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8 The Nectar of Book Distribution
likes every part and parcel of His different potencies to take part in the
blissful rasa because participation with the Lord in His eternal rāsa-līlā is
the highest living condition, perfect in spiritual bliss and eternal knowledge.
(b) Why the Lord descends
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.34 p: There are innumerable material universes,
and in each and every universe there are innumerable planets inhabited by
different grades of living entities in different modes of nature. The Lord
(Viṣṇu) incarnates Himself in each and every one of them and in each and
every type of living society. He manifests His transcendental pastimes
among them just to create the desire to go back to Godhead. The Lord
does not change His original transcendental position, but He appears to be
differently manifested according to the particular time, circumstances and
society. Sometimes He incarnates Himself or empowers a suitable living
being to act for Him, but in either case the purpose is the same: The Lord
wants the suffering living being to go back home, back to Godhead. The
happiness which the living beings are hankering for is not to be found within
any corner of the innumerable universes and material planets. The eternal
happiness which the living being wants is obtainable in the kingdom of God,
but the forgetful living beings under the influence of the material modes
have no information of the kingdom of God. The Lord, therefore, comes
to propagate the message of the kingdom of God, either personally as an
incarnation or through His bona fide representative as the good son of God.
Such incarnations or sons of God are not making propaganda for going back
to Godhead only within the human society. Their work is also going on in
all types of societies, among demigods and those other than human beings.
(c) Importance of the scriptures
Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.122: The conditioned soul cannot
revive his Kṛṣṇa consciousness by his own effort. But out of causeless
mercy, Lord Kṛṣṇa compiled the Vedic literature and its supplements, the
Purāṇas.
Purport: A conditioned soul is bewildered by the Lord’s illusory energy
(māyā). Māyā’s business is to keep the conditioned soul forgetful of his
real relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Thus the living entity forgets his real identity
as spirit soul, Brahman, and instead of realizing his factual position thinks
himself the product of the material energy. … Out of His causeless mercy and
compassion, Kṛṣṇa has compiled various Vedic literatures in His incarnation
as Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva is a śaktyāveśa-avatāra of Lord Kṛṣṇa. He has