Question: Is the material world’s purpose just one, i.e. to reform the fallen conditioned souls?
We’ve also heard that Krishna has other purposes also, exhibiting virya rasa and killing demons, for example, is possible in material world only, and that is the reason Lord arranged for Jaya and Vijaya to descend.
We’ve also heard that Krishna is always a 16-year-old boy in Goloka, but never a small baby just as He appeared in material world.
If indeed the above two statements are true, then in one sense, the spiritual world is slightly incomplete.
Could you please clarify what is the reality?
Also, if we try to think logically, a soul, after falling and getting reformed, will never come back to the material world.
Souls are eternal, i.e. they were never created. Thus, the number of souls is fixed, but maybe so many that we say infinite.
So, there can be a situation when all souls who can fall would have fallen and got reformed and returned back to spiritual world.
Then, what would happen to the material world? Will Krishna wind up the material world department? But we also know that material world is eternal.
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Yes, the primary purpose of the material world is to provide a chance for the conditioned souls to revive their dormant/forgotten relationship and love for Krishna.
The Lord, out of His causeless mercy, descends to this material world and displays His activities as if an ordinary human.
The pastimes performed by the Lord have many different purposes. Hearing, remembering and narrating the pastimes performed by Krishna purifies the heart of the conditioned soul. This is because anything related to the Lord is absolute – Krishna’s name, form, qualities and pastimes are nondifferent than Himself. All of them are as good as associating with Krishna directly. This is one way the Lord attracts us towards Him through His pastimes.
Another purpose of these pastimes (including those where Krishna kills demons) is that there are lessons Krishna wants to teach the conditioned souls. That is the way Krishna provides us opportunities to purify our existence and ultimately become eligible to go back to Godhead.
The Lord enacts His pastimes in both the material and spiritual worlds. The demons are present only in the material world. Often our acaryas describe that in the spiritual world there are only “rumors of demons”; that is to say, the bhava of intensified shelter-taking is present as if there were real demons present, but there are no demons in Goloka. This does not make the spiritual world incomplete.
However, a contrasting position is explained in this 4-page document which provides a quite different perspective!
In the second part of your question, you state that the material world is eternal. The material world is real (in the sense that ‘it exists’) but it is not eternal. Its manifest state is temporary – that is, it goes through the cycle of creation and annihilation.
Below is an excerpt from Srila Prabhupada’s lecture which answers your question “What would happen if all the jivas go back to Godhead?” Ultimately there would be no need of the material world.
Lecture on BG 16.6 — South Africa, October 18, 1975:
Girl: Śrīla Prabhupāda, even if… All living entities are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Even if we don’t surrender to Kṛṣṇa in this lifetime, eventually we’ll surrender to Him, each and every one of us.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Everyone… Even if we don’t surrender to Kṛṣṇa in this life, will everyone surrender to Kṛṣṇa? Will everyone go back to Godhead eventually?
Prabhupāda: Hm? So, you have got doubt? Rest assured not everyone will do that. So, you have no worries. It is not that everyone will do that. Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Unless one is bhāgyavān, very fortunate, he’ll not go back home, back to Godhead. He will rot here. So, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means we are trying to make people bhāgyavān. If he wants, he can become bhāgyavān. That is our attempt. We are creating so many centers. We are teaching them how to become bhāgyavān, fortunate, how to go back home, and how they can be happy. Now, if one is fortunate, they will take this instruction and turn his life. Therefore, this is a mission. But without becoming bhāgyavān, nobody can go. Fortunate. So, we are giving them chance to become fortunate. This is our mission. The most unfortunate is getting the chance of becoming fortunate. Any one of us can consider this, how from unfortunate life they are coming to fortunate. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that we are giving chance to the unfortunate. Everyone is unfortunate, everyone is a rascal. We are giving them chance how to become intelligent and fortunate. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If the people are not so unfortunate and rascal, then what is the meaning of preaching? Preaching means that you have to turn the rascals and unfortunate to become intelligent and fortunate. That is preaching. But unless you are fortunate and intelligent, you cannot take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is a fact.
