Question: Can it be said that all of Bhagavān’s śaktis are both inside and outside Bhagavān’s form simultaneously?
Answer: Yes, if you consider His form to be limited in time and space. Otherwise, there is nothing outside Him.
Question: When we say Bhagavān has acintya-śakti, does that mean each and every śakti of Bhagavān is acintya?
Answer: Yes.
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Jīvas with Beginning?
Question: We know that the jīvā is the taṭastha-śakti of Kṛṣṇa and you explained that Kṛṣṇa’s energies always exist, so there’s no fall down for the jīvā. But we also hear from kṛṣṇa–līlā, e.g., Mucukunda līlā, that Kṛṣṇa expands into svāṁśa and vibhināṁśa. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is not static; He always expands and Śeṣa cannot count His forms with His many mouths. So if Kṛṣṇa expands, He expands also into new vibhināṁśas, or jīvās. Is this not a creation or beginning of a jīvā?
Answer: First of all, it would have been better to cite the exact verse. I do not see any such verse in the Mucukunda līlā. But even if such a verse exists, we need to see the exact words and in what context they are spoken. You write that Kṛṣṇa expands into svāṃśa and vibhinnāṃśa. From this, you conclude that this means new jīvas are created. But by the same logic, it also means that svāṃśas are also created. That means His svāṃśa expansions are also not eternal. That means all the avatāras that are listed in śāstra are not eternal. That means their abodes and associates are also not eternal. It is also said that Balarāma is the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa. That means Balarāma is not eternal. That means the Narasiṁha līlā is also not eternal. Are you willing to conclude that from your logic? Probably not. Please know that logic that contradicts śāstra is not acceptable.
You have presented a logic for the creation of the jīvā but without any śāstric reference.
pūrvāparānurodhena konvartho’bhimato bhavet
ityādyam ūhanaṃ tarkaḥ śuṣka-tarkaṃ tu varjayet
“Logic should be used to understand and harmonize the earlier and later statements of śāstra [which may seem contradictory]. One should avoid dry logic [i.e. logic that contradicts śāstra].”
Your logic contradicts śāstra. Please read Bhagavad Gītā verses 2.12, 2.20, 2.24 (the word sanātana means “not created,” “not destroyed”), 13.19 (or 13.20 in the BBT edition). The word anādi means it has “no beginning,” i.e., “not created.” In 15.7 again, you find the word sanātana.
And this is just Bhagavad Gītā. There are so many other references. Similarly, there are statements about the eternal expansions of Kṛṣṇa, their abodes and līlās.
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Storage of Memory
Question: According to Vedānta, knowledge is acquired by the soul, which is present inside the body (sthūla śarīra + sūkṣma śarīra). The body is not the knower; only the soul present inside the body is the real knower. Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa successfully proves this in the Seventh Chapter of Siddhānta-ratnam. But what happens to that knowledge, whether spiritual or material, when a person undergoes memory loss due to physical or mental trauma? There are innumerable cases where a person completely loses their memory after an accident. If a Vaiṣṇava who has a complete understanding of the scriptures suffers an accident or illness and loses his memory/knowledge/jñāna, where is his memory stored? Is it in the brain, a part of the sthūla śarīra, or is it in the soul itself? If it is stored in the soul, then why is memory lost?
Answer: The word memory is used in two ways. One is to recollect a past experience, and the other is in the form of a storage. Think of the memory storage in your computer. There are a lot of things stored on the hard disk. But you see only that which is on the screen of the computer. Similarly, all our experiences are stored in our citta. That is our memory bank. Out of that, what we recollect in our mind, we call remembrance. The brain is the instrument by which memory is retrieved. If the brain is damaged, we are unable to retrieve it although it is still stored in our citta. For example, the physical eyes are the instrument through which you see, but the sense of seeing is internal. If the physical eyes are destroyed, one cannot see, although the sense of seeing still exists. In the same way, the saṁskāras or impressions of our past experiences still exist in the citta even if the brain is damaged.
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Ānanada in the Jīva?
Question: In one of your posts, you said: “The bahiraṅgā-śakti has only the sat part, i.e., it is existence without consciousness.” Can we extend this idea further and classify the taṭasthā-śakti as having sat and cit but not ānanda? This would mean only the antaraṅgā–śakti has ānanda inherently. This means that ānanda is only bestowed on the jīvaby connection with the antaraṅgā–śakti (bhakti is the instrument of connection; it draws/attracts ānanda to us).
I’ve not heard it presented this way before, so I wonder if it’s an accurate understanding.
Answer: Honestly speaking, the jīva has no real ānanda. By ānanda, I mean antaraṅgā śakti. But because some scriptural statements say that the jīva has ānanda, this subject has become a hot topic of contention. Ānanada is of various types, such as material happiness (martyānanda). This happiness comes from the contact of the senses with sense objects. The second is happiness experienced without external sense perception (jīvānanda). This happiness is experienced as the dreamless state of sleep, or by being situated in one’s self without any sense contact with external objects. This is experienced in the state of nirvikalpaka samādhi. The third is happiness experienced by identifying with Brahman (brahmānanda). The fourth is happiness experienced from bhakti (bhaktyānanda or premānanda). In light of this, you are right.
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