The jīva's quality of taṭastha was discussed in the previous chapter. Because of this quality, the jīva , devoid of knowledge of the Lord, becomes overcome by māyā situated close by.
In Caitanya Caritāmṛta it is written:
nityabaddha-kṛṣṇa haite nitya bahirmukha
nitya saṁśāra bhuñje nakādi duḥkha
sei doṣe māyā-piśācī daṇḍa kare tā're
adhyātmikādi tāpa traya tā're jāri' māre
kāma krodhera dāsa hañā tā'ra lāthi khāya
bhramite bhramite yadi sādhu-vaidya pāya
tā'ra upadeśa mantre piśācī palāya
kṛṣṇa bhakti pāya, tabe kṛṣṇa nikaṭe yāya
Apart from the ever-liberated devotees, there are the conditioned souls who always turn away from the service of the Lord. They are perpetually conditioned in this material world and are subjected to the material tribulations brought about by different bodily forms in hellish conditions.
Due to his being opposed to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the conditioned soul is punished by the witch of the external energy, māyā. He is thus ready to suffer the threefold miseries-miseries brought about by the body and mind, the inimical behavior of other living entities and natural disturbances caused by the demigods.
In this way the conditioned soul becomes the servant of lusty desires, and when these are not fulfilled, he becomes a servant of anger and continues to be kicked by the external energy, māyā. Wandering and wandering throughout the universe, he may by chance get the association of a devotee physician, whose instructions and hymns make the witch of external energy flee. The conditioned soul thus gets into touch with the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in this way he can approach nearer and nearer to the Lord. (C.C. Madhya 22, 12-15)
The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad speaks of the jīva in bondage.
bālāgra śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca
bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa cānantyāya kalpate
Though the jīva is situated in a material body, it is a subtle entity, non-material in nature. Even if the tip of a hair is divided up one hundred times, and one part is divided again a hundred times, it cannot compare to the minuteness of the soul. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9)
Though the jīva situated in matter is weak, he is still non-material, equipped with immortal qualities.
naiva strī pumān eṣa na caivāyaṁ napuṁsakaḥ
yad yac charīram ādatte tena tena sa yujyate
Only the jīva's material body is characterized as male, female or neuter. The jīva dwells in the body obtained as a result of past actions. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.10)
The jīva is actually a spiritual entity. By external vision, jīva may appear as male or female but that is not the real nature of jīva.
saṅkalpana-sparśana-dṛṣṭi-mohair grāsāmbu-
vṛṣṭhyātmā vivṛddha janma karmānugāny
anukrameṇa dehī sthāneṣu rūpany abhisamprapadyate
The jīva takes many types of material bodies according to his actions through his desires, touch, sight, illusion, eating, water, and rain. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.11)
sthūlāni sūkṣmāṇi bahūni caiva rūpāṇi deho svaguṇair
vṛnoti kriyā guṇair ātmā guṇais ca teṣām
saṁyoga-hetur aparo'pi dṛṣṭaḥ
The jīva attains numerous forms of gross and subtle bodies through qualities he develops. And through the quality of action and self, he becomes covered by other bodies. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 5.22)
anādy anantaṁ kalilasya madhye
viśvasya srasṭāram aneka-rūpam
viśvasyaikam pariveṣṭhitāraṁ
jñātvā devaṁ mucyate sarva-pāśaih
The jīva, having fallen into the deep hole of repeated birth in the material world, develops faith by taking shelter of devotees. When he understands paramātmā as the creator of the universe, dwelling in the universe and acting as the source of unlimited avataras, he becomes free from the bondage of māyā. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 5.13)
In the Āmnāya Sūtras (35-38) [1]the conditioned jīva is described thus.
pareśa-vaimukhyāt teṣām avidyābhiniveśaḥ
sva-svarūpa-bhramaḥ
viṣama-kāmaḥ karma-bandhaḥ
sthūla-liṅgābhimāna-janita-saṁśāra kleśāś ca
Being averse to the Lord, the jīvas becomes absorbed in ignorance. Because of this, they forget their true identity or form. Having forgotten their identity, from selfish enjoyment and action, they accept terrible restriction or bondage. Identification of self with gross and subtle material bodies is the cause of their suffering in the world.
The jīva is a spiritual, conscious, knowing entity. The jīva appeared by the marginal energy at the dividing line between spirit and matter. From that position, he began to gaze at the spiritual and material worlds. Those jīvas who were attracted somewhat to realization of the Supreme Person became desirous of the spiritual realm- because of that contact of knowledge. They then obtained strength from the hlādinī potency of the abundant cit śakti, which made them favorable to the Lord eternally, and they were brought into the spiritual world as associates of the Lord.
Those who, by their own free will, became bewildered and became greedy for māyā situated on the opposite side, being beckoned by māyā, then became attracted to the material universe, and were thrown in the universe by Karanarnavasayi Viṣṇu, the controller of māyā. That was but the result of their eternal aversion to the Supreme Lord. The moment they entered the material realm, they became overcome by ignorance, the function of māyā. Overcome by ignorance, they fell into the wheel of binding karma in order to become fully absorbed in their task.
Such jīvas have been compared to a bird enjoying the fruit of karma.
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā
samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ parisasvājate
tayor anyaḥ pippalaṁ svādvatti
anaśnan anyo abhicākaśīti
Kṣīrodāśāyī Viṣṇu and the jīva are living like friends in the tree of the temporary material world. The jīva is eating the fruits of the tree according to his karma. The other bird, paramātmā, is not enjoying the fruit but serving as witness. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 4.6 , Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, 3.1.1.)
samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno'
niśayā śocati mūhyamānaḥ
In the same tree, the jīva, bewildered by māyā, has fallen into lamentation. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 4.7, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, 3.1.2)
It is written in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.:
bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo'smṛtiḥ
Being averse to knowledge of God, the jīva, becoming absorbed in the second principle (material ignorance), then experienced fear of repeated birth, misidentified himself with the material body (viparyaya), and fell into forgetfulness of his true form (asmṛtiḥ). (Srila Bhaktivinod's translation) (S.B.11.2.37)
The first result of contact with māyā (ignorance) was mistaken identity concerning the jīva's true form. Forgetting his spiritual form, the jīva took on a material form, and through his self-identity fell into deep forgetfulness of his role as servant of the Lord. Māyā bestowed two coverings--the gross and subtle bodies- over the spiritual form. The subtle body is composed of material ego, material memory, material intelligence and material mind. These are the sitting places of lust, anger, greed, illusion, intoxication and envy. These six became the cause of the jīva's elevation or degradation, depending on whether the actions are enacted according to scriptural injunction or not (puṇya or pāpa). The pure spiritual identity of the jīva became covered by the false ego of the subtle body.
But as the subtle body does not act or enjoy on it own, the gross body composed of skin, flesh, blood, bone, marrow, fat and semen (seven dhatus) was imposed on the jīva along with birth, maintenance, growth, reproduction, aging and death (six transformations). Obtaining the gross body, the jīva became even more entangled in his misidentification. Then the jīva began to think of himself as a material gross body. By mistaking his true identity, the jīva fell into the tight bondage of action impelled by desires. The rules of varṇāśrama determined his permissible, unpermissible and neutral actions; daily, seasonal and individual duties; and the resultant enjoyment and suffering. Innumerable obstacles arose as a result of the connection with the gross and subtle bodies.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad says:
sā va ayam ātmā yathākārī yathācarī tathā bhavati
sādhukārī sādhur bhavati pāpakārī pāpo bhavati
puṇyaḥ puṇyena karmanā bhavati pāpaḥ pāpena
The ātmā according to his actions attains a situation. By good actions he becomes good, by sinful action he becomes sinful. By puṇya the jīva attains happiness and by papa the jīva attains suffering. (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, 4.4.5)
The Bhāgavatam says:
sa dahyamāna sarvāṅga eṣām udvahanādhinā
karoty avirataṁ mūḍho duritāni durāśayaḥ
In order to maintain his so-called family and society, the fool, burning with anxiety, laden with unfulfilled hopes, performs all kinds of sinful activities. (S.B.3.30.7)
The meaning of these two statements is clear. The jīva, through his coverings of gross and subtle material bodies, becomes bound by saṁśara and experiences suffering through actions of puṇya and papa.
The Sarvajña Sūkta quoted in Bhagavat Sandarbha says:
hlādinyā saṁvidāśliṣṭaḥ sac cid ānanda īśvaraḥ
svāvidyā samvṛto jīvaḥ saṁkleśa-nikarākaraḥ
The Supreme Lord is full of eternity, knowledge and bliss, being embraced by his energies hlādinī and samvit. The jīva experiences so many sufferings in the material world, being covered by his own ignorance.
In Paramātmā Sandarbha, Jīva Gosvāmī says that māyā has two propensities: knowledge and ignorance. Knowledge is born of real mercy of māyā. The ignorance function is the special energy of māyā to punish the jīva for his offenses. He further says:
athāvidyākhyasya dve vṛtti āvaraṇātmikā
vikṣepātmikā ca tatra pūrvā jīva eva tiṣṭhantī
tadīyaṁ svābhāvikaṁ jñānam āvṛṇvānā uttarā
ca taṁ tad-anyathā-jñānena sañjayantī vartate
This ignorance has two functions-called the avarana atmika function and the viksepa atmika function. The first function covers the jīva's knowledge of his natural relationship with the Lord. The second function gives rise to other types of knowledge, throwing the jīva into ignorance. (Paramātmā Sandarbha 54)
On this there is a kārikā:
sattvaṁ rajas tamaś ceti guṇāḥ prakṛti- sambhavāḥ
ity ādy upaniṣad-vākyān nirguṇo jīva eva hi
cetanaḥ kṛṣṇa dāso'ham iti jñāne gate pare
prakṛter guṇa-samyogāt karma-bandho'sya sidhyati
karma-cakra-gatasyāsya sukha-duḥkhādikaṁ bhavet
ṣaḍ-guṇābdhi-nimagnasya sthūla-liṅga- vyavasthitiḥ
The Vedas have said that the three qualities, goodness, passion and ignorance, are the material qualities. The jīva is by nature without these qualities. When the jīva, because of his smallness, opposes the Lord and becomes weak, the material qualities become strong and overcome him. The knowledge that the jīva is spiritual and a servant of Kṛṣṇa is covered, and because of the contact with material modes, the jīva falls into complete bondage of karma. By acceptance of the gross and subtle bodies, the jīva falls into the ocean of six material qualities, and becoming overwhelmed, experiences happiness and distress in the wheel of birth and death.
This state of the pure jīva is called an unfortunate state of the jīva, imposed by māyā. It exists due to the marginal quality inherent in the jīva. The jīva is actually a pure entity, and ignorance, the function of māyā, is but an upadhi or temporary covering. The results of this upādhi are the three miseries-ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika and ādhibhautika.
[1] Another work by Bhaktivinoda