Is the soul is eternal, how is Krishna the cause of the soul?

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Transcript

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So, if the soul is eternal, then how is Krishna the cause of the soul? Yeah, the word cause has multiple meanings. So, for example, if a child builds a house of cards. So, the child is the cause of the house of cards.
So, now the child is the cause of the house. Child is not the cause of the cards. The cards were already existing.
The child made the house. So, here we are using the word cause not in the sense of origination. We are using the word cause in the sense of arrangement or organization.
So, the child organized the cards into a house. So, the word cause itself can have various meanings in that sense. It’s not necessary when something is the cause of something that doesn’t necessarily mean that it alone is the source of that.
So, for example, if we say this caused that to happen, you know, his words made me angry. Okay, that the words may be a cause of my anger, but also maybe that I might have been in a bad mood because of something. And because of that, the word sparked my anger more.
So, there is a within causes also there are various kinds of causes. So, here when we talk about Krishna being the cause of all causes and Krishna being the cause of the soul, here the word cause is used in the sense of the nature of something, nature of the existence of something. It’s not its source.
That means the soul and Krishna both are eternal, but the soul is a dependent truth. The soul cannot exist without Krishna. That Krishna says that nothing can exist without me.
I am the source of everything and nothing can exist without me. So, to understand this notion of this understanding of God, again going to the Pralaya Narayana pastime. Now, before Narasimhadeva appears, Hiranyakashyapu asks Prahalaya, who is the source of your strength? You know, even the devatas, they tremble when I raise my eyebrows.
But you are so audacious. Who is the source of your strength? Now, here Hiranyakashyapu has the conception that maybe there is some being and he is giving strength to Prahalaya and he is thinking that if I can crush that being, then Prahalaya’s bravado will also collapse. So, now Prahalaya’s answer is actually from a completely different frame of reference.
What does he say? He says the absolute truth is the source of my strength, your strength and even Brahma’s strength. He is the source of all living beings. So, what he is saying, what Hiranyakashyapu is saying is, he is thinking of God as just one being among many beings.
Maybe he says Vishnu is the best of all beings, but I can become better than him. That’s his idea. See, when some people have the idea that God is the best of all beings, there is a hierarchy of beings and God is the best.
Now, this is at one level true, but it is not a complete understanding of God. Because if you say God is simply the best of all beings, then okay, you may have in tennis, so and so is the best player. Well, tomorrow somebody else can become the best player, isn’t it? If you simply think of God as the best of all beings, then you may think God is replaceable.
Somebody else can become the best of all beings. So, God is not just the best of all beings. He is the basis of all being.
He is the basis of all being. Nothing can exist without God. And Prahlad’s answer is from that frame of reference.
He is saying, you are thinking, okay, there is some being who is superior to you and you will try to overpower him. No, that being, he is the source of my strength, your strength, Brahma’s strength, everyone’s strength. So, God exists as the foundation of all being.
So, what it means here is that Prahlad is saying, you will not have any strength without him. So, like that the soul will have no existence without God. In that sense, the soul is caused by God.
It is more in the sense of the nature of existence, not the source of existence. Does it answer your question? Thank you very much.