, old age, and death.
This is the "roadway'' or "pathway" of material existence known as linear time (the movement through past, present and future)
But from OUTSIDE of linear time, rare souls CAN see the entire movement of past, present and future simultaneously, like from above one can view an entire roadway from its beginning to its end.
This process of material existence "seems to repeat itself" over and over but that is not seeing the full picture of the material creation.
It "seems" that the material universes are constantly annihilated and again created by Maha Visnu, but as explained above, that is NOT what is really going on.
Only the movement of past, present and future gives one the view of creation and annihilation.
Also as explained above, there is no such thing as eternal reoccurrence going on, where the material universe repeats itself, no it is not like that at all.
What is really "constantly" unfolding through the fabric of material energy and time, are permanent pathways made up of past, present and future from Maha Visnu's dreams that are a feature and fixture of each material universe the individual jiva-souls can enter and pass along and through.
The fact is, all material bodily vessels ARE the dreams of Maha-Visnu, and are a permanent fixture or POST in the material universe existing "as dreams" coming from Maha Visnu that the visiting jiva-souls move through, like one moves on a roadway or pathway that ALWAYS remains there for other travellers to pass on/though.
Another way of looking at this-
Just like in society there exists fancy dress shops where one can go and lease out costumes to experience a particular play (material reality).
Similarly in the material creation every material bodily vessel conceivable exists within Maha Visnu's "fancy dress shop of material costumes" (His dreams) that one can lease from Maha Visnu.
All such realities, pathways, bodily vessels all come from Maha-Visnu's dreams and are available to all visiting jiva-souls who choose to enter the material creation.
Therefore each time the material universe again manifests, a different batch of jiva-souls enters those pathways of material bodily costumes the jiva-souls wears/and passes through.
In other words, just like the costumes in a fancy dress rental shop, all material bodily vessels in the material universe are provided to all jiva-souls who enter the material creation.
Therefore, each material bodily "costume" (vessel) is a permanent "position situated in linear time" on the fabric of material energy coming from Maha-Visnu's dreams, that provide the material bodily facilities so the individual jiva-souls can experience birth, youth, disease, old age and death through the movement of time, past, present and future as a passenger.
All material bodily vessels or costumes always remain the property of Maha-Visnu's dreams and are only "hire out" to the visiting individual jiva-souls who choose to enter the material world by leaving the spiritual world. At all times they always remain the property of Maha-Visnu.
The cycle of decay and renewal, birth and death in this temporary material existence continues on eternally, with a continuous flow of individual jiva-souls experiencing each material bodily pathway (the dreams of Maha-Visnu)
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There is always free will in the spiritual world because without "free will" the individual jiva-souls (devotees) would not be able to voluntarily participate, cooperate and contribute to their relationship with Krsna. Without these qualities above the individual jiva-souls are no better than dead stone.
As said above, all material pathways are a permanent continuous flow of material bodily containers (matter) moving through past, present and future that carry the individual jiva-souls (anti-matter) as a passenger, remains the same, fixed as the fabric of material space-time, are a "hired" dream coming from Maha-Visnu, where the embodied individual jiva-souls experience their journey from birth, childhood, disease, old age and death on that pathway made of material bodily vessels as a passenger.
The individual jiva-souls, who are confined to a material bodily vessel as its passenger while in the material world, travel through a permanent pathway made of material bodily containers moving through past, present and future. However, because the pathway of material bodily vessels always exists, behind them is a constant flow of other individual jiva-souls (anti-matter) entering that same permanent pathway of material bodies as a new passenger, who have come from the spiritual world and entered that same pathway of material bodily vessels as an embodied traveller, also "hired" from the dreaming Maha-Visnu. This is what the block universe is.
It means the material world created by Maha-Visnu's dreams, are always exactly the same that covers everything that the visiting individual jiva-souls move through.
All journeys in the material world are an array of permanent established pathways made of material bodily vessels (matter), constantly being replaced with the flow of ther individual jiva-souls (anti-matter) who enter the material world and travel on that same pathway (matter) through material time's past, present and future.
Within each material bodily vessel exists a different unique individual jiva-soul as its passenger. Each individual jiva-soul as a passenger, play that same part other individual jiva-souls have experienced travelling through the fabric of material time's past, present and future.
The individual jiva-souls are passengers within a flowing arrangement of material bodily vessels on a journey through material time's past, present and future.
This pathway of material bodily vessels are a permanent fixture of the fabric of material time within Maha-Visnu's dreaming material world knows as the block universe. The individual jiva-souls are always a passenger moving through the roadway of past, present and future within a material bodily vessel.
In this way, the material bodily vessels are a fixed flowing fabric of the material world's past, present and future, just like the frames on a movie are always part of the movie reel.
Just like the frames on a movie reel always exist, so does past, present and future always exist in the material world that the individual jiva-souls travel through/on as a passenger. In this way, everything that happens within the material world exists for as long as the material world exists.
In other words past, present and future, like the beginning, middle and end of a roadway, are eternally existing just like when one sees a roadway from above, they see its beginning, middle and end simultaneously.
However, remember that the "anti-matter individual jiva-souls" are NOT the material bodily vessel (matter) they are in as a passenger!!
The material bodily vessel is a garment that covers the individual jiva-souls who are the passenger in that outer garment or material body.
One's relationship with Visnu or Krsna is never impersonal, nor do the individual jiva-souls originate from some nonsense impersonal inactive beginning point in the impersonal brahmajyoti (Krsna's Bodily effulgence)
The word "tatastha-sakti" refers to the marginal living entities (individual jiva-souls) position of having the choice to remain in the spiritual world, or enter to the material world.
So, this terminology "marginal living entities" means the collective of eternal individual jiva-souls can live either in their natural home in the spiritual world, or enter the material world. Marginal means the individual jiva-souls are sitting on the fence and can enter either side, the spiritual world or the material world.
Those individual jiva-souls who have made the choice to leave the spiritual world and enter the temporary decomposing material creation, can later, due to the frustration of material life's painful cycle of repeated birth and death, enter an inactive dormant state known as the Brahmajyoti (the impersonal aspect of Brahman) which is Krsna's Bodily effulgence.
The marginal living entities (jiva-souls) are known in both the material creation and the impersonal Brahmajyoti as tatastha sakti but not in the Vaikuntha planets and Goloka-Vrindavana Prabhupada explains here.
Srila Prabhupada - "So this material world is the taṭastha (conditioned) characteristics, and the Spiritual Worlds are the Personal (Vaikuntha) characteristics." (New York, Dec 28, 1966)
Revatīnandana - "Srila Prabhupāda you very clearly explained to me once in a letter that if the jiva-soul then goes into the brahmajyoti, he is considered still fallen. Still fallen. Does that means the whole brahmajyoti is composed of fallen souls? You see my question? If I go there, I'm a jīva-soul, and I go to the brahmajyoti I'm still fallen."
Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes."
Revatīnandana dasa - "That means all jīva-souls there are also fallen souls?"
Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes." (Room Conversation Aug 17, 1971, London)
Srila Prabhupada - ''Existence in the impersonal brahman is also within the category of non-Krsna consciousness, those who are in the brahman effulgence (being inactive) are also in the fallen condition, so there is no question of falling down from a fallen condition." (Letter to: Revatinandana dasa, Los Angeles 13 June, 1970)
The individual jiva-souls original state means they have the same bodily features like Krsna, sat-cit-ananda-vigraha (eternity, knowledge, bliss and form.
The full potential and original feature of all marginal living entities is a two arm form like Krsna's Form.
Devotee – “Is the original body of the spirit soul a human form?”
Srila Prabhupada – “Yes, human form, God is also human form. "Man is made after the shape of God." I think there is in the Bible, is it not? So God is also like human form. Here you see Krsna, two hands, two legs”.
Hari-sauri dasa – “How do we understand, then, that there are peacocks and flowers and trees in the spiritual world? Are these not eternal forms?”
Srila Prabhupada – [describing material form first]: "Yes, they are more covered, just like if you cover your body with blanket, the hands and legs are invisible but you are not the blanket. So the trees and plants means they are more covered. They are not in full manifestation, the human form is the full manifestation of the individual jiva-soul as a spiritual form."
Hari-sauri dasa - “They are covered in the spiritual world?”
Srila Prabhupada - “Not in the spiritual world, there that is always voluntary, some devotee wants to serve Krsna as flower; they become flower there. If I want to be a flower I shall lie down at the lotus feet of Krsna and become flower, voluntarily, and can change from flower to human body. That is spiritual life, there is no restriction. If some devotee wants to serve Krsna as cow, he serves Krsna as cow, as calf, as flower, as plant, as water, as ground, field, as a flagpole, as a Chariot, or as father, as mother, as friend, as beloved, anything. It is inconceivable, yet a fact." (SB, Canto 6 Ch 1 text 1-4 Melb, Australia May 20, 1975)
The marginal living entities (individual jiva-souls) are a collective of an unlimited number of individual jiva-souls who are eternal, meaning they have always existed but, as said above, they are only called tatastha-sakti because they can be "conditioned" in the material creation (covered by a material bodily vessel) or dormant (inactive) individual the impersonal Brahmajyoti.
As said above, the individual jiva-souls were never created from any origin (having a starting point) because there is no origin of the individual jiva-souls, they have always existed without a beginning or will their existence end.
Having "free will" is the constitutional make up of all marginal living entities (individual jiva-souls), and is always part and parcel of their eternal character and personality within the spiritual world.
As said above, marginal (tatastha-sakti) means the individual jiva-souls are on the "border-line" between the spiritual world and the material world - it is NOT a place! It means that the individual jiva-souls can go either side, remain in their original position and home in the spiritual world, or choose to enter the temporary material world of repeated birth and death confined as a passenger in a temporary material bodily vessel.
This means the individual jiva-souls can always choose to leave the Vaikuntha planets or Goloka-Vrindavana (The Kingdom of God) if they want at any time, this is what free will allows, and if it didn't freedom of choice, then the individual jiva-souls would have no free will which futher means being unable to voluntarily participate, cooperate and contribute in their own unique individual way.
This is why it is foolish and sad that some big Vedic scholars and Gurus claim once entering the spiritual world, the individual jiva-souls can never again fall down to the material world, which is nonsense, influenced by impersonalism.
No, they can fall down again and again if the individual jiva-souls choose to do so because that is what having "free will" allows. And such fall downs have nothing to do with Maya ( the influence of material energy), it is simply the expression of free will.
The fact is Maya or material energy does not exist in the Vaikuntha planets or Goloka-Vrindavana (The Kingdom of God).
The choice to leave the Vaikuntha planets or Goloka-Vrindavana is possible because Krsna allows love to be a "two-way" street, this means one can accept or reject Krsna if they choose to do so because they are not forced to love or serve Krsna
Srila Prabhupada - "Free will means that you can act wrongly. That is free will. Unless there is chance of doing wrong or right, there is no question of free will. Where is free will then? If I act only one sided, that means I have no free will. Because we act sometimes wrongly, that means free will."
Hayagriva dasa - "A man may know better but still act wrongly."
Srila Prabhupada -"Yes, but that is free will, he chooses to misuse his free will. Just like a thief, he knows that his stealingp is bad, but still he does it. That is free will. He cannot check his greediness, so in spite of his knowing that he is doing wrong thing—he will be punished, he knows; he has seen another thief, he was punished, he was put into prison— everything he knows, but still he steals. Why? Misuse of free will. Unless there is misuse of free will, there is no question of free will." (from: Discussions on Rene Descartes philosophy)
Srila Prabhupada – “So everyone can know that independence (free will) means one can use it properly, or one can misuse it. That is independence. If you make it one way only, that is not independence, that is force.” (Los Angeles, June 23, 1975)
Srila Prabhupada – “You have got little independence therefore you can violate. Because you are part and parcel of God you have got independence (free will), proportionately, therefore if you likes you can enter the temporary material world if you choose, that independence (free will) has to be accepted, little independence. We can misuse that. (Based on conversation at Mayapur, West Bengal India Feb 19, 1976)./////****.
