jīvera svarūpa haya—kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa— |
kṛṣṇera taṭasthā-śakti—bhedābheda-prakāśa ||
sūryāṁśa-kiraṇa yaiche agni-jvālā-caya |
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.108–109)
“The jīva’s nature is [that of being] an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s intermediary potency (taṭasthā-śakti), and a manifestation [both] different and non-different [from Kṛṣṇa] like a particle-ray of the sun or sparks from a fire.”
tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi |
na jātaḥ prāg abhūto’dya deha-vat tvaṁ na naṅkṣyasi ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.5.2)
[Śukadeva to Mahārāja Parīkṣit:] “O King, you should give up this animal mentality [of thinking], “I will die.” Like the body, you were not previously non-existent, are not [merely] presently manifest, and will not be destroyed [in the future].”
ātmā na devo na naro na tiryak sthāvaro na ca |
na deho nendriyaṁ naiva manaḥ prāṇo na nāpi dhīḥ ||
na jaḍo na vikārī ca jñāna-mātrātmako na ca |
svasmai svayaṁ-prakāśaḥ syād eka-rūpaḥ svarūpa-bhāk ||
cetano vyāpti-śīlaś ca cid-ānandātmakas tathā |
aham-arthaḥ prati-kṣetraṁ bhinno’ṇur nitya-nirmalaḥ ||
tathā jñātṛtva-kartṛtva-bhoktṛtva-nija-dharmakaḥ |
paramātmaika-śeṣatva-svabhāvaḥ sarvadā svataḥ ||
(Jāmātṛ Muni; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha: 19)
“The ātma is neither a deva, nor a human, nor an animal, nor a stationary being [i.e., plant, rock, etc.], nor the body, nor the senses, nor the mind, nor the prāṇa, nor the intellect, nor inert, nor transformable, nor of the nature of only awareness [i.e., nor lacking the capacity to know]. The ātma is self-luminous to its own self, of one form, situated in its own nature, conscious, pervasive [of the body], of the nature of consciousness (cit) and bliss (ānanda), the referent of ‘I’, distinct from every [other] field [i.e., entity], atomic, eternal, pure, endowed with its own knowership, doership, and perceivership, and always by its own nature a singular subsidiary of the Paramātmā.”
jñānāśrayo jñāna-guṇaś cetanaḥ prakṛteḥ paraḥ |
na jāto nirvikāraś ca eka-rūpaḥ svarūpa-bhāk ||
aṇur nityo vyāpti-śīlaś cid-ānandātmakas tathā |
aham artho’vyayaḥ kṣetrī bhinna-rūpaḥ sanātanaḥ ||
adāhyo’cchedya akledya aśoṣyo’kṣara eva ca |
evam ādi-guṇair yuktaḥ śeṣa-bhūtaḥ parasya vai ||
ma-kāreṇocyate jīvaḥ kṣetrajñaḥ paravān sadā |
dāsa-bhūto harer eva nānyasyaiva kadācana |
(Padma-purāṇa: Uttara-khaṇḍa, 226.34–37)
“The jīva is the bearer of awareness (jñāna), endowed with the quality of awareness, conscious, beyond material energy (prakṛti), unborn, untransformable, of one form, situated in its own nature, atomic, eternal, pervasive [of the body], of the nature of consciousness (cit) and bliss (ānanda), the referent of‘I’, undecaying, the bearer of the field [i.e., the body], of distinct form [i.e., an individual distinct from all others], never-ending, unburnable, indivisible, unmoistenable, undriable, imperishable, endowed with other attributes, by nature a subsidiary of the Paramātmā, referred to by the letter m [within Om], the knower of the field [i.e., the body] (kṣetrajñā), ever dependent, and a servant of Hari alone and never of anyone else.”
ātmā nityo’vyayaḥ śuddha ekaḥ kṣetra-jña āśrayaḥ |
avikriyaḥ sva-dṛg hetur vyāpako’saṅgy anāvṛtaḥ ||
etair dvādaśabhir vidvān ātmano lakṣaṇaiḥ paraiḥ |
ahaṁ mamety asad-bhāvaṁ dehādau mohajaṁ tyajet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.19–20; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha: 46)
“The ātmā is eternal [i.e. indestructible], undiminishing, pure, one [i.e., singular, not an aggregate like the body], the knower of the field [i.e., endowed with capacity for awareness], the shelter [i.e., the shelter of the senses and other faculties, such as the manas and buddhi], immutable, self-witnessing [i.e., self-luminous to its own self], the cause [i.e., the cause of the universe’s emanation], pervasive [i.e., pervasive of the body], unattached, and without any covering. By means of these twelve distinguishing characteristics of the ātmā, a learned person should give up the false notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ related to the body and so forth [i.e., the body’s paraphernalia], which are products of delusion.”
athātmano’rtha-bhūtasya yato’nartha-paramparā |
saṁsṛtis tad-vyavacchedo bhaktyā paramayā gurau ||
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ samāhitaḥ |
sadhrīcīnena vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca janayiṣyati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.36–37)
“Therefore, termination of [ignorance,] that because of which the succession of anarthas, saṁsāra, exists for the ātmā, the [truly] existent entity, occurs through pure bhakti to Guru [i.e., Bhagavān, or, the teacher of Bhagavad-bhakti], for fully performed bhakti-yoga to Vāsudeva, Bhagavān [i.e., bhakti performed entirely for Bhagavān’s satisfaction without any separate interest—prema-bhakti], will produce real non-attachment (vairāgya) and knowledge (jñāna).”
kalpayitvātmanā yāvad ābhāsam idam īśvaraḥ |
dvaitaṁ tāvan na viramet tato hy asya viparyayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.12.10)
[Translation based on Bhāvārtha-dīpikā:] “As long as the jīva is not capable by means of the ātmā [i.e., by virtue of self-realization, ātma-sākṣātkāra] of determining this [i.e., the body, senses, and so forth] to be a guise [i.e., a mere false appearance], then duality [i.e., perception of distinctions such as, “He is a man; she is a woman,”] does not cease, and certainly thereby one’s misapprehension [i.e., one’s mentality of enjoyment] remains.”
doṣa-mūlaṁ hi jīvasya parama-tattva-jñānābhāva evety uktam—‘bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt’ ity ādau, ‘īśād apetasya’ ity-ādibhiḥ | atas taj-jñānam eva śuddhatvam … |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“The root of the jīva’s deficiency (doṣa) is only the absence of awareness of the Supreme Entity (Parama-tattva), as stated by [the phrase], ‘For one who is averse to the Lord’ (Īśād apetasya) in [the verse] bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād … [i.e., SB 11.2.37]. Therefore, only awareness of him [i.e., the Supreme Entity] is purity.”
nānubhūtaṁ kva cānena dehenādṛṣṭam aśrutam |
kadācid upalabhyeta yad rūpaṁ yādṛg ātmani ||
tenāsya tādṛśaṁ rājan liṅgino deha-sambhavam |
śraddhatsvānanubhūto’rtho na manaḥ spraṣṭum arhati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.64–65)
“Sometimes a form which is of such nature that it has never been perceived with this body [i.e., perceived with the external senses in the physical environment during one’s present lifetime], and is [otherwise] unseen and unheard of, is perceived in the mind [i.e., it is perceived in a dream, in one’s imagination, or elsewhere]. O King! Because of this, be confident that such [i.e., such an object of perception, which is apparently unprecedented,] is a product of a body of this bearer of the liṅga [i.e., that it is a product of an experience in a prior body borne by the jīva, that is, the ātmā enveloped in a subtle body (liṅga) that transmigrates through a series of gross bodies], since an unperceived object is unable to touch the mind [i.e., no object which has not been previously perceived by the mind can manifest within the mind].”
bahu-rūpa ivābhāti māyayā bahu-rūpayā |
ramamāṇo guṇeṣv asyā mamāham iti manyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.9.2)
“The ātmā [i.e., “self”] appears as if to be of many [different] forms [i.e., those of a child, an elder, etc., and those of a human, a deva, an animal, etc.] through māyā, which is of many [different] forms, and, enjoying amid its [i.e., māyā’s] guṇas [i.e., within various bodies, etc.], thinks of ‘my’ and ‘I’ [i.e., identifies with these forms fabricated by māyā].”
