In a previous post, we examined Śrī Jīva’s explanation of māyā in which he divided māyā into two divisions, jīva-māyā and guṇa-māyā. Jīva-māyā is Durgā, and guṇa-māyā refers to inert prakṛti. Questions were raised about whether it is really Śrī Jīva’s view that jīva-māyā is a conscious entity, […]
Śrī Jīva Goswami examines the meaning of māyā in Bhagavat Sandarbha Anuccheda 18. He gives his own unique explanation of māyā, which we examine here.
Śrī Jīva Goswami spends a large part of the Bhagavat Sandarbha establishing the concept that Śrī Bhagavān’s body is not a temporary product of māyā, but is real and a manifestation of viśuddha-sattva, beyond the material guṇas. In establishing this, he examines the experience of āpta-janas, or reliable […]
Śrī Jīva means something very specific when he uses the words Supreme Absolute Reality. He planned a major part of the Bhagavat Sandarbha in such a way that Kṛṣṇa’s form is ultimately proven as the Supreme Absolute Reality or paraṁ tattva. Five-point syllogism of Nyāya Śrī Jīva writes […]
The Advaitavādīs consider Bhagavān’s body to be a product of māyā. Vidyāraṇya Swami states in his work Pañcādaśī: māyākhyāyāḥ kāma-dhenor vatsau jīveśvarāv ubhau yathecchaṁ pibatāṁ dvaitaṁ tattvam advaitam eva hi: Both jīva and īśvara are the two calves of māyā, the cow that grants all desires. Let them […]
The reason for suffering is avidyā, and it is the beginningless cause of the ātmā’s existence in the material world. Without understanding the problem, it is not possible to solve it. Here we provide definitions of avidyā, and also define the terms that are the consequences/products of avidyā. […]
A major portion of the Bhagavat Sandarbha is occupied with the nature of reality. Śrī Jīva Goswami takes pains to explain that reality is non-dual (advaya). An examination of his presentation leads to the following conclusions. The complete manifestation of tattva or Absolute Truth is Bhagavān. Tattva can […]
A major problem many have with Bhagavān’s form, is that a form is limiting. The surface of any object with form is its limit or boundary, which separates the universe outside that form from what is inside the form. If Bhagavān has a form, then He is limited. […]
Śrī Jīva discusses absolute reality or tattva with an analysis of the famous verse from the Śrīmad Bhagavatām below (Tattva Sandarbha Anuccheda 51 and 52 and Bhagavat Sandarbha Anuccheda 1): vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate: All those who have realized Absolute reality refer […]
As the ātman is situated in its own self during deep sleep and nothing else, i.e. it does not identify with anything external like the mind or body, one can intuit a number of intrinsic properties of the ātman through an analysis of deep sleep. In the Tattva […]
