Do all jīvas possess 50 qualities of Bhagavān?

Reader Shivam ji wrote:

Hare Krishna If you read Srila Prabhupada’s teachings in ISKCON, it is common knowledge that 64 qualities are fully manifested in Krishna. Similarly, Vishnu has 60 qualities, Shiv has 55 qualities and Brahma has 50 qualities. As far as I know, a living being has 50 qualities and that too of Krishna. [the question is — Do all jīvas possess 50 qualities of Bhagavān?]

Reply:

The concept that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa has 64 qualities is taught by Śrī Rūpa Goswami in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.

There, Śrī Rūpa Goswami does not teach that all jīvas possess 50 qualities of Bhagavān.

We shall see this in Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravarti’s commentary below.

|| 2.1.23-29 ||

atha tad-guṇāḥ—
Now, His qualities are described —

ayaṁ netā suramyāṅgaḥ sarva-sal-lakṣaṇānvitaḥ | ruciras tejasā yukto balīyān vayasānvitaḥ ||23||
vividhādbhuta-bhāṣā-vit satya-vākyaḥ priyaṁ vadaḥ | vāvadūkaḥ supāṇḍityo buddhimān pratibhānvitaḥ ||24||
vidagdhaś caturo dakṣaḥ kṛtajñaḥ sudṛḍha-vrataḥ |deśa-kāla-supātrajñaḥ śāstra-cakṣuḥ śucir vaśī ||25||
sthiro dāntaḥ kṣamā-śīlo gambhīro dhṛtimān samaḥ |vadānyo dhārmikaḥ śūraḥ karuṇo mānya-mānakṛt ||26||
dakṣiṇo vinayī hrīmān śaraṇāgata-pālakaḥ |sukhī bhakta-suhṛt prema-vaśyaḥ sarva-śubhaṅkaraḥ ||27||
pratāpī kīrtimān rakta-lokaḥ sādhu-samāśrayaḥ |nārī-gaṇa-manohārī sarvārādhyaḥ samṛddhimān ||28||
varīyān īśvaraś ceti guṇās tasyānukīrtitāḥ |samudrā iva pañcāśad durvigāhā harer amī ||29||

These are fifty in number and are Bhagavān’s qualities (tad-guṇāḥ). Śrī Rūpa Goswami lists 14 more after these verses. He then goes on to give glosses for each. I will translate these verses in the next article, to avoid distractions in answering the question from Shivam ji.

The next verse, which is the principal verse for the purposes of this article, is as follows —

jīveṣu ete vasanto’pi bindu-bindutayā kvacit |paripūrṇatayā bhānti tatraiva puruṣottame ||

Before I translate this, I will examine commentaries of the following three ācāryas.

śrī-jīvaḥ : kvacid iti | bhagavad-anugṛhīteṣv ity eva mukhyatayāṅgīkṛtam | ata eva bindutvam api | anyeṣu tu tad-ābhāsatvam eva jñeyam ||30||

[the word kvacit is justified] The word kvacit means only in those who are graced by Bhagavān, [are these 50 qualities] accepted primarily. As such, these qualities are only present as small particles [in small amounts]. In others, it is to be understood that there is only a semblance of these qualities.

Here, Śrī Jīva has explained very clearly that the word ‘kvacit’ indicates ‘in only some’ – those that are graced in Bhagavān. The qualities are not present in others. Thus, the proposition that Bhagavān’s 50 qualities are present in all jīvas is refuted. Mukunda Goswami confirms —

mukundaḥ : kvacid iti yogyeṣv eva | ete dvitrāḥ pañcaṣā ity ādi-rūpatayā pañcāśat ||30||

The word ‘kvacit’ means ‘only in those who are qualified’. These qualities, in groups of two, three and five, add upto 50.

Now Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravarti is even more categorical. The 50 qualities are transcendental, being present in Bhagavān. Therefore, the materially conditioned jīvas cannot have even a relationship — not even with a drop of them. He writes —

viśvanāthaḥ : jīveṣv iti |bhagavad-anugṛhīteṣv ity arthaḥ | anyathā prākṛta-jīveṣu bhagavat-sambandhy-aprākṛta-guṇānāṁ bindu-sambandhasyāpy asambhavāt | ata eva prākṛteṣu tad-ābhāsatvam eva jñeyam ||30||

The word jīveṣu in the verse means “bhagavad-anugṛhīteṣu”, “in those who are graced by Bhagavān”. This is because otherwise, even a minute relationship with the transcendental qualities related to Bhagavān is not possible, in beings who are materially conditioned. Therefore, among those who are materially conditioned, only a semblance of those qualities is to be understood.

I will now translate kārikā 2.1.30 —

jīveṣu ete vasanto’pi bindu-bindutayā kvacit |paripūrṇatayā bhānti tatraiva puruṣottame

While these qualities are present to a minute extent only in those jīvas who are graced by Bhagavān, they shine to their fullest extent in the Supreme Purusa alone.

Summary

The 50 qualities listed in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu belong to Bhagavān.

They can be present to minute extents only in those jīvas who are graced by Bhagavān.

Those who are not graced by Bhagavān cannot have even a relationship with even the minute qualities, leave alone possessing them.

This refutes the proposition that all jīvas have these 50 qualities.