Having free will in the spiritual world is necessary for the jiva-souls so they can voluntarily express themselves in their full potential, in a voluntary unique service of their choice in a "two-sided" relationship of loving exchanges, cooperation and reciprocation with Krsna.
Srila Prabhupāda – "Unless there are "two-persons," where is the question of love? Love means two persons, then there is exchange, then there is love. I must deal with you open-hearted, you must deal with me open-hearted, then there is love. So if you want to love Kṛṣṇa, God, then these things must be there." (Aug 9, 1976, Tehran)
Srila Prabhupada - "Love means two. There MUST be two, the lover and the beloved. Kṛṣṇa is already lover. He loves you so much that He's trying to get you back. Therefore love cannot be one or love cannot be executed only one, there MUST be another one. I love somebody; somebody loves me, so there must be lover, there must be beloved.
We must understand that love means you take and you give also. Suppose if you love somebody and you simply take from him, but you don't give. Oh, do you think it is very good? No, it is not good, that is NOT love, that is exploitation and forced obedience. If I go on simply taking from you, and if I don't offer you anything, that is simply exploitation." (Srila Prabhupada quotes 1966 - 1974, Vaniquotes)
Srila Prabhupada - "The impersonalist philosophy is oneness. So how there be love with just one? Is it possible? Have you got any such experience that love means one? No. Love means two. There MUST be two, the lover and the beloved. Kṛṣṇa is already lover. He loves you so much that He's trying to get you back. That is Kṛṣṇa's attempt. "Please, My dear boy, or My dear friend, My dear servant." (Lecture on SB, Canto 2 Ch 1 text 3, Paris, June 12, 1974).
Bali Mardana - "An example of free will is someone can choose Kṛṣṇa or turn away? Is that an example of free will?"
Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes, because if you accept Kṛṣṇa, then you must follow what Kṛṣṇa says. If you don't follow Kṛṣṇa, then what is the use of talking of Kṛṣṇa? If he accepts Kṛṣṇa, he must abide by the injunction of Kṛṣṇa."(Morning Walk, Jan 22, 1974, Hawaii)
Srila Prabhupada - "As soon as the servant feels like becoming the master, he falls into māyā. Thus it is by misuse of free will that one falls under the influence of māyā." (CC Madhya 11.189, Purport)
Srila Prabhupada - "Of course, man is endowed with free will, and as such if he does not want to free himself from the material world he may enjoy the life of brahma-pada (occupation of the post of Brahmā) and visit Siddhaloka, the planets of materially perfect beings, who have full capacities to control gravity, space and time. To visit these higher planets in the material universe, one need not give up his mind and intelligence (finer matter) but need only give up grosser matter (the material body)." (CC Adi 5.22, Purport)
Srila Prabhupada - "Although God is great and the living entity small, they are spiritual individuals, and therefore as soon as there is a reciprocal exchange by the living entity's free will, at once the great spiritual being attracts the small living entity, thus freeing him from all material bondage. This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.1.30)." (CC Adi 5.35, Purport)
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 there is free will."
Hayagriva - "A man may know better but still act wrongly."
Srila Prabhupada - "But that is free will. He misuses his. Just like a thief, he knows that his stealing, it 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." (Philosophy Discussions with Srila Prabhupada - Rene Descartes 1976)
Srila Prabhupada – “So, unless there is a possibility of misusing our free will, there is no question of freedom.” (Dialectical Spiritualism, Critique Descartes)
Srila Prabhupada – “So, everyone can know that independence 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 - "If you have no free will, then you are a stone. The stone has no free will. You want to be stone? Then you must have free will. But don't misuse your free will. But don't try to become stone either. That is not life." (Aug 5, 1976, New Mayapur France)
Swedish man - "Is there free will?"
Srila Prabhupada - "Yes, just like you are sitting here. If you don’t like, you can go away. That’s your free will. There is free will, we are part and parcel of God, therefore we have got minute quantity of freedom." (Temple lecture Stockholm Sweden 1974)
Many, in fact most, do not understand what the spiritual world is and only there is free will fully acted upon and realized.
The "free will" to feel envy means you want to enjoy like Krsna and be in the centre instead of Krsna, such self centred desires immediately disqualifies you to remain in the spiritual world (Vaikuntha or Goloka-Vrindavana) and immediately you a transferred to the material creation managed by Maha-Visnu.
Your spiritual memories are in the spiritual world and you cannot take them with you to the material world because they are NOT material.
Once the jiva-souls enter the material world, their free will is almost non-existent, and instead are directed by the demands of the material senses-
eating,
sleeping,
mating,
defending,
These instincts direct all species of material life and in over 8 million species of life there is no free will.
Only in the 400 thousand human species is there a minute expression of free will but nearly all are controlled by Karmic reactions and also instinct.
There are no choices in the spiritual world influenced by "matter" or "maya" because matter (maya) does NOT exist in the spiritual world.
Also, maya is NOT the cause of the jiva-souls fall down from the spiritual world to the material world.
Free will (including the actions of Jai and Vijaya who offended the 4 Kumaras) is the cause of fall down to the material world, and that means there is ALWAYS a choice in the spiritual world that some nonsense gurus and their disciples cannot understand.
The jiva-souls can only enter the material world in a material bodily vessel provided by Maha-Visnu, and NOT as their spiritual eternal bodily form which becomes restricted.
All knowledge of Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrindavana is in the spiritual body, but now covered over because the jiva-soul has entered the material world, and is now the occupant within a temporary decaying material bodily vessel.
Srila Prabhupada - "The pure, self-realized souls are constantly absorbed in serving Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet with their body, mind, and words. They never associate with atheistic people.
These saintly persons know that although the spirit soul is infinitesimal, it is nevertheless endowed with minute free will at all times.
The Supreme Lord is absolutely independent and can exercise absolute free will over all; because the spirit soul is qualitatively the same as the Supreme Lord, the Lord does not annul his minute free will." (Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.9)
Srila Prabhupada - "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 Paramātmā, 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 for 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 independent living entities. However, when one desires Kṛṣṇa, the Lord takes special care and encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain to Him and be eternally happy." (BG 5.15, Purport)
Srila Prabhupada - "Material interaction is set in motion by a superior being who creates a favorable circumstance to accommodate the spiritual living force. The superior energy handles matter in an appropriate way—as determined by the free will of the spiritual being.
For example, building materials do not automatically "react" and suddenly assume the shape of a residential house. The living spiritual being handles matter appropriately by his free will and thus constructs his house.
Similarly, matter is the ingredient only, but the spirit is the creator. Only a man with a poor fund of knowledge avoids this conclusion. The creator may remain unseen in the background, but that does not mean that there is no creator." (Easy Journey to Other Planets 1)
Srila Prabhupada - "The spirit soul unfortunately misuses this God-given minute free will and falls into the dark well of nescience and illusion. Once the spirit soul takes shelter of māyā, the illusory material energy, he develops the material qualities of goodness, passion, and ignorance.
The spirit soul loses his original characteristics and develops a new nature, which is controlled by the three modes of material nature, and this continues until such time as he transcends them. His actions are prompted accordingly.
If it happened in any other way, then material variegatedness would not be visible in this phenomenal world.
So if a person fails to inform himself about the very subtle laws and workings of material nature, and at the same time he argues that all activities are sanctioned and inspired by the Supreme Lord, then he is reducing the Supreme Lord's position and making Him out to be partial and unjust.
The Lord never favors one and discriminates against another. Factually, He advises everyone to give up all material activities, which are by nature unstable and temporary. Because of forgetfulness of God, a man becomes an eternal victim of ignorance, which then colours all his actions." (Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.9)
Srila Prabhupada - "Mahā-Viṣṇu lies down in some part of the spiritual sky by His own free will. Thus He lies on the ocean of kāraṇa, from where He glances over His material nature, and the mahat-tattva is at once created. Thus electrified by the power of the Lord, the material nature at once creates innumerable universes (Brahmandas), just as in due course a tree decorates itself with innumerable grown fruits. The seed of the tree is sown by the cultivator, and the tree or creeper in due course becomes manifested with so many fruits. Nothing can take place without a cause. The Kāraṇa Ocean is therefore called the Causal Ocean. Kāraṇa means "causal." We should not foolishly accept the atheistic theory of creation." (SB 1.3.2, Purport)
Srila Prabhupada - "Without knowing the subtle laws of nature, if we tried to justify all our deeds as influenced by the will of the Personality of Godhead, we would be attempting to bring partiality, inebriety, and gracelessness into the acts of the all-good Personality of Godhead. It should never be imagined that various mundane discrepancies arise by the will of the Personality of Godhead—that some are happy by His will, while others are unhappy by His will. Such differences in the material world are due to the proper or improper use of free will enjoyed by the individual living entity.
Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, enjoins everyone to give up all such conditional engagements dictated by the various modes of nature. Such varieties of engagements of the living entity arise out of ignorance perpetuated by the modes of nature. Therefore, the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (5.13) that He is not the cause of anyone's particular work, nor the authority, nor the result of such work - but that all these come out of the various modes of nature.
Thus, all acts performed by the living entity—except those with transcendental results—are self—created engagements arising from an abuse of the free will, and therefore such acts or engagements are never to be considered as if the works and the results were somehow ordained by the almighty Godhead. Such works are all material and are therefore conditioned and directed by the modes of nature. The Personality of Godhead has nothing to do with such works." (Message of Godhead 2)
Many have misunderstood the facts about what "marginal" really means referring to the jiva-souls.
It is NOT some place in outer space the jiva-souls are generated or originate from.
Being “generated” from the marginal plane does NOT mean the jiva-souls “originated” from some "so called place" in the Brahmajyoti or Spiritual Sky, including tatastha-sakti, the impersonal brahmajyoti or Maha-Visnu that foolish religious cults claim.
Being "marginal" means in-between and includes having free will, or having the choice to choose "this side or that side," which means being influenced by the spiritual energy, which is the jiva-souls nature position and full potential, or influenced by the material energy, their unnatural conditioned state outside the spiritual world.
As said above, the real meaning of "marginal" means the jiva-souls can choose to be influenced by either the spiritual energy, or the material energy based on their free will.
There is no origin to the individual jiva-souls, they are eternally parts and parcel of Krsna and just as old as Krsna.
Srila Prabhupada – “There are no new souls, new and old are due to this material body, but the jiva-soul is never born and never dies, so if there is no birth, how can there be new souls?” (Letter to Jagadisa dasa, 7/9/1970)
There is no origin to Krsna's marginal energy (an unlimited number of individual jiva-souls), who have existed for as long as Krsna has existed which is eternity.
The "jiva-souls," who naturally belong in the spiritual energy (Goloka-Vrindavana) as individual spiritual PERSONS with Krsna, are eternal PERSONS and called the "marginal living entities" because they are influenced by either the spiritual energy or the material energy explained as follows by Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada – “The jiva-souls are Krsna’s marginal energy. Marginal energy means the jiva-souls may be under the control of the spiritual energy, or they may be under the control of material energy. But when the jiva-souls are under the control of the material energy, that is their precarious condition, struggle for existence. And when they are under spiritual energy, that is their original position and life of freedom.” (Los Angeles, Nov 23, 1968)
Srila Prabhupada - "Regarding your question about our relationship with Srimati Radharani, She is the internal energy, we are marginal energy. Marginal means sometimes internal, sometimes external. When we are under the internal energy, that is our normal life, and when we are under the external energy, that is our abnormal life. Therefore, we are called marginal energy; we can be either this way or that way. But being qualitatively one with the purusa, our tendency is to remain in the internal energy. Being in the external energy is our artificial attempt." (Letter to Lilavati - Allston, Mass 25 April, 1969)
Srila Prabhupada - "We (the jiva-souls) are marginal energy (jiva-souls) Marginal means sometimes internal, sometimes external. When we are under the internal energy, that is our normal life, and when we are under the external energy, that is our abnormal life. Therefore, we are called marginal energy (jiva-souls); we can be either this way or that way. But being qualitatively one with the purusa, our tendency is to remain in the internal energy. Being in the external energy is our artificial attempt." (Letter to Lilavati, Allston, Mass 25 April, 1969)
Srila Prabhupada - "The material energy, called as Maya, is also one of the multipotencies of the Lord, as much as we (the jiva-souls) are also marginal potency of the Lord. The living entities (jiva-souls) are described as superior energy than matter, when the superior energy is in contact with inferior energy, it becomes an incompatible situation. But when the supreme marginal potency (jiva-souls) are in contact with the spiritual potency, Hara, it becomes the happy, normal condition of the living entity." (The Happening Album, New York City, Dec 1966)
Srila Prabhupada - "You are also energy; you are marginal energy (jiva-soul). Marginal energy means you (the jiva-souls) may be under the control of the spiritual energy or you may be under the control of material energy—your marginal position. But when you are under the control of the material energy, that is your precarious condition, struggle for existence. And when you are under spiritual energy, that is your life of freedom." (Intro BG, As It Is, Los Angeles, Nov 23, 1968)
Srila Prabhupada – “The jiva-souls are Krsna's marginal energy. Marginal energy means we can live either in this external energy or in the internal energy, in between. So at the present moment we are living in the external energy. But this external energy is also Kṛṣṇa's energies, God's energy. It is not different from Him. But the external energy means we are captivated by the external energy. But the external energy is not permanent. The internal energy is permanent. The spiritual world is permanent, and the jiva-souls are also permanent as Bhagavad Gita As It Is Chapter 2 text 20 (1983 edition) reveals.” (Lecture on BG 9.4 - Melb, Australia April 23, 1976)
Bhagavad Gita As It Is Chapter 2 text 20 explains the jiva-souls have existed for “infinity”
This means, just like Krsna, they are beginning less and endless, and were NEVER created-
Bhagavad Gita As It Is - “For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (BG, Ch 2 text 20 “corrected” 1983 edition)
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