This does not mean the devotee changes the basic teachings of the Krsna consciousness movement, no, those teachings are strictly followed in the foot steps of the great Acharyas.
It only means presenting those eact same teachings in the devotees own unique way like Srila Prabhupada did when he departed from the Gaudiya Math, his Spiritual Master's organisation, and created and started his own world wide ISKCON movement (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness)
The individual jiva-souls are eternal living PERSONS as a spiritual bodily form and can never be destroyed, cut into pieces, terminated or extinguished, the jiva-souls are indestructible.
There is no origin to Krsna's marginal energy, an unlimited number of individual jiva-souls, who have all existed for as long as Krsna has existed, which is eternity.
Bhagavad Gita As It Is - “Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” (BG, Ch 2 text 12)
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)
Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind." (BG, Ch 2 text 23)
Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same." (BG, Ch 2 text 24)
Genuine loving exchanges can never exist for the pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa if their association with Krsna, the Supreme Lord, was not voluntary in a "two-way" relationship based on mutual reciprocation and respect.
Srila Prabhupada - "The individual jiva-soul's position in the spiritual world is always voluntary, some devotees want 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," he becomes flower, voluntarily, and he can change his, 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, 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, May 20, 1975)
Respect must go both ways in a reciprocal loving relationship with Krsna in order to have genuine exchanges, loving reciprocation and unique voluntary service.
Actually, Krsna allows His devotees (individual jiva-souls) to have their free will because He wants to see unique independent expressions of love towards Him devotee's personal point of view, with THEIR own unique creative offerings or contributions without any influence or force from Krsna.
Krsna wants His dear pure devotees to be personally inventive and original in their offerings, contributions, cooperation, friendship and service to Him, by being the individual unique productive person each devotee is.
And not just be a rules and regulations mindless yes man or women who only follow instructions and do what they are told to think and do.
That version above of the spiritual world is cold loveless impersonalism.
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 SB, Canto 2 Ch 1 text 3, Paris, June 12, 1974)
Srila Prabhupada – “Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force, no, Krsna does not want to become a lover like that, ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!” (Washington DC July 8, 1976)
In other words, Kṛṣṇa wants a "two-sided" open reciprocal cooperative contributing relationship of voluntary loving exchanges with His devotees where THEY can express themselves in their own unique way as separate individuals from Krsna.
The relationship with Krsna and His pure devotees must be this way because love can never be experienced with just one, there must be two for loving exchanges to exist.
Therefore, Krsna gave His devotees (individual jiva-souls) their freedom (free-will) so they can voluntarily choose to accept Kṛṣṇa, or even reject Him if they choose.
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 misuses his. Just like a thief, he knows that his stealing 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." (Discussion on Rene Descartes philosophy)
It must be this way because Krsna knows if He never gave the devotees their freedom (free will) then genuine loving exchanges could never exist and Krsna would be no different from a puppet master who manipulates and controls everything his puppets do and think.
Such a mindless dictatorial existence without free will (unique self expression of voluntary offerings to Krsna) is dangerous impersonalism.
Therefore, the pure devotees (individual jiva-souls) are eternal independent spiritual living PERSONS, as an eternal spiritual bodily form like Krsna's Bodily Form, who are indestructible, who can never be destroyed, terminated, cut into pieces or extinguished.
On the Vaikuntha planets and on Goloka-Vrindavana, personal voluntary expressions of loving exchanges expressed through free will, are always encouraged by Krsna in His relationship with His devotees, that adds flavour, variety and mystery to the association and intimate relationship.
This means the Kingdom of God is not a "one-sided" dominating impersonal domain devoid of free will (voluntary service)
A "one-sided" relationship does not allow personal contributions or offerings to God (Krsna), only found in a "two-way" relationship that expands, enrichs and flavours the personal relationship with Krsna because in a "one-sided" relationship, the devotees are always told what to do and how to think and act that only denies the devotees their self expression and unique contributions.
As said above, love or service is not a "one-sided" affiliate of total supremacy or pre-eminence, the fact is, genuine loving relations and service are based on voluntary reciprocal exchanges and contributions between two (Krsna and His devotees), NOT just one!
The individual jiva-souĺs (devotees) ALWAYS have their free will which means they can even even reject Krsna if they choose, otherwise having free will is meaningless.
In loving reciprocation is only possible on a "two-way" street between two, where each contribute to the relationship's expansion of nectarine mellows.
The word "reciprocation" only has meaning when there are two involved, not one! The devotees have their choices too, even if that choice means rejecting Krsna!
The individual jiva-souls in their full potential as the Lord's pure devotees on the Vaikuntha planets and Goloka Vrindavana, are forever positively re-inventing themselves by always choosing how to always increase their variety of devotional voluntary service to Krsna.
This is achieved by forever positively discovering a variety of ways to expand their individual expressions of personal offerings and affection to Krsna in their perpetual unique relationship with Him.
It is a paradox that free will exists when Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of all causes and not a blade of grass can move without His sanction.
Many ask how can the individual jiva-souls live a separate existence from Krsna if they choose, when they are His minor expansions and are always part and parcels of Krsna?
The fact is, EVERYTHING comes from Kṛṣṇa and expands from Him under different unlimited categories?
Krsna allows the devotee to have their free will because He wants to see unique independent expressions of love towards Him from the devotee's personal view point and unique offerings without any influence from Krsna, He wants them to be personally creative in their offerings, friendship and service to Him.
Real love (service) is voluntary and can never exist on a “one-way" impersonal path because love can only exists when "two" are involved in voluntary reciprocal contributing loving exchanges.
Srila Prabhupada – “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. If I go on simply taking from you, and if I don't offer you anything, that is simply exploitation.” (Lecture BG, Ch 9 text 2-5, New York City, Nov 23, 1966)
The relationship with Krsna in the spiritual world (The Kingdom of God) is never a “one-way” forced unproductive affinity or dictatorship.
The pure devotee's relationship with Krsna is always based on free will that allows a variety of unique creative voluntary offerings of service to Krsna, only then can genuine loving exchanges exist.
Śrīla Prabhupāda – “Love means "two-persons," 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, then these things must be there.” (Aug 9, 1976, Tehran)
From personal voluntarily self chosen contributions offered by the devotees (individual jiva-soul) that are different from Krsna's shower of loving affection, makes the relationship with Krsna a "two-way" mystery of exchanges that only further enriches, intensifies and expands loving exchanges and affection between the pure devotees and Krsna.
Such personal unique contributions from the devotees independent expressions coming from their execution of free will, forever expands their personal ability to make voluntary unique offerings that will forever increase their loving emotions and intimacy with Krsna in a healthy "two-way" exchange of loving reciprocation.
The pure devotees in their full potential on the Vaikuntha planets and Goloka-Vrindavana, are forever positively re-inventing themselves by always choosing how to forever increase their variety of devotional loving voluntary service to Krsna.
This is achieved by forever positively discovering a variety of ways to expand their individual expressions of personal offerings and affection to Krsna in their perpetual unique relationship with Him.
The relationship between Krsna and His pure devotee's in the spiritual world (The Kingdom of God) is never a “one-way” forced unproductive affinity.
The pure devotee's relationship with Krsna is always based on free will that allows a variety of unique creative voluntary offerings of service to Krsna, only then can genuine loving exchanges exist.
On the Vaikuntha planets and in Goloka-Vrindavana, personal voluntary expressions of loving exchanges expressed through free will, are always encouraged by Krsna in His relationship with the individual jiva-souls.
This cooperative relationship between Kṛṣṇa and His individual devotees, adds flavour, variety, integrity, intimacy and intigue to the association and relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
This means the Kingdom of God is not a "one-sided" dominating impersonal domain devoid of unique self expression (free will) and loving voluntary service.
A "one-sided" relationship does not allow personal contributions or offerings to God (Krsna), only found in a "two-way" relationship that expands, enriches and flavours the personal relationship with Krsna because in a "one-sided" relationship, the individual jiva-souls are always told what to do, how to think and how to act that only denies individual self expression.
As said above, love or service is not a "one-sided" affiliate of total supremacy or pre-eminence. The fact is genuine loving relations and service are based on voluntary reciprocal exchanges and contributions between two, not just one!
The individual devotees always have a choice, even if that choice means rejecting Krsna. In other words, loving reciprocation is only possible on a "two-way" street between two, with each contributing to the relationship's expansion of nectarine mellows.
From personal voluntarily contributions offered uniquely by the devotees different from Krsna's shower of loving affection, protection and endless gifts, encourages the individual devotees to express themselves in a "two-way" exchanged based on mystery, the seemingly unknown and unexpected dealings that only further enriches, intensifies and expands the loving exchanges and affection between the devotees and Krsna.
Such personal unique attempted personal contributions from the pure devotee's independent expressions coming from their unique free will, forever expands their personal ability to make personal voluntary offerings that forever increase their loving independent emotions for Krsna in a healthy "two-way" exchange of loving reciprocation.
Genuine loving exchanges or service is always a "two-way" street, it is never a "one-way" or a "one-sided" affair because as said above, relationships expressed in a "one-sided" dominance without having mutal loving respectful voluntary exchanges between two, is not love at all, it is cold impersonalism.
Loving service can only really again exist when the conditioned jīva-souls in the material world in the rare human form of life, are trained up by the Spiritual Master to eventually reach their full potential as Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotees, where they can again express their full potential who reciprocates fully with Kṛṣṇa in a "two-way" relationship of loving exchanges.
Only then can love or service be genuinely expressed in its natural "two-way" relationship because it is based on those loving reciprocal exchanges between Kṛṣṇa and His pure devotees (the individual jīva-soul.
The individual jiva-souls in their original position and full potential in their home in the spiritual world as Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotess, have the same spiritual bodily features Krsna has in Vṛndāvana that is-
1 - Sat - eternal
2 - Cit - have all knowledge
3 - Ananda - always blissful
4 - Vigraha – as an eternal spiritual bodily form who is beginningless and endless.
Of course in the material world these spiritual qualities mentioned above still exist yet restricted, they are covered by the material energy that includes being confined to a material bodily vessel numbering 8 million 400 thousand species of life.
Only via the human species (only 400 thousand different species) can the trapped individual jiva-souls find their way back home back to Godhead (the spiritual world) through the guidance of a spiritual teacher or master.
The other 8 million species the jiva-souls are trapped in, have no free will at all and are instead controlled by the bodily instincts of eating, sleeping, mating and defending.
The full potential and original feature of all marginal living entities (jiva-souls) is a two arm form like Krsnas.
Devotee – “Is the original body of the jiva-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, they are more covered. They are not in full manifestation. The human form is the full manifestation of the soul.”
Hari-sauri dasa – “They are covered in the spiritual world?”
Srila Prabhupada – “Not in the spiritual world, there that is 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, he becomes flower, voluntarily, and he can change his, 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, 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).÷.÷.
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