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The jīva’s root problem: beginningless absence of awareness of the Absolute Reality

By T. Krsna dasa on December 5, 2022 • ( 7 Comments )

In a previous article, I presented Śrī Jīva Goswami’s formulation of the jīva’s basic problem that he defines in the Prīti Sandarbha: atha jīvaś ca tadīyo’pi taj-jñāna-saṁsargābhāva-yuktatvena tan-māyā-parābhūtaḥ sann ātma-svarūpa-jñāna-lopān māyā-kalpitopādhy-āveśāc cānādi-saṁsāra-duḥkhena sambadhyata iti paramātma-sandarbhādāv eva nirūpitam asti | The individual living being (jīva), although belonging to the […]

The awareness of the ātmā of its svarūpa is absent or ‘unmanifest’ in its conditioned state

By T. Krsna dasa on December 1, 2022 • ( 25 Comments )

The inherent bhaktivadis claim that intrinsic śaktis of the ātmā like its jñāna-śakti or its ability to know, its ability to act, and so on, become unmanifest when it is conditioned by māyā. To support this, they cite the Prīti Sandarbha. Here I continue to examine the evidence […]

Does the ātmā search for prīti, or love, for Bhagavān?

By T. Krsna dasa on November 26, 2022 • ( 13 Comments )

Proponents of inherent bhakti-vāda (bhakti is inherent in the ātmā) claim that without inherent bhakti, the ātmā would not have prīti or love for Bhagavān as its purpose. The opponents of inherent bhakti-vāda, that is us, take the position that the absence of suffering is the ātmā’s inherent […]

Translation of Gītā 2.29

By T. Krsna dasa on November 25, 2022 • ( 1 Comment )

Reader Sridhar ji requested a translation of Śrī Baladeva’s commentary on Gītā 2.29. For reference, the verse is below: āścaryavat paśyati kaścid enam āścaryavad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ | āścaryavac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti śrutvāpy enaṁ veda na caiva kaścit || Someone considers the self as amazing, another speaks of […]

‘Svayam-prakāśatva’ refers to the intrinsic jñāna-śakti of the ātmā

By T. Krsna dasa on November 23, 2022 • ( 14 Comments )

Claim: The quality of the jīva of svayam-prakāśatva, discussed in the Paramātmā Sandarbha, means ‘self-manifestation’. This refers to the phenomenon, in which the jīva, upon liberation, ‘self-manifests’ its intrinsic qualities of jñāna-śakti or knowership, its agency or doership, and other qualities, on its own. Further, these śaktis are […]

Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti is not the same as the jīva’s svarūpa śakti

By T. Krsna dasa on November 19, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

Claim: In Prīti Sandarbha Anuchheda 5.2, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī again supports that the ātmā uses māyā’s jñāna śakti or the material jñāna śakti to know when in the material body, and that the ātmā’s innate jñāna śakti, which is its svarūpa śakti, is the same as Bhagavān’s svarūpa […]

The jīva uses the ātmā’s own jñāna śakti, and not Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti or māyā śakti, to know – Part II

By T. Krsna dasa on November 19, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

I continue to examine the evidence that some offer to support the claim that the ātmā uses māyā’s jñāna śakti or the material jñāna śakti to know when in the material body. Claim: In Paramātma Sandarbha 19, Śrī Jīva Goswami states that the jīva’s knowership, doership, and enjoyership […]

The jīva uses the ātmā’s own jñāna śakti, and not Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti or māyā śakti, to know – part I

By T. Krsna dasa on November 18, 2022 • ( 10 Comments )

Some claim that instead of using the ātmā’s intrinsic jñāna śakti, the ātmā uses māyā’s jñāna śakti or the material jñāna śakti to know. Likewise, instead of using the ātmā’s intrinsic kriyā śakti, the ātmā uses māyā’s kriyā śakti or the material kriyā śakti to act. To understand […]

Of swans and jīvas

By T. Krsna dasa on November 14, 2022 • ( 4 Comments )

Some offer an analogy between swans and jīvas. The analogy goes like this: “Consider a caged swan. Looking at the swan, one would not know that the swan has the ability to swim. But unlock the cage and put the swan onto the water, and it starts to […]

Śrī Jīva Goswami’s explanation of the jīva’s knowership and agency in the Sarva-samvādinī

By T. Krsna dasa on November 13, 2022 • ( 5 Comments )

Śrī Jīva Goswami has explained in the Paramātmā Sandarbha that knowership and agency are intrinsic to the pure jīva or ātmā. Some glean a novel, alternative meaning from his writings. These proponents state something like this: “Knowership and agency are in the ātmā, but they are unmanifest, i.e. […]

Śrī Viśvanātha explains taṭasthā-śakti

By T. Krsna dasa on November 9, 2022 • ( 16 Comments )

One of the joys of studying the writings of Śrī Viśvanātha is the clarity with which he presents any topic. Here, we examine his beautiful exposition of the taṭasthā-śakti, in SB 10.87.32. We pick up the thread somewhere in the middle of his commentary: teṣāṁ bahutvaṁ nityatvaṁ ca— […]

Śrī Jīva Goswami teaches that the pure jīva, i.e. ātmā, is taṭasthā śakti

By T. Krsna dasa on November 8, 2022 • ( 3 Comments )

In the Bhagavat Sandarbha Anuccheda 16.4, Śrī Jīva Goswami discusses how Bhagavān has three distinct śaktis. He writes: śaktiś ca tridhā—antaraṅgā, taṭasthā, bahiraṅgā ca | Parabrahman’s śakti is of three types — antaraṅgā, taṭasthā, and bahiraṅgā. Over and over, we see that Śrī Jīva Goswami states that there […]

Quote

tad etat śrīmad-gītā-gopāla-tāpany-ādi-śāstra-gaṇa-sahāyasya nikhiletara-śāstra-śata-praṇata-caraṇasya śrī-bhāgavatasyābhiprāyeṇa śrī-kṛṣṇasya svayaṁ bhagavattvaṁ karatala iva darśitam
In this way, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s existential status as Svayaṁ Bhagavān has been shown — as clearly as one might display the palm of one’s hand — to be the true intent of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata , which is served reverentially by hundreds of other sacred writings and assisted by scriptures such as the Gītā and Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad.

– Śrī Jīva Goswami

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