Journey of the Soul

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Journey of the Soul

their devotional mood. Finally, when the topmost devotees (uttamaadhikärés) hear the descriptions of those pastimes, they become immersed in their pure transcendental relationship with the Lord, devoid of all mundane qualities, and thus relish spiritual rasa. The Absolute Truth is beyond matter, so how can we educate the jévas without taking help of the principles I have just described? Can the conditioned jéva understand a subject that renders the voice dumb and stops the working of the mind? There doesn’t appear to be any method of explaining these subjects other than the principle of similarity – the logic of arundhaté-darçana. Material objects can be either different or non-different from each other, so difference and non-difference are not visible in them at one and the same time; but this is not the case with transcendental truth. We have to accept that Çré Kåñëa is simultaneously different and nondifferent from His jéva-çakti and the jévas in it. This simultaneous difference and oneness is said to be inconceivable, because it is beyond the limit of human intellect. Vrajanätha: What is the difference between the Supreme Lord and the jéva? Çré Raghunätha däsa Bäbäjé: First understand the non-difference, and then I will explain their eternal difference. The Supreme Lord is the embodiment of knowledge, the self-manifest supreme divinity, the illu­ mi­nator of others, the knower of the fields of action (kñetrajïa), the self-determined, and the enjoyer. The jéva, too, is an embodiment of knowledge, a knower, a thinker, and an enjoyer. He, too, is by nature self-effulgent and he illuminates others. He is the knower of the field of his own body and also acts as he desires. From this perspective, there is no difference between them. However, God is omnipotent, and by dint of this omnipotence He is the basis of all these qualities, which are present in Him in full. These qualities are also present in the atomic jéva, but only to a minute degree. Thus, the nature and form of God and the jéva are eternally distinct from each other because one is full and all-encompassing and the other is extremely minute. Simultaneously, there is a lack of distinction between them, because their qualities are similar. Through the absolute influence of His svarüpa-çakti, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Lord of cit-çakti, jéva-çakti, and mäyäçakti. These varieties of çakti are His maidservants, ready to execute His bidding alone, without individual prerogatives. He is the Lord of


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