Discussions on the doctrines of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Please place practical questions under the Miscellaneous forum and set this aside for the more theoretical side of it.
Sat, Cit and Ananda - Inherent in the jiva?
Madhava - Thu, 05 Dec 2002 07:38:19 +0530
This is an age-old discussion that was never brought up, and I began to look into it myself only recently.
Some are of the opinion that sat, cit and ananda are inherently present in the soul, while others propose that only sat is present in the soul, whereas cit and ananda appear at the time of initiation.
I have a number of considerations to be submitted in this regard, but prior to that I would like to ask our audience for its insights, preferably spiced with scriptural reference.
Madhava - Sun, 15 Dec 2002 12:20:15 +0530
I drafted together an essay of preliminary reflections on the topic. Download it below:
http://www.wisewisdoms.com/madhava/sat-cit-ananda-jiva.docIf you have any feedback on the subject matter, please do post it in.
Madhava - Mon, 23 Dec 2002 00:21:23 +0530
The last page of the text has been revised. The revised version is available from the link above. Relevant additions are repeated below.
One may ask whether the jiva will remain a manifestation of tatastha-sakti after entrance into the spiritual world. The answer is practically no, for tatastha is that which is situated (stha) on the border (tata) of the manifestations of bahiranga-sakti and antaranga-sakti. Acquiring a position in an eternal spiritual identity under the auspices of antaranga-sakti, the marginal position disappears for good.
It was presented earlier on (CC 1.4.64) that Krishna’s mother, father, place, house, bed, seat and the rest are transformations of sandhini-sakti, and indeed everything in the abodes of Vaikuntha and so forth consist of antaranga-sakti (CC 1.2.101), of which sandhini is a portion. More is to be known of the svarupa of the Vraja-devis. Sri Krishnadas Kaviraja explains (CC 1.4.79) the diverse manifestations of Sri Radha:
AkAra svabhAva-bhede vraja-devI-gaNa
kAya-vyUha-rUpa tAGra rasera kAraNa
“The multitude of Vraja-gopis have various natures (svabhava). They are the forms of Her bodily expansions (kaya-vyuha-rupa) and Her instruments for creating rasa.”
It would be incorrect to state that each and every jiva who attains madhurya-rasa has been a bodily expansion of Sri Radha since time immemorial, as tatastha-sakti is clearly a different category of manifestations from the antaranga-sakti. The natural conclusion is that at the time of perfection, the mukta-jiva unites with a particular parsada-deha (associate-body), a manifestation of the Lord’s antaranga-sakti in the spiritual world, especially reserved for him.
This particular form of antaranga-sakti, existing eternally in the spiritual world, is known as the specific nitya-siddha-manifestation which descends into the heart of the sadhaka who has become purified through the process of sadhana. Eventually the sadhaka attains full absorption and identification with the spiritual form he has been longing for, imbued with sandhini, samvit and hladini which are experienced in conjunction with and under the shelter of antaranga-sakti.
The original qualities of sac-cid-ananda present in the siddha-body awaiting the jivatma in the spiritual world are also experienced in accordance with the siddhavesa (absorption in the siddha-body one aspires to attain) of the sadhaka even prior to siddhi. The potential for becoming imbued with this is naturally inherent within each jiva, for without the jiva’s being a fit receptacle for the higher sac-cid-ananda, how could it ever be attained?
jiva - Sat, 04 Jan 2003 16:40:44 +0530
The Svarupa sakti,viewed in its different aspects,is classified into Sandhini,Samvit and Hladini Saktis,which correspond roughly to the Sat ,Cit and Ananda of orthodox philosophy.These Saktis exist infinitely in the Bhagavat;but since the Jiva is only an ''anu'' or infinitesimal part of the Bhagavat,the smallest atom of the limitless divine existence,knowledge and bliss is capable of causing the existence,knowledge and bliss in the Jiva.
As the Bhagavat is the ground of the Jiva-sakti,the Jiva is indeed a part of the Bhagavat;but as the Jiva is liable to the influence of the Maya-sakti it cannot come directly under the Svarupa-sakti,which is unaffected by this influence.But on the account of its ultimate affinity with the Bhagavat,the Jiva even in bondage has the inherent capacity of releasing itself;and when emancipated,it becomes a part of the Svarupa-sakti and is placed eternally beyond the influence of the Maya-sakti.These release comes through Bhakti,which itself is an expression of the Hladini or blissful aspect of the deity's Svarupa-sakti.
The idea of the Jiva-sakti will be clear from consideration of the essential character of the Jiva.In this connexion Jiva Gosvamin quotes(in his Paramatma Sandarbha) the authority of Jamatrmuni who is said to have been a predecessor of Ramanuja.This authority informs us that the Jiva is neither a deity nor a man,nor a movable animal,nor an immovable plant...I may give a detailed explanation of this at a further time.
With respect,