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Activities in the spiritual world

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 7 - 12

If the soul is eternal, then it is eternally active, and its activities in the spiritual kingdom are the most confidential part of spiritual knowledge.
BG 9.2, Purport: The Bhagavad-gītā, especially from the Second Chapter on, stresses the importance of the soul. In the very beginning, the Lord says that this body is perishable and that the soul is not perishable (antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ). That is a confidential part of knowledge: simply knowing that the spirit soul is different from this body and that its nature is immutable, indestructible and eternal. But that gives no positive information about the soul. Sometimes people are under the impression that the soul is different from the body and that when the body is finished, or one is liberated from the body, the soul remains in a void and becomes impersonal. But actually that is not the fact. How can the soul, which is so active within this body, be inactive after being liberated from the body? It is always active. If it is eternal, then it is eternally active, and its activities in the spiritual kingdom are the most confidential part of spiritual knowledge. These activities of the spirit soul are therefore indicated here as constituting the king of all knowledge, the most confidential part of all knowledge.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 2

Activities in the spiritual world are without any of the inebrieties of the material world.
SB 2.6.1, Purport: Since the generating centers are the different parts of the universal form of the Lord, and since the form of the Lord is transcendental to the material creation, it is to be understood that the voice, the tongue, the skin, etc., suggest that the Lord in His transcendental form is not without them. The material voice, or the energy of taking in foodstuff, is generated originally from the Lord; such actions are but perverted reflections of the original reservoirs—the transcendental situation is not without spiritual variegatedness. In the spiritual world, all the perverted forms of material variegatedness are fully represented in their original spiritual identity. The only difference is that material activities are contaminated by the three modes of material nature, whereas the potencies in the spiritual world are all pure because they are engaged in the unalloyed transcendental loving service of the Lord. In the spiritual world, the Lord is the sublime enjoyer of everything, and the living entities there are all engaged in His transcendental loving service without any contamination of the modes of material nature. The activities in the spiritual world are without any of the inebrieties of the material world, but there is no question of impersonal voidness on the spiritual platform, as suggested by the impersonalists.

SB Canto 5

One who is very interested in understanding the activities in the spiritual world must search out a guru—a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa.
SB 5.17.11, Purport: The Māyāvādīs indulging in mental speculation and the karmīs desiring the results of their actions cannot become gurus. A guru must be a direct representative of Kṛṣṇa who distributes the instructions of Kṛṣṇa without any change. Thus only the most fortunate persons come in contact with the guru. As confirmed in the Vedic literatures, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] one has to search out a guru to understand the affairs of the spiritual world. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also confirms this point. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam: [SB 11.3.21] one who is very interested in understanding the activities in the spiritual world must search out a guru—a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. From all angles of vision, therefore, the word guru is especially meant for the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa and no one else. Padma Purāṇa states, avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt: one who is not a Vaiṣṇava, or who is not a representative of Kṛṣṇa, cannot be a guru. Even the most qualified brāhmaṇa cannot become a guru if he is not a representative of Kṛṣṇa.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

The Caitanya-caritāmṛta teaches that the spirit soul is immortal and that our activities in the spiritual world are also immortal.
CC Adi Introduction, Purport: The Caitanya-caritāmṛta teaches that the spirit soul is immortal and that our activities in the spiritual world are also immortal. The Māyāvādīs, who hold the view that the Absolute is impersonal and formless, contend that a realized soul has no need to talk. But the Vaiṣṇavas, devotees of Kṛṣṇa, contend that when one reaches the stage of realization, he really begins to talk. “Previously we only talked of nonsense,” the Vaiṣṇava says. “Now let us begin our real talks, talks of Kṛṣṇa.” In support of their view that the self-realized remain silent, the Māyāvādīs are fond of using the example of the water pot, maintaining that when a pot is not filled with water it makes a sound, but that when it is filled it makes no sound. But are we waterpots? How can we be compared to them? A good analogy utilizes as many similarities between two objects as possible. A waterpot is not an active living force, but we are. Ever-silent meditation may be adequate for a waterpot, but not for us. Indeed, when a devotee realizes how much he has to say about Kṛṣṇa, twenty-four hours in a day are not sufficient. It is the fool who is celebrated as long as he does not speak, for when he breaks his silence his lack of knowledge is exposed. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta shows that there are many wonderful things to discover by glorifying the Supreme.
No sexual activities in the spiritual world.
CC Adi 4.35, Purport: As long as one is in material, conditioned life, strict discipline is required in the matter of moral and immoral activities. The absolute world is transcendental and free from such distinctions because there inebriety is not possible. But in this material world a sexual appetite necessitates distinction between moral and immoral conduct. There are no sexual activities in the spiritual world. The transactions between lover and beloved in the spiritual world are pure transcendental love and unadulterated bliss. One who has not been attracted by the transcendental beauty of rasa will certainly be dragged down into material attraction, thus to act in material contamination and progress to the darkest region of hellish life. But by understanding the conjugal love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa one is freed from the grip of attraction to material so-called love between man and woman.
Activities in the spiritual sky are manifested by the internal potency in pure spiritual existence.
CC Adi 5.40, Purport: The activities in the spiritual sky are manifested by the internal potency in pure spiritual existence. They expand in six transcendental opulences, which are all manifestations of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the ultimate reservoir and objective of all living entities. Although belonging to the marginal potency, known as jīva-śakti, the spiritual sparks known as the living entities are subjected to the conditions of material energy. It is because these sparks are related with both the internal and external potencies of the Lord that they are known as belonging to the marginal potency.
According to the Kāśīra Māyāvādīs, the spiritual world is simply void. They do not believe in the Personality of the Absolute Truth or in His varieties of activities in the spiritual world.
CC Adi 7.39, Purport: In describing the Kāśīra Māyāvādīs, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has explained that persons who are bewildered by empiric knowledge or direct sensual perception, and who thus consider that even this limited material world can be gauged by their material estimations, conclude that anything that one can discern by direct sense perception is but māyā, or illusion. They maintain that although the Absolute Truth is beyond the range of sense perception, it includes no spiritual variety or enjoyment. According to the Kāśīra Māyāvādīs, the spiritual world is simply void. They do not believe in the Personality of the Absolute Truth or in His varieties of activities in the spiritual world. Although they have their own arguments, which are not very strong, they have no conception of the variegated activities of the Absolute Truth. These impersonalists, who are followers of Śaṅkarācārya, are generally known as Kāśīra Māyāvādīs (impersonalists residing in Vārāṇasī).

CC Madhya-lila

Pure devotional service cannot be attained by empiric philosophy, nor can perfection be attained simply by good association.
CC Madhya 8.68, Purport: In his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura summarizes the conversation up to this point, where Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says to Rāmānanda Rāya, eho haya, āge kaha āra: “This is the process accepted in devotional service, but there is something more than this. Therefore please explain what is beyond.” Simply executing the duties of all varṇas and āśramas is not as good as offering all the results of one’s activities to the Lord. When one gives up all fruitive activity and fully surrenders to the Lord, he attains sva-dharma-tyāga, wherein he abandons the social order and takes to the renounced order. That is certainly better. However, better than the renounced order is cultivation of knowledge mixed with devotional service. Yet all these activities are external to the activities of the spiritual world. There is no touch of pure devotional service in them. Pure devotional service cannot be attained by empiric philosophy, nor can perfection be attained simply by good association. Devotional service by self-realization is a different subject matter. It is untouched by fruitive activity, for one surrenders the results of activities to the Lord, abandons prescribed duties and accepts the renounced order of life. Such devotional service is situated on a higher platform than that of empiric philosophical speculation with a mixture of bhakti.
One who has the proper realization can easily distinguish the transcendental activities of the spiritual world from material activities.
CC Madhya 13.24, Purport: In the material world, parakīya-rasa, or loving affairs with unmarried girlfriends, is the most degraded relationship, but in the spiritual world this type of loving affair is considered the supreme enjoyment. In the material world everything is but a reflection of the spiritual world, and that reflection is perverted. We cannot understand the affairs of the spiritual world on the basis of our experience in the material world. The Lord’s pastimes with the gopīs are therefore misunderstood by mundane scholars and word-wranglers. The parakīya-rasa of the spiritual world should not be discussed except by one who is very advanced in pure devotional service. The parakīya-rasa in the spiritual world and that in the material world are not comparable. The former is like gold, and the latter is like iron. Because the difference between the two is so great, they cannot actually be compared. However, just as a knowledgeable person can easily distinguish gold from iron, one who has the proper realization can easily distinguish the transcendental activities of the spiritual world from material activities.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Caitanya-caritāmṛta teaches that the spirit soul is immortal and that our activities in the spiritual world are also immortal.
Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Introduction: Caitanya-caritāmṛta teaches that the spirit soul is immortal and that our activities in the spiritual world are also immortal. The Māyāvādīs, who hold to the view that the Absolute is impersonal and formless, contend that a realized soul has no need to talk. However, the Vaiṣṇavas, who are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, contend that when one reaches the stage of realization, he really begins to talk. "Previously we only talked of nonsense," the Vaiṣṇava says. "Now let us begin our real talks, talks of Kṛṣṇa." The Māyāvādīs are also fond of using the example of the water pot, maintaining that when a pot is not filled with water it makes a sound, but that when it is filled it makes no sound. But are we waterpots? How can we be compared to them? A good analogy utilizes as many similarities between two objects as possible. A water pot is not an active living force, but we are. Ever silent meditation may be adequate for a waterpot, but not for us. Indeed, when one has has realized he has so much to say about Kṛṣṇa, twenty-four hours in a day is not sufficient. It is the fool who is celebrated as long as he does not speak, for when he breaks his silence his lack of knowledge is exposed. Caitanya-caritāmṛta shows that there are many wonderful things to discover by glorifying the Supreme.
No one can contemplate or think of the activities of the spiritual kingdom without being situated in his pure, spiritual identity (siddha).
Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 31: The mood of the gopīs' emotional pursuit is called siddha-deha. This word indicates the pure spiritual body which is beyond the senses, mind and intelligence. Siddha-deha is the purified soul who is just suitable to serve the Supreme Lord. No one can serve the Supreme Lord as His associate without being situated in his pure spiritual identity. That identity is completely free from all material contamination. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, a materially contaminated person transmigrates to another material body by material consciousness. At the time of death he thinks materially and is therefore transferred into another material body. Similarly, when one is situated in his pure spiritual identity and thinks of the spiritual loving service rendered to the Supreme Lord, he is transferred to the spiritual kingdom to enter into the association of Kṛṣṇa. In other words, by attaining one's spiritual identity and thinking of Kṛṣṇa's associates, one can become qualified to transfer to the spiritual kingdom. No one can contemplate or think of the activities of the spiritual kingdom without being situated in his pure, spiritual identity (siddha). Thus Rāmānanda Rāya said that without attaining siddha-deha, one can neither become an associate of the damsels nor render service directly to the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and His eternal consort Rādhārāṇī.

Nectar of Devotion

Understanding the exchanges of transcendental loving service with Kṛṣṇa is possible only when one is actually in touch with the pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord.
Nectar of Devotion 34: No one, while remaining on the material platform, should discuss these different descriptions of bhāva and anubhāva by quoting different statements of transcendental literatures. Such manifestations are displays of the transcendental pleasure potency of the Lord. One should simply try to understand that on the spiritual platform there are many varieties of reciprocal love. Such loving exchanges should never be considered to be material. In the Mahābhārata, Udyama-parva, it is warned that things which are inconceivable should not be subjected to arguments. Actually, the transactions of the spiritual world are inconceivable to us in our present state of life. Great liberated souls like Rūpa Gosvāmī and others have tried to give us some hints of transcendental activities in the spiritual world, but on the whole these transactions will remain inconceivable to us at the present moment. Understanding the exchanges of transcendental loving service with Kṛṣṇa is possible only when one is actually in touch with the pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord.

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

We could issue every second a newspaper about spiritual news.
Lecture on SB 1.15.47-48 -- Los Angeles, December 25, 1973: My Guru Mahārāja was questioned by one big politician. He came to see him. So my Guru Mahārāja... He was asking, "What are your activities?" So at that time he was publishing one paper. I think it is still published in Māyāpura. It is called... What is called, Dainik? Daily news, it was a daily newspaper, small. Navadvīpa Prakash, like that. Nadiya Prakash. Nadiya Prakash. So daily. So this politician inquired from Guru Mahārāja, "You are publishing a daily paper about God consciousness?" "Yes." "No, what you are writing?" He was surprised. The politicians think that newspaper can be filled up with rubbish political news only. That's all. They cannot think that newspaper can be filled up by news from spiritual world. Yes. They have no idea. They have no idea there is spiritual world. So my Guru Mahārāja explained that "Why you are thinking of only one small newspaper? You do not know what is spiritual world. This material world is one-fourth portion of the whole creation of the Lord. And the three-fourths' portion is the spiritual world. And in this one fourth portion there are innumerable universes. And in one of the universes... This is one of the universe. And in each universe there are millions of planets. And this planet, earthly planets, is only a small planet in that universe. And on this earthly planet, there are so many cities. And in each city, there are so many newspapers. And each newspaper has got so many editions. This is the position of the material world. Now, think over the spiritual world. It is... The spiritual world is three fourths, three times bigger than this material... And there are so many planets, so many universes, and so many activities. So we can produce not one newspaper daily, but every minute a newspaper. We can produce. Unfortunately, there is no customer. You see? This is the difficulty. For material news, there are so many customers, but when we put something, spiritual news, no customer. This is the difficulty. Otherwise... You are thinking of one newspaper daily. We could issue every second a newspaper about spiritual news." So this sixty books is not sufficient. It is simply an introduction to the spiritual activities of the spiritual world. People have no interest. They do not know. We are simply trying to introduce it.

Philosophy Discussions

Activities of the spiritual sky, that is eternal. Everything is eternal there.
Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: And he says that nothing remains at rest, that everything is in perpetual transition.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is accepted. That is called jagat. Gacchati. Everything is going on, forward. That is called jagat.

Śyāmasundara: Even the activities of the spiritual world are like that?

Prabhupāda: No. Spiritual world is different. We are speaking of material world. In spiritual world the activity is eternal. In material world activity is not eternal.

Śyāmasundara: But motion, the motion is eternal because everything is moving.

Prabhupāda: Motion is interaction of the three qualities. Just like you put soda and alkali, alkali and acid together, there is a reaction, effervescence. So both of them are material, but in due course of time it reacts, and then creation takes place.

Śyāmasundara: What about activities in the spiritual sky, beyond...?

Prabhupāda: Activities of the spiritual sky, that is eternal. Everything is eternal there.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

The material world is only perverted reflection of these activities of the spiritual world.
Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Therefore, this portion of Kṛṣṇa's life is depicted on the Tenth Canto. Nine Cantos are devoted to understand Kṛṣṇa. So without understanding Kṛṣṇa if one tries to read the life and pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, it may be misleading.

David Lawrence: Yes, yes. I think somewhere it says...

Prabhupāda: Therefore Bhāgavata begins, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1], what is the original source of creation. Not abruptly Kṛṣṇa. Then after developing all such knowledge one can understand what is Kṛṣṇa. But in the spiritual world there are activities like that. The material world is only perverted reflection of these activities of the spiritual world. Perverted reflections. It is reflection, but perverted. Therefore, it is difficult. Everything is there. Basic principle that Kṛṣṇa loved the gopīs... Gopīs were young girls, Kṛṣṇa was young boy, But the same love between young boy and girl here is lust. Therefore, it is perverted. The reflection is there, but it is not love, it is lust.
Page Title:Activities in the spiritual world
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Sharmila
Created:16 of Dec, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=2, CC=6, OB=3, Lec=2, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:15