How do souls live in the brahmajyoti?

How do souls live in the Brahmajyoti? How can they exist without senses, mind, or intelligence?

Once I was asked: How do souls live in the Brahmajyoti? How can they exist without senses, mind, or intelligence?

That's an interesting question. In this world, every living being has a certain level of consciousness. Even unicellular organisms have a certain degree of consciousness. If we look at a microscope, we see unicellular organisms moving, trying to eat one another, running, fighting, and so on. Even with such small and simple bodies, they are somehow aware of their surroundings and have the means to react to different circumstances. This is all possible due to the combination of senses, mind, and intelligence. Although the senses are connected with the body, the mind and intelligence are subtle; therefore, intelligence and desires can manifest to a certain degree even in the simplest type of body. As the soul transmigrates to more advanced bodies, the desires of the mind and the functions of the intelligence have more space to manifest. Unicellular organisms have very simple desires, connected with eating, growing, and defending, and a very rudimentary intelligence, while humans and demigods have much more varied desires and more refined intelligence.

However, when the soul leaves the material universe, both the mind and the intelligence are dissolved. The false ego is also annihilated, and only the soul proper leaves the material universe and goes to the brahmajyoti. How can the soul feel and will in such a condition?

Prabhupada explains that inside these material coverings, there is also a spiritual body. He explains that we have it right now, even as we speak, but that in our current condition, it is very small and undeveloped. Different from the material body, this spiritual body is not different from the soul; it is not something we have, but something we are. It is a manifestation of the soul's desire to serve Krsna, so to say. This undeveloped spiritual body is thus covered by the subtle and gross material bodies that we use to interact in this material world.

When a devotee starts to chant the holy names and practice spiritual life, his spiritual body gradually develops. As one becomes more advanced, one actually starts serving Krsna using his spiritual body and senses. At this stage, the material body becomes just like an appendix that moves along. Simultaneously, our spiritual mind and intelligence are developed, along with our spiritual senses. Different from the polluted material mind, the spiritual mind is full of the desire to serve Krsna, and the spiritual intelligence is efficient in making plans to facilitate that. With our spiritual senses, we can experience the mellows of spiritual life, which are impossible to experience using our blunt material senses. The spiritual body is thus developed in connection to the service of Krsna, and when it's ready, we are free to go back home, back to Godhead.

For the impersonalist, however, things are a little more complicated. The impersonalist doesn't have an attitude of service to Krsna, and therefore, his spiritual body remains undeveloped. At the same time, he becomes frustrated with the material world and wants to get out of here, dissolving his material mind and intelligence. He comes thus to a situation where he doesn't have a material body, but at the same time, he can't join the pastimes in the spiritual planets. He has thus to remain in orbit between the two spheres, in a marginal condition.

There are two places where this is possible. The first is the pradhana, or the causal ocean. That's a place where the soul becomes practically unconscious. There is no influence of the material modes, and one becomes free from material miseries, but there is not much spiritual bliss either. That’s the place where voidists (like the Buddhists) go. That's a place where one can just stop existing.

The second place is the brahmajyoti. These two places are quite similar, but the brahmajyoti is on the side of light, while the pradhana is on the side of darkness. In the brahmajyoti, there is a slightly higher degree of spiritual bliss, and one can appreciate the dazzling rays of the vaikunta planets. Souls who go to the brahmajyoti are more advanced, and thus we can presume they have a certain degree of consciousness connected with their (still undeveloped) spiritual body. However, when a soul stays long enough in the brahmajyoti, this consciousness is dissolved, and the soul just merges in an unconscious state (as narrated in the Brhad-bhagavatamrta). In this case, the soul can remain for an incredibly long period in this position. However, because this is not the original position of the soul, one can fall from this position at a certain point and go back to the material universe. This applies to both the pradana and the brahmajyoti

Srila Prabhupada explains it in this way: "A living entity can remain for some time in the Brahman effulgence (brahmajyoti) as a tiny shining spiritual particle. As there are many molecular particles of sunshine, similarly the living entities can live as small particles of spiritual effulgence in the brahmajyoti. But they are subject to fall down into this material creation again. By nature the living entities want varieties of sense enjoyment, but in that impersonal existence there are no varieties of enjoyment. So when they desire to enjoy, they have to come again to this material world. Therefore, if one merges into the Brahman effulgence, there is every chance of falling down."

Can a soul go from the brahmajyoti to the spiritual planets without having to come down to the material universe? Prabhupada explains that this is extremely rare, but may happen in a few situations, in cases where one has heard about devotional service to the Lord while living in the material world, and somehow develops a desire to serve the Lord while at the brahmajyoti. We can see that in the Brhad-bhagavatamrta, Gopa Kumara becomes one of such cases, joining the spiritual planets after spending a long time in the impersonal effulgence.

These, however, are rare cases. In general, one has to develop this devotional attitude by practicing devotional service under the guidance of pure devotees. There is no service available in the Brahmajyoti, nor does one have a body to execute it; therefore, generally, one has to come to the material world to practice.

There are five types of liberation, called Sarsti (achieving opulences equal to that of the Lord), Sarupya (having a form like that of the Lord), Samipya (living as a personal associate of the Lord, Salokya (living on a Vaikuṇṭha planet), and Sayujya (merging into the impersonal Brahman). Vaishnavas may accept any of the first four types, but they will never accept merging into the brahmajyoti, since this is a position that hampers their service to Krsna. Srila Prabhupada explains that merging into the brahmajyoti is a position reserved for the enemies of Krsna, since this is a place where the demons who are killed by Krsna go.

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