The Jīva’s Dual Role, and Space in the Spiritual World (09/09/08)
Daṇḍavats ______ Mahārāja,
Yes that is correct. The soul does not actually ‘split in two’ but it is an accepted idea in Gauḍīya-siddhānta that depending on the attraction of a particular jīva, it is possible to be present in both gaura-līlā and kṛṣṇa-līlā at the same time. In order to do that, the soul does not have to ‘split’. Many of Mahāprabhu’s associates have dual roles (gaura-līlā and kṛṣṇa-līlā). It is not that when they appear here in gaura-līlā with the Lord that they are absent from the līlā with Kṛṣṇa. The same is true with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. They merge into one, into Mahaprabhu, but they continue eternally as two entities enjoying each other in kṛṣṇa-lila. Both gaura-līlā and kṛṣṇa-līlā are eternally present and going on simultaneously in the Goloka planet. In the material world it is usually not possible for one object to occupy two separate spaces at the same time, but that is because the material world has time (past, present and future) and finite space. In the spiritual world there is no time (no past, present or future) and all ‘space’ in infinite. Thus, it is not limited as is finite space. Infinite space is all-accommodating, whereas finite space is limited.
