śrī-vajra-praśnaḥ—
kalpānāṁ jīva-sāmye hi muktir naivopapadyate |
kadācid api dharmajña tatra pṛcchāmi kāraṇam ||
ekaikasmin nare muktiṁ kalpe kalpe gate dvija |
abhaviṣyaj jagac chūnyaṁ kālasyāder abhāvataḥ ||
atha śrī-mārkaṇḍeyasyottaram—
jīvasyānyasya sargeṇa nare muktim upāgate |
acintya-śaktir bhagavān jagat pūrayate sadā ||
brahmaṇā saha mucyante brahma-lokam upāgatāḥ |
sṛjyante ca mahā-kalpe tad-vidhāś cāpare janān ||
atra kvacid api kalpe keṣāṁcid api jīvānām anudbuddha-karmatvena suṣuptavat prakṛtāv api līnānām ananta-brahmāṇḍa-gatānām ivānantānām ekasyopādhi-sṛṣṭyā brahmāṇḍa-praveśanaṁ sarga iti jñeyam | apūrva-sṛṣṭau sāditve kṛta-hāny-akṛtābhyāgamaḥ syāt |
(Viṣṇu-dharmottara Purāṇa: 1.81.11–14; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 16)
“A question of Śrī Vajra: ‘Because of the kalpas’ even number of jīvas [i.e., because the number of jīvas in the universe remains the same in every kalpa], mukti can never be possible. O knower of dharma, I ask [you] the reason for this. O twice-born, if one human being attained mukti in kalpa after kalpa, the universe would have become empty [by now] because of the non-existence of time’s beginning.’
“Then, the answer of Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya: ‘Whenever a human being attains mukti, Bhagavān, who is possessed of inconceivable potency (śakti), always [re-] fills the universe with an emanation of another jīva. Those who have attain Brahmaloka [i.e., the plane of Brahmā] are liberated along with Brahmā [at the end of the kalpa when the universe is dissolved], and other persons of that type are emanated in the next great kalpa [i.e., at the beginning of the next emanation of the universe].’
“[Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī comments:] In this regard, ‘emanation’ (sarga) [of a jīva] is to be understood as the emanating of [appropriate] adjuncts (upādhis] [i.e., an antaḥkaraṇa, bahiḥkaraṇa, and gross body] and the entering a universe (brahmāṇḍa) of one of the innumerable [jīvas] who are like those situated in the innumerable universes but who are merged in prakṛti as if in deep sleep because of some such jīvas in some kalpa having unaroused karma [i.e., because some jīvas’ beginningless karma does not result in their being emanated into a manifest form of prakṛti, i.e., a universe, during that particular kalpa]. If it [i.e., the emanation of a jīva] had a beginning [i.e., was a creation of a new entity rather than just an emanation of a pre-existent entity] in the unprecedented emanation [i.e., in the beginningless cyclic existence of material universes], loss of what has been made (kṛta-hāni) and attainment of what has not been made would occur [i.e., the results of some actions performed in the past would not bear fruit, since the jīva in such a case would be a created entity who is subject to death, and thus would not have the ability to experience after death the results of the actions that it performed throughout its life; moreover, the jīva would have experiences that are not a result of its past actions since its birth and the circumstances of its life would not be outcomes of actions performed in past lives].”
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