The “fall” of Jaya and Vijaya

When reading it for the first time, one could get the impression that falling from Vaikunta is a normal occurrence. However, this understanding is quite wrong.

The fall of Jaya and Vijaya after being cursed by the four Kumaras is a very significant event in the Srimad Bhagavatam. A great part of the narration covers topics directly or indirectly connected with this event, like the pregnancy of Diti in the evening, the fight of Lord Varaha against Hiranyaksa, the pastimes of Prahlada Maharaja and Lord Nrsinhadeva, the advent of Lord Rama and so on. This is also possibly one of the most difficult-to-understand passages of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The saga starts with the visit of the four Kumaras to Vaikunta. The chronology is that the meeting of Jaya and Vijaya with the four Kumaras happened at the end of the 5th Manvantara, and their first birth happened during the 6th Manvantara when the conditions for their birth (Diti violating the regulative principles and begetting children at the prohibited time) appeared.

This was in turn after the pastimes connected with the sons of Daksa being delivered by Narada Muni. After cursing Narada Muni, Daksa engaged in begetting daughters (whom he knew Narada would not try to liberate) and fulfilled his work of populating the universe through them. Diti was one of these daughters, and she became the mother of Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakashipu.

The second birth of Jaya and Vijaya (as Ravana and Kumbakarna) happened earlier in the current Manvantara (the 7th), while their third birth as Sisupala and Dantavakra happened recently when Krsna was present on our planet.

First of all, how the Kumaras were able to visit the Vaikunta planets if it is described that before meeting with the Lord they were impersonalists?

In the Srimad Bhagavatam (as well as in other Puranas) there are many accounts of great personalities of this universe being able to visit Vaikuṇṭha-loka, just like Durvāsā Muni, the four Kumaras, as well as different demigods and great sages. These personalities are not normally able to leave the universe, but they can sometimes reach Vaikuṇṭha-loka through Svetadwipa, the abode of Lord Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, which is a Vaikunta planet appearing as an island in the milk ocean, one of the seven oceans of Bhu-Mandala.

There is no difference between Svetadwipa and the Vaikunta planets in the spiritual world, but Svetadwipa is easier to reach since it appears inside our universe. It works thus as a kind of portal, through which one can reach the spiritual sky without having to pierce through the coverings of the universe, travel across the Brahmajyoti, and so on.

Normally, the demigods go to the border of the milk ocean and offer prayers to Lord Ksirodakasayi Vishnu from there when they need assistance, but sometimes great personalities are able to directly reach Svetadwipa, like in the case of the four Kumaras. By going to Svetadwipa, they were able to reach the spiritual sky. However, being stopped at the door by Jaya and Vijaya, they became angry and cursed them to become demons. This was an extraordinary event that raises lots of questions. One of them is how, being eternal inhabitants of Vaikunta and personal associates of the Lord, Jaya and Vijaya, could fall from there, even if temporarily.

When reading it for the first time, one could get the impression that falling from Vaikunta is a normal occurrence, just like there are many stories of Gandharvas and demigods being cursed and falling from the celestial planets. However, this understanding is quite wrong.

The Vaikunta planets are quite different from the celestial planets. The celestial planets are part of the material world and are under the influence of the three material modes, and thus one's position there is temporary by nature. One may stay for a relatively long time enjoying there, but he will eventually fall back to earth, be it by death, a curse, or simply by exhausting his pious credits.

Falling from the celestial planets is thus not a possibility, but a rule. When we speak about Vaikunta, however, the situation is completely different. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-Gita: "That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world." (Bg 15.6)

The story of the "falling" of Jaya and Vijaya from Vaikunta is thus included on Srimad Bhagavatam not to support the idea that souls fall regularly from the spiritual planets but as a description of the glories of the supreme abode.

Although there is a theoretical possibility that a soul may want to leave such a position due to free will (no one is a prisoner there), there is no indication that this happens in practice. Apart from that, there is no possibility that one could be forced out of the spiritual planets by an external force, or by the influence of lust and greed since these forces are absent there.

However, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, a situation is narrated when the four sages curse (out of anger) two personal associates of Lord Vishnu, forcing them not only to fall into the material world but to become demons inimical to the Lord. How to understand that?

First of all, Srila Prabhupada mentions in his purport to SB 3.16.12 that the "fall" of Jaya and Vijaya is not a normal occurrence, but an accident that happened due to them accidentally offending the four Kumaras. As he explains: "From this statement we can understand how anxious the Lord is to get his servitor back into Vaikuṇṭha. Therefore this incident proves that those who have once entered a Vaikuṇṭha planet can never fall down. The case of Jaya and Vijaya is not a fall down; it is just an accident. The Lord is always anxious to get such devotees back again to the Vaikuṇṭha planets as soon as possible."

Because of the offense, they got a temporary reaction, but because they are eternal servitors of Lord Vishnu, the Lord organized things so they could come back as soon as possible.

Another point is that they never really "fell" since they remained continuously connected with the Lord by constantly meditating on Him in anger. Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purports that just as Jaya and Vijaya came to the material world to facilitate the pastimes of the Lord, many other personal associates frequently come down to participate in the pastimes of the Lord in the material world, to preach, to assist other Vaishnavas (like in the case of the Vishnudutas) and for other purposes. However, it is not considered that they "fall" for such activities. Living in the spiritual world is thus not just a matter of geographical location, but a matter of deep connection with the Lord. Eternal associates are connected to Him in such a way that even if they come to the material world for some purpose, they don't forget the Lord. In this sense, Jaya and Vijaya did not fall, because they remained connected, although in anger.

As Srila Prabhupada comments on 3.16.26: "The conclusion is that no one falls from the spiritual world, or Vaikuṇṭha planet, for it is the eternal abode. But sometimes, as the Lord desires, devotees come into this material world as preachers or as atheists. In each case we must understand that there is a plan of the Lord."

The pastime of Jaya and Vijaya is also yet another alert for the dangers of performing Vaishnava aparadha. If even Jaya and Vijaya had to come to the material world and spend three lives here as a result of offending the four Kumaras, we can only speculate how precarious will be our situation if we do the same. Although devotional service is eternal and can't be ever destroyed, offenses to other devotees can cover it for a long time, resulting in a very unpleasant trip to the dungeons of material existence.

The next question is how the four Kumaras could become angry and curse Jaya and Vijaya. This is answered in SB 3.16.25, where Prabhupada explains that the Kumaras were influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance. This raises another question: are the Vaikunta planets not supposed to be free from the influence of the material modes? This is answered in further purports. At that point, the Kumaras were still attracted to the impersonal feature of the absolute truth, and therefore they were not completely free from the influence of the material modes. Sometimes the Lord organizes for beings from the material world to visit Vaikuṇṭha-loka for some purpose, like in the case of Durvāsā Muni (who went all the way to Vaikunta just to be scolded by the Lord and told to go back and beg forgiveness from Ambarīṣa Maharaja) and the four Kumaras. Because they are not ready yet to stay in Vaikunta, they go back after their visit. In the case of the Kumaras is also mentioned that they did not enter Vaikuṇṭha-loka: they went up to the last door and from there returned to the material world, after getting the darshan of Lord Vishnu, who came out to see them.

It becomes easier to understand when we consider that they went to Vaikunta through Svetadwipa. Normally, to reach the Vaikunta planets, one has to pass through the abode of Lord Shiva, the light of the impersonal Brahmajoti, and so on, realms that are already free from the influence of the material modes. In other words, one would have to be free from the influence of the material modes much before reaching the doors of the spiritual planets, having passed through all these different abodes.

Going through Svetadwipa, however, the Kumaras were on a clear border between the material and spiritual words. Beyond the door protected by Jaya and Vijaya, there was Vaikunta, a place free from the influence of the material modes, but the Kumaras didn't cross the door. Thus, they were still on the material side, and could thus still be influenced by the material modes.

Another point is that the whole incident happened due to the will of the Lord. It is described in the Laghu Bhagavatamrta that being the two strongest doorkeepers of the Lord, Jaya and Vijaya had the desire to serve the Lord by fighting with Him, and at the same time, the Lord Himself wanted to fight, and this desire could only be satisfied by some of his associates coming to the material world and playing the role of enemies. The anger propensity of the Kumaras was thus used by Lord Vishnu to fulfill both purposes.

A final question could be if this pastime of Jaya and Vijaya being cursed and "falling" from Vaikunta is repeated in every Kalpa, with them repeatedly playing the roles of demons and fighting the Lord. In the Laghu Bhagavatamrta (1.5.50), Srila Rupa Goswami answers that no. The incarnations of Jaya and Vijaya as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksa happened only in this particular universe, coinciding with the curse of the Four Kumaras. In other words, that's a special occurrence. In other universes, as well as in other kalpas, Lord Nrsinhadeva and Lord Varaha fight with regular demons.

We can thus conclude that:

1- Jaya and Vijaya faced a temporary reaction by accidentally offending the Kumaras.

2- This was the will of the Lord. Therefore, they were not pushed out of the Vaikuntas by an external force, nor by the influence of the three modes.

3- They never fell, since they remained connected with the Lord through constantly meditating on Hin in anger. The three lives they spent in the material world are equal to just a blip of time in Vaikuntas, therefore practically speaking they never left.

4- Just like Jaya and Vijaya, other associates of the Lord frequently come to this material world for different purposes. These are not fall downs.

5- The whole incident serves as an example of the dangers of offending other devotees. Although never failing from their eternal positions, Jaya and Vijaya had to face a temporary reaction.

6- The "falling" of Jaya and Vijaya is a special occurrence and not a regular pastime that repeats at every Kalpa.

One could be tempted to use the story of Jaya and Vijaya as a support to the idea that souls fall regularly from the spiritual world, or conversely, that we were never with Krsna, since no one falls from the spiritual world. However, this story doesn't support either side. The situation of Jaya and Vijaya is different from ours because they never forgot about Lord Vishnu, and thus remained connected with Him. Jaya and Vijaya came for three lives just to assist the Lord in His pastimes, while we have been here since time immemorial, completely forgotten about the Lord.

The whole discussion about the fall or no fall of the soul is largely misguided, and mostly based on intellectual pursuits, personal opinions, dogmas, and emotions. Srila Prabhupada alerts us that this is an extremely intricate philosophical question, that is essentially impossible to understand while we are still in the material world and thus subjected to the influence of material modes, material time, and so on.

In his teachings, Srila Prabhupada gives a much more nuanced understanding of this topic than most of us can grasp, emphasizing that every soul has an eternal relationship with Krsna and that every soul has intrinsic love for Krsna that can't ever be lost, although it can be temporarily forgotten. He offers the analogy of a dream to explain it, an analogy that is easy to understand, since a dreaming person may experience many different situations, although he never leaves his bed. In this way, Prabhupada harmonizes the idea that the soul has an eternal relationship with Krsna and intrinsic love for Krsna with the idea that no one falls from the spiritual world.

Ultimately, however, this is a great mystery that even Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself didn't try to explain. Instead, He prayed: "O son of Maharaja Nanda (Krsna), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet." (Siksastakan 5)

"Somehow or other" we came to this material world, but this doesn't matter, since now our goal is to come out of this ocean and regain our eternal spiritual position as Krsna's servants. As Srila Prabhupada explains, if a person falls into the ocean, his immediate problem is how to save himself. After he is out of the ocean, in a safe situation, he may calmly sit and enquire about the reasons for his falling into the ocean.

As he wrote in his translation to CC Madhya 22.107: “Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.”

This is more thoroughly explained in his purport to 7.14:

"By the practice of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting, the impure heart of a conditioned soul is purified, and thus he can understand his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That eternal relationship is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera "svarūpa" haya kṛṣṇera "nitya-dāsa." (CC Madhya 20.108).

"The living entity is an eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." When one is convinced about this relationship, which is called sambandha, he then acts accordingly. That is called abhidheya. The next step is prayojana-siddhi, or fulfillment of the ultimate goal of one's life. If one can understand his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and act accordingly, automatically his mission in life is fulfilled."

---

A small tip: I host this website on the Substack platform. In the app, there is an option to listen to the posts, like a class, which can be a very convenient way to follow everything while you do other things. If you are interested, you can download the app and subscribe to the website there: