Material form (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"material form" |"material forms"

1967 Correspondence

According to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord is full in six opulences & the rascal impersonalists says that the Lord has no form & the most dangerous accusation for the Lord that He assumes a material form when he descends.

Letter to Gargamuni -- Calcutta 19 October, 1967:

I congratulate you for your successful dealing with your good brother, Sriman Brahmananda, against His falling back a prey to Kirtanananda's recent propaganda. To save a man from impersonal calamity is the greatest service to humanity. I also thank Rupanuga & Rayarama for helping you in your very laudable action. Brahmananda is very pure at heart. He might have been misled by Kirtanananda for the time being but Krishna did not allow him to fall back. According to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord is full in six opulences & the rascal impersonalists says that the Lord has no form & the most dangerous accusation for the Lord that He assumes a material form when he descends. The Impersonalist is of the opinion that the absolute has no form & He appears in a particular type of form according to the whim of nonsense; The impersonalist presents any form nonsensical by his imagination & worships it as God.

As there is individual spirit in individual body, similarly there is the Great Spirit in the universal material form.

Letter to Madhusudana -- Navadvipa 2 November, 1967:

As there is individual spirit in individual body, similarly there is the Great Spirit in the universal material form. As the individual spirit is working systematically within the individual material body, similarly, the Supreme Spirit is conscious of the universal body. The lord knows what is happening in each & every planet as much as an individual soul knows what is happening in each & every part of his body. Therefore, the individual consciousness which is limited, when dovetailed with the Supreme Consciousness of the Lord is called Krishna Consciousness.

1968 Correspondence

Nirakara means absence of material form.

Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 21 January, 1968:

Krishna Consciousness means to get out of the material qualities and be reinstated in the spiritual nirguna activities. When one can understand nirguna he can understand nirakara, also. This akar or form of material existence is temporary. When we get out of this temporary changes of different forms as we are transmigrating from one form to another and be placed in our real spiritual form, or purified our existence, that is called nirakara. Or in other words nirakara means absence of material form.

You would much prefer to channel all your desires to Krishna, and you ask me how is this possible when enveloped in maya, seeing only material forms.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Seattle 7 October, 1968:

You have already stated in your letter, it is very nice, that you would much prefer to channel all your desires to Krishna, and you ask me how is this possible when enveloped in maya, seeing only material forms. You have also written to say that if you can see the Absolute Beauty which is all-attractive, then you could not help but be attracted and would scorn mundane beauty. This is actually the remedy. So you may take immediately to the Arcana, the Deity worship.

1970 Correspondence

We are transmigrating from one material form to another, so actually in this material world we have no fixed form.

Letter to Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 16 May, 1970:

Your first question about the jiva's form with particular reference to Bhagavad-gita 8/18 purport "during the nighttime they have no form." "During the nightime they have no form" means there is no material form. The simple understanding is as we are transmigrating from one material form to another, so actually in this material world we have no fixed form.

1975 Correspondence

Material form means diseased form.

Letter to Dr. W.H. Wolf-Rottkay -- Honolulu 18 June, 1975:

The diseases are there and the forms of disease are also there. Material form means diseased form. Therefore, one has to change this form—death. And he carries with him the infection and he develops another disease. In this way, the soul although part and parcel of God in diseased condition, they are forced to change body. That is transmigration of the soul from one body to another.

Mind is not spiritual, but mind is a subtle material form.

Letter to Prem J. Batra -- Ahmedabad 28 September, 1975:

Regarding your question about the difference between the mind and the soul, in the Bhagavad-gita it is directly said that the mind is inferior energy in a subtle form, and soul, jiva, is superior energy. So they are completely distinct. Mind is not spiritual, but mind is a subtle material form.