The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas ultimately bring the point that the soul is an agent. In fact, the āśrute in the Vedānta-sūtra says that if he's not an agent, if the soul, if we aren't agents for our own improvement and change, then there's no purpose to all the śāstra, because, after all, who’s it talking to when it says you can improve if you do this, this, and that? There are all these instructions saying, 'Do this, not that.' And who does that relate to? Who is it speaking to then? And unless you can improve, then the śāstra has no meaning, and the śāstra does have meaning. It's axiomatic truth; it's self-effulgent, therefore you can change.

So we may be confronted with destiny or apparent fate, but it doesn't mean that even in that moment, there isn't something we can do about it because we can always respond in that moment to the degree that we have some freedom. Freedom comes from having some knowledge—the difference between my body and myself—and that there is a proper way to act. Some people don't have that at all, so they’re in abject ignorance.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, 'māyā-mugdha jīvera nāhi svataḥ kṛṣṇa-jñāna' (CC Adi 20.122), that people don't automatically come out of ignorance; therefore, there has to be some intervention. That's why he goes on to say, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that that's why we distribute knowledge. Why do you think we distribute Bhagavad Gītā in large quantities just for entertainment, because we have nothing better to do in the last three months of the year? No, because when a soul comes in contact with spiritual knowledge, he or she can read it and then say, 'Aha, now I can do something different.'

(excerpt from the talk)

Link to the entire talk: https://youtu.be/fXRVOF0RDzQ

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