Question: Can the following be safely considered to be the reasons (rendered by the holy Gita) lying behind the living beings’ having fallen into the material world:
Lord Krishna instructs us in Bhagavad-gita (7.27)
iccha-dvesha-samutthena
dvandva-mohena Bharata
sarva-bhutani sammoham
sarge yanti parantapa
“O scion of Bharata, O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, bewildered by dualities arisen from desire and hate.”
One reason for our being in the material world rather than the spiritual world, our real home, is that we exercised a desire to enjoy separately from the Supreme Lord Krishna. Instead of serving Him with love, we desired to serve our own false ego. Although Krishna knows we can never be satisfied without serving Him in our natural position. He nonetheless respects our independence and free will and allows us to act out our impulses to enjoy ourselves separately from Him in the material world.
A second component of the reason for our being in the material world is our envy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One aspect of envy is the desire to usurp the position of the envied person. For example, if one envies a wealthy person, one may desire to become the enjoyer of that person’s wealth. Similarly, the envious soul may desire to take the Lord’s position as the supreme enjoyer. This necessarily involves partial or total forgetfulness of God’s existence.
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Your understanding of the Jiva’s misuse of their freewill and wanting to be the enjoyer is correct and the reason for the Jiva’s fall down as well. Please also refer to Digest 72 , Digest 8C and Digest 449
