Extracted From Jaiva-dharma, By Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur
The Eternal & Temporary Natures of the Jiva/Soul
How and When Did the Jiva Makes a Choice to be in This Material World?
Part 4
Srila Bhaktivinoda writes:
All the jivas have appeared from the jiva-sakti of Lord Krishna. Just as cit-sakti is Krishna’s complete potency, similarly jiva-sakti is His incomplete potency. All complete objects have appeared from the complete potency, similarly from the incomplete potency come the unlimited atomic jivas. Lord Krishna presiding over each of His potencies, manifest His various expansions correspondingly. Presiding over the cit potency, He manifests His Krishna form, and that of Lord Narayana, the Lord of Vaikuntha. Presiding over His jiva-sakti, He manifests His vilasa[1] form of Baladeva[2] in Vraja[3]. Becoming situated in His maya-sakti, He manifests the three Visnu forms–Karanodakasayi[4], Ksirodakasayi[5], and Garobhodakasayi[6].
From His Krishna form, He manifests all the cit entities.
From His Baladeva form, as Sesa[7] tattva, He manifests the nitya-muktas, associate jivas, to render service in eight ways to Lord Krishna, the Sesi tattva.
Again, becoming Sankarsana[8] as Sesa rupa, He manifests eight types of eternal associates, to render service in eight ways to
Maha Visnu[10], an incarnation of Sankarsana, becoming situated in the jiva-sakti as Supersoul[11], manifests the living entities of the material world. All these jivas (coming from Maha Visnu), are disposed to maya. Until they attain the shelter of hladini-sakti of the cit world, by the mercy of the Lord, they are prone to be defeated by maya. The unlimited conditioned jivas, being defeated by maya, remain under the influence of her “Three Modes[i]”. Therefore the principle is that only jiva-sakti manifests jivas and not cit-sakti.
The essence is that there are three types of jivas.
- Those that originate in Vraja manifest from Lord Baladeva.
- Those in the Vaikuntha planets manifest from Sankarsana.
- Those in the material world manifest from Maha-Visnu.
The first two types of the jivas are nitya-mukta and third type are nitya-baddha.
The third type, by the mercy of the Lord can also become muktas if they take to devotional service (bhakti). This explanation is very much in line with what the Six Gosvamis have written, which is cited in IVNETLF.