Some argue that upon becoming siddha, i.e. getting entry into Goloka, the term taṭasthā is no longer a primary description of the jīva, since the very definition of taṭasthā implies being conditioned. These proponents argue that Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja prefers the term vibhinna-aṁśa instead of taṭasthā-śakti for the jīvas, […]
Some people claim that it is not possible for the jīva to experience its own svarūpa or essential nature without experiencing itself as a servant of Bhagavān. In their view, the only ‘fourth’ state of consciousness (turiya), separate from the three states of deep sleep, wakefulness, and dreams, […]
Q: You wrote in a previous article that the jīva is not Bhagavan’s cit-śakti. But doesn’t Śrī Jīva Goswami state the opposite in Anuccheda 56 of the Paramātmā Sandarbha? A: No. The purpose of this part of the anuchheda is to note that there are three distinct śaktis, […]
Those who insist that Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti is in the jīva, erase any essential difference between the jīvas who are taṭasthā śakti, and Bhagavān’s associates who are made of svarūpa śakti. If one were to imagine for a minute that all the jīvas in the material world were […]
Q: What is taṭasthā śakti? A: The jīvas. Q: Do jīvas have taṭasthā śakti? A: That is like asking if the mind has a mind or color has color or taste has taste. The mind is the mind. Color is color. The jīvas are taṭasthā śakti. Q: But […]
I recently acquired a copy of a Sanskrit commentary on the Sarva-samvādinī, which is a commentary by Śrī Jīva Goswami on his Sandarbhas. It is written by Śrī Ānanda Gopāla Vedānta-tirtha, who is a Gauḍiya-Vedānta scholar currently based in Rādhā-kund. The book was published by the Jīva Institute […]
In a previous article, I showed how Śrīdhar Swami’s commentary contains the words, “na tu jīveṣu” – not in the living beings, which explicitly denies the presence of Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti in the jīva. There I cited his original commentary from Viṣṇu Purāṇa. In Śrī Jīva Goswami’s quotation […]
The inherent bhakti-vādis hold that bhakti is in the svarūpa of the jīva. Because bhakti is Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti, this forces them to take the position that Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti is inside the jīva – in other words, Bhagavān’s svarūpa śakti (i.e. the śakti that constitutes His very […]
Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī uses the term ‘duḥkha-pratiyogi’ as a synonym of the word ‘ānanda’, which is an intrinsic quality of the ātmā. Śrī Babaji has explained that the term ‘pratiyogi’ is used to convey the meaning of an absence of duḥkha or misery in the ātmā. Opponents claim […]
We come across the term ‘mukti’ frequently in the scriptures. The term evokes a final, everlasting destination after death, and is generally translated as ‘liberation’. But what is the precise meaning of this term? A definition of mukti The term mukti is defined in the Bhāgavata purāṇa in […]
In a previous article, I discussed how the ātmā is immutable. This implies that no external information, whatever it may be, can enter into the pure ātmā. Otherwise, the ātmā becomes changed. How, then, does knowing occur at all? Who is the knower? Śrī Jīva Goswami examines this […]
The laws of nature are immutable and apply to everything in nature. As an example, the first law of thermodynamics states that the total energy of any isolated system is constant. (By definition, an isolated system cannot exchange matter and energy with the surroundings) There are laws that […]
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