“Your next question, ‘Is a pure devote eternally liberated and if so is he at any time a conditioned soul? We are eternally conditioned but as soon as we surrender to Krsna do we then become eternally liberated? When Lord Christ appeared he seemed to be conditioned in his growth. Was he a specific incarnation or a conditioned soul who became liberated?’ You are not eternally conditioned. You are eternally liberated but since we have become conditioned on account of our desire to enjoy the materialistic way of life, from time immemorial, therefore it appears that we are eternally conditioned. Because we cannot trace out the history or the date when we became conditioned, therefore it is technically called eternally conditioned. A living entity is always pure. But he is prone to be attracted by material enjoyment and as soon as he agrees to place himself in material enjoyment he becomes conditioned, but that is not permanent.
Therefore a living entity is called on the marginal state, sometimes this side, sometimes that side. These are very intelligent questions. And I am very glad that you are putting such intelligent questions and trying to understand it. It is very good. But best thing is that one should know he is in conditioned life and try to cure it. When a man is in a diseased condition he should try to get out of diseased condition without harassing his brain when the disease has begun. But it is to be understood that the disease is not our constant companion, it is temporary. So the best thing is to cure the disease, and not waste our time to find out the date when it began. Forgetfulness of Krsna is the disease, so let us keep ourselves always in Krsna consciousness and get of the disease, that is healthy life.
Yes, Lord Jesus was jiva-tattva. He is not Visnu-tattva. When a jiva-tattva becomes specifically empowered by the Lord, he is called saktyavesa-avatara. Lord Buddha and Lord Jesus Christ were in this group of saktyavesa-avataras. But they were not in conditioned state when they appeared; they came to teach here. You should all read very carefully Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, and you should be able to answer all questions like this, and only in rare cases approach me. But it is important that our students must be able to answer all questions for becoming preachers.”
(SPL to Aniruddha, 14th November, 1968)