Learn more Jiva Tattva

The internal energy of Bhagavān has three aspects: existence (sandhinī), awareness (saṁvit) and bliss (hlādinī)

The sandhinī potency is the intrinsic power of existence of the Self-existent Bhagavān, and it upholds the existence of the individual ātmās and nature.

The saṁvit potency is the power of knowledge of Bhagavān by which He is all-knowing and which enables all others to know.

The hlādinī potency is the power of bliss, which bestows bliss both to Bhagavān — who is inherently full of bliss — and to others.

These three aspects of the internal potency are the very nature of Bhagavān and thus exist eternally in Him. The saṁvit potency includes and supersedes the sandhinī potency, and the hlādinī potency includes and supersedes the other two. This threefold internal energy of Bhagavān constitutes His very nature and that of His abode and associates.

Learn more Jiva Tattva

Consciousness (jñāna) as an attribute of ātmā is intrinsic and therefore eternal, but it can expand or contract in a real sense. The sentient knowledge of the self is not “destroyed,” it merely undergoes change in the form of expansion and contraction, by the influence of karma. The illusion of identifying oneself with a body needs a conscious base. Therefore, we see that self-illumination still exists in the ignorant ātmā – but to a contracted extent – as the basis for the experience of illusion.

Ātmā has two types of jñāna, namely svarūpa-bhūta and dharma-bhūta. The first is the intrinsic nature, i.e. the nature of being consciousness, the second is the quality of possessing awareness and knowledge.

The first one has no content in it except the sense of “I”. It is subjective consciousness. The second one is related to objects outside the self. It is objective awareness.

The conscious, self-illuminating nature of the ātmā (jñāna-svarūpa) is not lost. The nature of the ātmā is eternally to be full of brilliant consciousness. But the attribute of being able to use that luminous consciousness to illuminate objects (dharma-bhūta-jñāna) is covered. The attribute is covered and contracted, not the intrinsic nature which sprouts the attribute.

In summary, the ātmā inherently and eternally possesses the attribute of sentience, jñāna, and eternally possesses the constitution of consciousness. But the ability for these to shine can be expanded or contracted by the function of dharma-bhūta-jñāna.

Learn more: The Ontology of the Jīva.

Śrī Jīva’s Goswami explains the cause of the jīva’s misidentification with the body by citing the following verse from the Bhāgavata purāṇa:

yad-arthena vināmuṣya puṁsa ātma-viparyayaḥ |

pratīyata upadraṣṭu sva-śiraś-chedanādikaḥ ||

[it is because of this māyā] that the self assumes a position that is contrary to its inherent nature, just as it appears to a witness of the dream state that he has been beheaded and other similar contradictions, even though such dream cognitions are without reality, (SB 3.7.10)*

In the verse, Śrī Jīva explains the word ‘yad’ in ‘yad-arthena’ as yasyāḥ māyayā hetor, that is, “because of māyā”.

Later, he comments:

svapnāvasthāyāṁ jīvena sva-śiraś-chedanādiko’tīvāsambhavo’rthaḥ pratīyate | na hi tasya śiraś chinnaṁ, na tu vā sva-śiraś chedaṁ ko’pi paśyet | kintu bhagavan-māyaivānyatra-siddhaṁ tad-rūpam arthaṁ tasminn āropayatīti, māyā-mātraṁ tu kārtsnyenānabhivyakta-svarūpatvāt [vs 3.2.3] iti nyāyena ||

In the dream state, a completely impossible effect, such as seeing one’s own head being chopped off, appears to be experienced by the jīva. Certainly his head is not being cut off, nor can anyone witness his own beheading. Rather,it is Bhagavān’s māyā,which superimposes such an effect occurring to some other person in some other circumstance on the witness itself of such an event in the dream state. As is said: “Dream objects are, however, products of māyā alone, because they are not perceived by anyone other than the dreamer” (vs 3.2.3).

Śrī Jīva cites more verses which explain the state of the jīva through more analogies,

yathā jale candramasaḥ kampādis tat-kṛto guṇaḥ |

dṛśyate’sann api draṣṭur ātmano’nātmano guṇaḥ ||

Just as the shimmering of the moon observed in water comes about due to the attributes of the water, so the attributes of the non-self [i.e., the body] seem to belong to the self, the witness, although they do not [factually] exist in it. (SB 3.7.11)

and

nṛtyato gāyataḥ paśyan yathaivānukaroti tām |

evaṁ buddhi-guṇān paśyann anīho’py anukāryate ||

Just as a man, who sees others dancing and singing, imitates them, so the self, although actionless, is made to follow the movements of the states of the intellect (buddhi) when it observes them, (SB11.22.52)

Insights to be gleaned from Śrī Jīva’s analysis

The essence of Śrī Jīva’s explanation is that

a) the jīva’s bondage is not real, but only appears to be so, and

b) the bondage occurs by the inconceivable influence of māyā.

Notice here that Śrī Jīva does not attribute the jīva’s condition to any choice that it made to leave the spiritual world and enter the material world. In fact, such an absurd idea is mentioned nowhere in his writings, nor the writings of any of the Goswamis.

In Paramātma Sandarbha (28), Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī explicitly says that the self is devoid of knowledge, although conscious by nature, and it lacks bliss although free of any material misery. In other words, it has the potential (svarūpa yogyatā) to get knowledge and bliss but not yet the functionality (phalopadhayi yogyatā).

To give an example, a child has the potential to be an athlete or a graduate, but that potential is not realized unless he practices on the track or goes to college and studies.

Learn more: Are Bliss and Knowledge Inherent?

From the book Jīva-tattva by Śrī Babaji-

“The word “ānanda” can generally indicate any one of the following four different types of happiness:

1. Martyānanda is material happiness. This, like material pain, does not contact the ātmā. Both are external conditions.
2. Jīvānanda or ātmānanda is the happiness the ātmā experiences by being by itself without any contact with anything material. This is of two further subtypes:
   • Experience of the self in a state of dreamless sleep in the conditioned state, and
   • Experience of the self in the liberated state.
3. Brahmānanda is the happiness of experiencing identity with Brahman.
4. Bhaktyānanda is happiness derived from loving service to Bhagavān and His devotees.

These four types of ānanda are all completely distinct in quality and in quantity.

Material happiness is simply relief from suffering; it is not really a positive feeling. If you carry a heavy weight on your shoulders, you get a sense of happiness when you can put it down. The happiness of deep sleep is similar: It is not a positive feeling but a sense of relief from all the disturbances caused by the body and mind. It is this second type of ānanda listed above, the feeling of relief from any material disturbance, that Jāmātṛ Muni refers to when he states that the jīva is of the nature of ānanda. In other words, the ānanda inherent in the jīva’s nature is jīvānanda, and not any other form of ānanda.

Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī writes in Paramātma Sandarbha (Anuccheda 28) that the meaning of the word “ānanda” in the context of jīvānanda refers to absence of suffering, duḥkha-pratiyogitva. Similarly, in his Digdarśini ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī writes that the ānanda of the jīva is insignificant. Thus we should be careful not to think that the ātmā in its intrinsic nature contains brahmānanda or bhaktyānanda.”

Learn more No One Falls From Vaikuṇṭha

Learn more: Varnashrama Dharma in Modern Context

In Anuccheda 9 of Tattva Sandarbha, with the phrase tad-bhajana-lakṣaṇa-vidheya, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī states that the devotional turning of all faculties to Śrī Kṛṣṇa (bhajana), as explained in the Vedic scriptures, is the means for actualizing the final goal, prema-bhakti.