atha svārpaṇa-vidhiḥ—
ahaṁ bhagavato’ṁśo’smi sadā dāso’smi sarvathā |
tat-kṛpāpekṣako nityam ity ātmānaṁ samarpayet ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.418)
“Now, the method of offering the self [is explained; one should meditate]: ‘I am a part of Bhagavān. I am forever a servant [of him] in all respects. I am always a seeker of his grace.’ In this way, one should fully offer oneself.”
kartā śāstrārthavattvāt |
(Vedānta-sūtra: 2.3.31)
“[The jīva is] A doer because of śāstra being possessed of meaning.”
Bhārata Sāvitrī
Śrī Vedavyāsa’s final message to humanity in Mahābhārata.
Excerpted from the Svargārohana Parva, 5.47–51.
niṣeka-garbha-janmāni bālya-kaumāra-yauvanam |
vayo-madhyaṁ jarā mṛtyur ity avasthās tanor nava ||
etā manoratha-mayīr hānyasyoccāvacās tanūḥ |
guṇa-saṅgād upādatte kvacit kaścij jahāti ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.47–48)
“Impregnation, gestation, birth, childhood [up to five years], boyhood [up to sixteen years], youth [up to forty-five years], middle age [up to sixty years], old age, and death are the nine states of the body. Sometimes someone [i.e., a jīva] takes on these greater and lesser manifestations of another [i.e., of a material body], which are made of desire, as a result of attachment to the guṇas, and [sometimes someone] gives [them] up [as a result of Śrī Bhagavān’s grace].”
yathā vastūni paṇyāni hemādīni tatas tataḥ |
paryaṭanti nareṣv evaṁ jīvo yoniṣu kartṛṣu ||
nityasyārthasya sambandho hy anityo dṛśyate nṛṣu |
yāvad yasya hi sambandho mamatvaṁ tāvad eva hi ||
evaṁ yoni-gato jīvaḥ sa nityo nirahaṅkṛtaḥ |
yāvad yatropalabhyeta tāvat svatvaṁ hi tasya tat ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.16.6–8)
“As commodities such as gold pass on and on among people, so does a jīva among families and progenitors. Among people, [even] a relationship with a permanent entity [i.e., with another jīva] is seen to be impermanent, and only as long as one has the relationship is there possessiveness (mamatva) [lit., ‘my-ness,’ for that entity]. The jīva situated in a [particular] family similarly is eternal and without ego [i.e., the jīva does not inherently possessed of any sense of identity or belonging related the body, the family, or the other particulars into which it is born in a given lifetime]. Its [i.e., a jīva’s] identification with that [i.e., the family, body, and so forth into which it is born] remains only as long as it may be found there [i.e., only as long as that lifespan lasts].”
śarīrākāra-bhūtānāṁ bhūtānāṁ yad viśodhanam |
avyaya-brahma-samparkād bhūta-śuddhir iyaṁ matā ||
bhūta-śuddhiṁ vinā kartur japa-homādikāḥ kriyāḥ |
bhavanti niṣphalāḥ sarvā yathā-vidhy apy anuṣṭhitāḥ ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 5.63–64)
“Purification of the elements which are existent in the form of the body by union with imperishable brahman—this is considered bhūta-śuddhi [lit., ‘purification of the elements’]. Without bhūta-śuddhi, an actor’s acts of japa, homa, and so forth, even all those performed according to rule, become fruitless.”
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte |
tayor anyaḥ pippalaṁ svādv atty anaśnann anyo abhicākaśīti ||
samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno’niśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ |
juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ ||
(Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: 3.1.1–2)
“Two birds of beautiful plumage,
Ever-united in friendship,
Perch on the same tree.
Among them,
One eats the tasty berry [of the tree],
And the other, not eating, watches over [the first].
On the same tree,
The puruṣa [i.e., the embodied living entity], absorbed,
Laments because of [his] powerlessness, being deluded.
When he sees the other, the Lord, satisfied, and his [i.e., the Lord’s] greatness, he becomes free from lamentation.”
naiva strī na pumān eṣa na caivāyaṁ napuṁsakaḥ |
yad yac charīram ādatte tene tene sa yujyate ||
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad: 5.10)
“It [i.e., the jīva] is not female and not male. It is also not of neuter gender [i.e., non-binary, lit., ‘non-male’]. Whatever body it accepts, it becomes united with that.”
tad evam anantā eva jīvākhyās taṭasthāḥ śaktayaḥ | tatra tāsāṁ varga-dvayam | eko vargo’nādita eva bhagavad-unmukhaḥ, anyas tv anādita eva bhagavat-parāṅmukhaḥ, svabhāvatas tadīya-jñāna-bhāvāt tadīya-jñānābhāvāc ca |
(Paramātma Sandarbha: 47)
“Thus, in this way, the taṭastha-śaktis [i.e., the entities constituted of the taṭastha-śakti] known as jīvas, are limitless [i.e., innumerable]. Therein, there are two classes of them. Naturally, one class is intent upon Bhagavān (Bhagavad-unmukha) beginninglessly, whereas the other is averse to Bhagavān (Bhagavat-parāṅmukha) beginninglessly, because of the presence of awareness of him and the absence of awareness of him [in these two classes respectively].”
atha jīvaś ca tadīyo’pi taj-jñāna-saṁsargābhāva-yuktatvena tan-māyā-parābhūtaḥ sann ātma-svarūpa-jñāna-lopān māyā-kalpitopādhy-āveśāc cānādi-saṁsāra-duḥkhena sambadhyata iti paramātma-sandarbhādāv eva nirūpitam asti |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“Now, although the jīva is also his own (tadīya) [i.e., although the jīva belongs to Bhagavān], the jīva becomes overcome by his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] māyā because of being [beginninglessly] possessed of an absence of the existence of awareness of him and [thus is] bound within the beginningless suffering of saṁsāra because of a lack of awareness of the nature of its own self [i.e., because of being subjected by māyā to suppression of awareness of its own nature as an ātmā] and absorption in the adjuncts (upādhis) fabricated by māyā [i.e., because the jīva becomes consequently absorbed in identification with the material psyche, body, and so forth, as well as the subsequent attractions, aversions, desires, pursuits, deprivations, and so forth concomitant therewith]. This [i.e., the point made in the previous sentence] is ascertained in Paramātma Sandarbha and elsewhere.”
