Eternally liberated (Lect., Conv., & Letters)

Expressions researched:
"eternal activities of liberated" |"eternal ever-liberated" |"eternal liberated" |"eternal, liberated" |"eternal, transcendental (completely liberated)" |"eternally free, liberated" |"eternally liberated"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Mexico, February 15, 1975:

Hṛdayānanda: (translating) Why it seems that when the soul comes into contact with material nature it becomes contaminated?

Prabhupāda: He wants to enjoy this material enjoyment. Just like everyone is going to the restaurant for eating something palatable, but we are not going, and somebody is going to cinema, but we are not going to the cinema. Similarly, there are two kinds of men: one is attracted; one is not attracted. Those who are not attracted, they are called nitya-siddha, eternally liberated. And those who are being attracted, they are called nitya-baddha, eternally conditioned. So you'll find always two classes of men. So one is attracted; one is not attracted. In the spiritual world the number of liberated person—many, many times greater than these conditioned soul. Just like the prison house and outside the prison house. The population outside the prison house, their number is very great, but within the prison house there are small number, criminals. So there are innumerable living entities. Out of them, some of them become attracted to this material enjoyment; others not. So one who does not want to serve Kṛṣṇa and wants to serve his senses, he's put into this material world. And he's given all facilities to enjoy, but he becomes entangled. This is the position.

Lecture on BG 9.3 -- Toronto, June 20, 1976:

Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, golokera prema-dhana hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This sound, just like you receive sound from distant place, in radio. Similarly, this sound is not produced in this material world. It is brought from the spiritual world. Golokera prema-dhana. There in the spiritual world there are eternal liberated devotees. They are so much ecstatically enjoying simply by chanting and dancing, the descriptions are there, that there is no sex life.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Montreal, August 3, 1968:

Pradyumna: I'd like to ask you about something, er, about the eternally conditioned souls and eternally liberated souls. I'd like to know what's the meaning of eternal in both those statements.

Prabhupāda: Eternal means those who have not come in contact with this material nature. There are living entities, I mean to say, many, many more times than the living entities who are within this material world. They are in the spiritual world. Just like the number of population outside the prison house is very great, and the number of population within prison house is very small, this material world is supposed to be the prison house. Those who are condemned, those who want to try to lord it over, they are imprisoned within the walls of material universe. So their number is very small.

Lecture on SB 1.2.23 -- Los Angeles, August 26, 1972:

They take bath in the Ganges. They become, get an opportunity, an auspicious moment to take bath.

So it is like that. There are living entities who are eternally conditioned and there are living entities eternally liberated. The eternally liberated souls, living entities, they are with Kṛṣṇa, they're dancing with Kṛṣṇa, because they have no other desire than to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between eternally conditioned and eternally liberated. Eternally liberated means they have no other desire. All these gopīs, all the cowherds boys, all the cows, all the trees, all the water, all the father, mother, friends, they're simply trying to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is Vṛndāvana. They have no other business. That is Vṛndāvana.

Lecture on SB 1.3.1 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972:

Pradyumna: "...or ahaṅkāra, which dictates them sense enjoyment, which they are unable to have constitutionally. The Lord is the only enjoyer, and all others are enjoyed. The living entities are predominated enjoyers, but the eternally conditioned souls, forgetful of this constitutional position, have strong aspirations to enjoy. This chance to enjoy matter is given to the conditioned souls in the material world, and side by side they are given the chance to understand their real constitutional position. Those fortunate living entities who catch the truth and surrender unto the lotus feet of Vāsudeva after many, many births in the material world join the eternally liberated souls and thus are allowed to enter into the kingdom of Godhead. After this, such fortunate living entities need not come again within the occasional material creation. But those who cannot catch the constitutional truth are again merged into the mahat-tattva..."

Prabhupāda: So we can very easily understand by the example of our own body. This body, as we, spirit soul, enter into this body, the existence of body continues. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So the body is not created first. The... Because the living entity enters into the body, therefore the body's created. Similarly, this gigantic body, universal body, cannot come into existence automatically.

Lecture on SB 1.3.1-3 -- San Francisco, March 28, 1968:

Upendra: "The nitya-baddha or the eternally conditioned souls have the sense of individuality or ahaṅkāra which dictates them for sense enjoyment which they are unable to have constitutionally. The Lord is the only enjoyer and all others are enjoyed. The living beings are predominated enjoyer. But the eternally conditioned souls forgetful of this constitutional position have strong aspiration for enjoying. This chance of enjoying the matter is given to the conditioned souls in the material world and side by side they are given the chance of understanding the real constitutional position. Those fortunate living entities who catch up the truth and surrender unto the Lotus feet of Vāsudeva after many many births in the material world, become one of the eternally liberated souls and thus are allowed to enter into the kingdom of Godhead. After..."

Prabhupāda: We can also become one of them, eternally liberated. But we are not admitted in the spiritual kingdom unless we have given up this false sense of lording it over the material nature. Here, the conditioned souls, everyone is trying to become the lord, imitating. Everyone is trying. But there is clash. You are trying to become lord, I am trying to become lord.

Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- Mayapura, June 20, 1973:

They are acting wherever they like they are going, but within the law. Similarly we have got freedom. There are living entities, their number is greater. Nitya-mukta, ever liberated. They live in the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭha planets. Nitya-mukta. Nitya-mukta means eternally liberated. They never come down in this material world. And we are nitya-baddha-ever conditioned, eternally conditioned.

Eternally conditioned means... We cannot be eternally conditioned, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Our natural position is ever liberated, eternally liberated. But because we wanted to imitate Kṛṣṇa, we wanted to become Kṛṣṇa, as the Māyāvādīs want to do, therefore in the spiritual world, Kṛṣṇa is the only enjoyer. Ekam eva aditiyam(?). Aham, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29).

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 9, 1973:

Just like the shark fish, they do not come into the river. That means those who are nitya-mukta, eternally liberated, they do not come into this material world. They do not come. There are two kinds of living entities, nitya-mukta, nitya baddha. Nitya-baddha, we are. Those who are in this material world, we are eternally conditioned. Eternally conditioned in this way, because I am changing my body, one after another. As I am desiring, I am getting my next body. This body I am creating, my next body, again when I shall get next body, I shall create another body. So this is going on. And because it is going on, when it has begun and when it is going to end, that you do not know.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967:

Yes. They were never conditioned. They were never conditioned, never conditioned. They are called nitya-mukta, eternally liberated. We are only simple few, this material world. Just like I have several times told you that the prison house. The population of prison house is nothing in comparison to the whole population. What is there? Suppose in New York there is a prison house. Oh, what may be the number? A few thousand maybe. But here, millions. Similarly, the liberated souls are millions; we are only few thousands, or hundreds. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). We are thinking this universe is very great. It is nothing in comparison to the whole creation of the Lord. You are seeing only universe, but there are millions of universes like this.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967:

So Kṛṣṇa is both in the spiritual world and the material world. Because we represent Kṛṣṇa, we are in this brahmāṇḍa conditioned. But there are many living entities who are eternally liberated. They never come to this. How it is, that? Just like the ocean and the rivers. In river, in the river, you will find fishes, and in the ocean you will find fishes. But the... Sometimes it may be that the fishes of the river may go to the ocean, but the fishes of the ocean never comes to the river. Never comes to the river. There is no place for them. This is a crude example. Similarly... And as the ocean is far, far greater than the river-thousands of rivers cannot be compared with the, I mean to say, measurement of the ocean—similarly, thousands and millions of this material world cannot be compared with the spiritual world.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967:

Now, this energy manifested as the living entities, they are also two kinds. What are they? Eka-nitya-mukta. One class of living entities, they are eternally liberated. Just like the fishes in the ocean. Take the ocean as the place of liberation. Sometimes the example is given that as the rivers glide down to the ocean and the water is become one... That's all right. That oneness... This is impersonal conception. Everyone goes and mixes as every river goes down to the ocean, and there is no more distinction which is the river water and which is the ocean water. They become one. That is the monistic philosophy. But Vaiṣṇava philosophy goes farther, that "Why you are satisfied with the water? Why don't you see within the water?"

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967:

They have no intelligence to see that within the ocean there is individual expansion, individual life, and they are enjoying. Similarly, in the spiritual sky there is individuality. That individuality is there. And that individuality is reciprocated between Kṛṣṇa and the individual souls. They are called nitya-mukta, eternally liberated. And the other class, who are just like in the river fishes, they are called nitya-baddha. Their, I mean to say, limited sphere in the river or in the pond or in the well... The frog philosophy. They are expanding themselves, frogs: "How much great is Atlantic Ocean?" So they are called conditioned soul. Those who are in this material world, although they are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord energy, but because they are conditioned in this material contamination, they are called, I mean to say, conditioned, conditioned by the laws of nature.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:

Yesterday we have been discussing two kinds of living entities. One class, nitya-mukta, eternally liberated, they never come to this material world. They are eternally liberated. And another class, just like we are, conditioned. We are eternally conditioned. Eternally conditioned means we do not know when we have been conditioned like this. It is not possible to trace out the history. Because living entity, by nature, he is not conditioned. But actually we see that we are conditioned, and there is no possibility to trace out the history. Many, many Brahmā's life... Not only one Brahmā's, there are so many Brahmās changed, and we are conditioned. So therefore we are called eternally conditioned.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:

Now this... What is the difference between the two? Those who are eternally free, liberated, they are godly. They are always ready to render transcendental loving service to the Lord. They are satisfied in that way. Just like mother is satisfied simply by loving child, or friend is satisfied simply by loving. Of course, that sort of love is not possible in this material world, but there are some rare instances. At least we can get an idea that... Similarly, the eternal liberated souls, they are satisfied simply by loving Kṛṣṇa. That is their satisfaction. Everyone wants to love. That is natural propensity. Everyone. When there is no loving object, then in this material world we sometimes love cats and dogs.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:

The proper place is Kṛṣṇa. If we love Kṛṣṇa, then we can love everyone. Just like if we pour water on the root of the tree then the other parts of the tree, leaves and flowers and fruits and branches, automatically... So if we learn to love Kṛṣṇa, then we can perfectly love others.

So those who are eternally liberated, they love Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are perfect in the spiritual world. 'Nitya-mukta'-nitya kṛṣṇa-caraṇe unmukha, 'kṛṣṇa-pāriṣada' nāma. They are all associates. The Supreme Lord is person, and His innumerable lovers, living entities, they are also individual persons. Love means there is person, individual. Without individual person, there is no question of love. When I, when the word "love" is used, there must be two lovers. Then the word is applicable, love. If there is no person, love is not with the air. There must be person. So the Supreme Lord is person, and the lovers, the living entities, they are also persons.

Festival Lectures

Lecture-Day after Sri Gaura-Purnima -- Hawaii, March 5, 1969:

"You become drunkard"? But government is giving this license because there is a class of men who must drink, and they will violate all... Say, "All right. Let them have it."

Similarly, there are two kinds of living entities: nitya-baddha, nitya-mukta, eternally liberated and eternally conditioned. You see? So for the conditioned... They will never agree to abide by God. Therefore, for them, this material world, the external energy: "All right, you do whatever you like. You do according to..." But still, there is canvassing work. Oh, God sends His son to canvass, "Oh, this is not your right engagement. Please come back to home, back to Godhead." Kṛṣṇa comes. God Himself comes. He sends His devotees.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Arjuna, when he was thinking in terms of his personal sense gratification, he was under mahāmāyā. And when he agreed to execute the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he's under yogamāyā.

Upendra: How is it Arjuna, if he was eternally liberated...

Prabhupāda: Because he is living entity, he is marginal. There is chance of... Marginal means... I have explained several times. Just like the land. Between the ocean and the land, there is a portion of land which is sometime merged within water, sometimes it is land. So a living entity's position is like that, marginal energy. He may be under the influence of yogamāyā or he may be under the influence of mahāmāyā. When he is under the influence of mahāmāyā, that is his conditional life. And when he is under the influence of yogamāyā, he's free. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (kīrtana) (end)

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: No. That is the general law. But if he likes, he can come back. Because otherwise, what is the meaning of independence? Just like one should become fit in the prison house, naturally he should not go again. But (indistinct) running again kicking, that's all.

Līlāvatī: So those eternally liberated souls in the spiritual sky will never come here because they choose not to. It's not that... (indistinct) they never choose to come here.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. They never choose. They are very experienced. (laughter)

Śyāmasundara: Bergson says that this quality of the soul can only be perceived by man's intuition, not by his senses, but by his intuition.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Is that all right?

Satsvarūpa: Eternally liberated and eternally conditioned.

Prabhupāda: Eternally liberated, they never forget Kṛṣṇa. There is no period throughout the existence... There is no question of existence. It is their all existence. Never touched by māyā, forgetfulness. That is nitya-mukta. (break)

Pañcadraviḍa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were talking that a person, he can come up to that position of nitya-mukta by either following the principles of sādhana-bhakti or causeless mercy, or you said there was also the question of kṛpā, the kṛpā-siddhi, that one can attain perfection...

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- July 3, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: So what is your objection?

Devotee (3): I was just wondering if the spirit soul being in the spiritual world is eternally liberated, how can he return. By desire?

Prabhupāda: Yes. If he desires, he can come again. That option is always there. Just like I remain in India. I come here. And if I like, I may not come. It is my option.

Ambarīṣa: When we get to the spiritual sky, we'll always be able to remember how horrible it is down here? We'll always be able to remember how terrible it is in the material world?

Prabhupāda: It is terrible.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Padampat Singhania -- Kanpur 7 May, 1957:

I have already mentioned about this Mantra in my previous letter and I beg to confirm it further that the Name "Krishna" even up to the foreign words like God and Allah, if they at all aim at the Supreme Personality—then the Name is as much holy and potential as perfect is the Supreme Lord—because in the Absolute Realm or Spiritual Nature everything is identical with everything as all of them are qualitatively spiritual and therefore pure, eternal, liberated and perfect.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Aniruddha -- Los Angeles 14 November, 1968:

Regarding your questions: Your first question, "Are great sages put under yogamaya or maya? Also are all the eternally liberated souls under yogamaya?" Yogamaya means the mercy of the Supreme Lord which connects a devotee in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and mahamaya means the external potency of the Lord which puts a conditioned soul into illusion that he will be happy by material adjustment. So great sages who are impersonalists are also under the spell of mahamaya, because a conditioned soul in the material world wants to improve his material position as exalted as possible, and the concept of becoming one with the Supreme Lord is the greatest illusion for them.

Letter to Aniruddha -- Los Angeles 14 November, 1968:

Your next question, "Is there a difference between Arjuna's body and his soul, and how does this apply to all Krishna's eternally liberated souls described in the scriptures. Is Arjuna always the same in his appearances with Krishna or is a new soul taking his body each time?" Yes, there is difference. Therefore he forgets his past activities. Just like we forget ourselves while dreaming because our subtle body acts at that time differently from the gross body. Similarly, by changing this body or transmigrating from one body to another, we forget all the activities of our previous body. The associates of the Lord, even though they have a different body, or even though they forget the activities of their past body, still they are associates of the Lord.

Letter to Aniruddha -- Los Angeles 14 November, 1968:

The associates of the Lord, even though they have a different body, or even though they forget the activities of their past body, still they are associates of the Lord. These explanations are given in the Bhagavad-gita as it is.

Your next question, "Is a pure devotee eternally liberated and if so is he at any time a conditioned soul? We are eternally conditioned, but as soon as we surrender to Krishna do we then become eternally liberated? When Lord Christ appeared he seemed to be conditioned in his growth. Was he a specific incarnation or a conditioned soul who became liberated?" You are not eternally conditioned. You are eternally liberated but since we have become conditioned on account of our desire to enjoy materialistic way of life, from time immemorial, therefore it appears that we are eternally conditioned.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Upendra -- Tittenhurst 27 October, 1969:

Constitutionally every living entity, even if he is in the Vaikuntha Loka, has chance of falling down. Therefore the living entity is called marginal energy. But when the falldown has taken place for the conditioned soul is very difficult to ascertain. Therefore two classes are designated: eternally liberated and eternally conditioned. But for arguments sake, a living entity being marginal energy, he can't be eternally conditioned. The Time is so unlimited that the conditioned souls appear to be eternally so, but from the philosophical view he cannot be eternally conditioned. Since we cannot trace out when we have become conditioned, there is no use of arguing on this point. Better to take care first how we can get rid of this conditional existence; as much as a patient should take care for treating his disease more, and less waste his time in finding out the cause of his disease.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Gunagrahi -- Gorakhpur 12 February, 1971:

So your activities are now supposed to be on the pure spiritual platform and by continuation of this simple process faithfully you will increase your spiritual blissful strength and influence those who come in your contact to take part in this joyous revival of love of Krsna, the desired life of eternally liberated souls.

I am very glad to accept you as my initiated disciple and your spiritual name is Gunagrahi Das Brahmacari. Gunagrahi means one who picks up or acquires all good qualifications or qualities. You can easily understand how Krsna is the repository of all auspicious qualities beyond enumeration; so you are to be known as the servant of the All-Good Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna. I have duly chanted your beads and they are returned to you herewith.