Is the soul's tiny amount of independence inspite of its near-total dependence on matter and energy, God's maayaa?

Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only

An online spiritual discussion was conducted on November 21, 2020, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.

[Śrī Phani asked: You have said that the soul, which is awarenesss, is the result of inert matter and inert energy. It means that it depends on inert matter and inert energy. Yet it is aware, which gives it some freedom to choose its action. That freedom is only 0.1% since the awareness depends on inert matter and inert energy. Its dependence is to an extent of 99.9%. As such the soul, which is a product of inert matter and inert energy should not be aware, and yet it somehow is aware and possesses that 0.1% freedom. Is that tiny freedom due to God’s māyā?]

Swāmi replied: As mentioned earlier, this 0.1% freedom is the effect of the unimaginable power of the unimaginable God. This means that God alone has given that little freedom to the soul or the individual soul. We must remember that the terms soul (ātman) and individual soul (jīva) are used as alternatives for each other, in a loose sense. The inert energy passing through the brain and nervous system gets associated with that little bit of God-given freedom and it gets the power of observation (awareness).

But the power and its effect are different and so, you should not call the effect as the power itself. In other words, you cannot call the soul as God. The soul’s little bit of freedom comes from God’s unimaginable power. This unimaginable power of God and the unimaginable God are one and the same since any number of unimaginable items become only one unimaginable item. If you call this little freedom of the soul as the unimaginable power itself, you will make the mistake of calling the individual soul or awareness as God. But the power used in striking a tree with an axe is different from the cutting process of the tree. Cutting the tree is different from the power applied to cut the tree. Hence, we should not mistake the little freedom of the individual soul, to be God’s unimaginable power or the unimaginable God Himself, even though it is the result of the unimaginable power of God. Freedom is a possessed quality, whereas, the possessor of the freedom is a different entity.

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