Why Were We Born This Way?

Q: Why did Krishna create us in such a way that we could be attracted to the material world? What purpose does that fulfil?

It’s difficult for logical thinkers to grasp this, but not everything happens because of a logical “why.”

The ultimate origin of reality is not a logical machine, it is consciousness (jñānam-advayam, ŚB 1.2.11). Consciousness has freewill, and freewill doesn’t always have to behave logically. Sometimes consciousness just does things because it does.

Why does someone like purple, while another likes yellow? Is there a logical “why”? Or is this a pretty good example of how consciousness has freedom of choice which doesn’t always have to be logical?

There is a rational, logical motive to the manifestation of reality. The Upaniṣads explain it beautifully: the root of reality (Krishna) wants to enjoy (“so kāmayata, eko bahu syām prajāyeta”). That’s the ultimate logical motive: pleasure. The one manifests as many because that is more pleasurable.

The infinite entities manifest from the one original entity are amazing to him and provide him incredible joy, largely because they are as divine/conscious as he is, and therefore also possess independent will, etc. These entities have various fascinating, exciting dispositions and preferences. Some of them like “purple” and some like “yellow.”  Some take an immediate liking to Krishna, and some take a liking instead to the objects of pleasure that Krishna has manifested. There is no “reason” for this. It is simply a byproduct of their having individuality and freedom.

Some of them like “purple” and some like “yellow.”  Some take an immediate liking to Krishna, and some take a liking instead to the objects of pleasure that Krishna has manifested. There is no “reason” for this. It is simply a byproduct of their having individuality and freedom.

Krishna hasn’t arranged or chosen for it to happen that way. Nor does a living entity deliberately or rationally “choose” it. It just happens… because that’s how consciousness, individuality and freewill is… individual, unique, and free… unpredictable and not bound by logic.

Although there is no logical “reason” behind it – the existence of people disinterested in Krishna creates side effects that enhance Krishna’s bliss after all. Two I can understand are:

1. By providing for these beings without selfish reward, as paramātmā, he experiences the bliss of selflessness (śānta-rasa).
2. By trying to help these beings attain a higher pleasure than they can experience without him, he experiences the bliss of heroism (vīra-rasa,)

This doesn’t mean that Krishna manifests the material world just so he can play hero. The material world exists as a result of individuality and freedom. But as a side effect, he winds up experiencing a special type of śānta and vīra rasa, because all of his energy always inherently serves him somehow or other (kṛṣṇer nitya dāsa).

To sum it up, Krishna isn’t the cause of our attraction to his separated energy, we are. He manifests entities with freewill, and they manifest their own attraction to his separated energy. This preference of theirs is a result of their individuality and freewill, but isn’t a “choice” with a “reason” and “sequence” to it.

A “P.S.”

The reason why reality is the way it is is “trans-logical” but not “illogical.”

It is logical that consciousness wants something worth being conscious of. Therefore “so kāmayatā bahu syām prajāyeta” (that the one consciousness manifests in manifold ways for the sake of experiencing pleasure) is logical.

It is also logical that boredom is not pleasurable. Therefore it is logical that the one consciousness manifests manifold INDIVIDUALS, capable or unpredictable behavior and preferences, capable of independent will.

It is therefore also logical that some individuals manifest from the one consciousness will be interested only in the manifestations of that consciousness (“the external world”), not in the consciousness itself (“Krishna”).

Their preference is a result of their freedom and will and individuality, not a result of some “reason” or logic. Yet it is not illogical. It is “trans-logical” – the cause is beyond logic, yet it manifests in logical ways.

Vraja Kishor (www.vrajakishor.com)