The eternal form of the spirit soul (individual jiva-soul)

Srila Prabhupāda - "The impersonal conception of the Supreme is so detrimental to the path of devotional service that it is very difficult to associate with the stubborn non-devotees, who always think in terms of material conceptions. Impersonalists always think backwards, they think that because there is form in matter, spirit should be formless; because in matter there is sleep, in spirit there cannot be sleep; and because the sleeping of the Deity is accepted in arcanā worship, the arcanā is māyā. All these thoughts are basically material. To think either positively or negatively is still thinking materially. Knowledge accepted from the superior source of the Vedas is standard." (SB, Canto 3 Ch 9 Text 21, Purport)

Srila Prabhupāda - "Each person is eternal. Because the Lord says that He existed as a person before the creation (agre) and will also exist after the annihilation, the Lord is a person eternally." (SB, Canto 6 Ch 4 Text 47, Purport)

The individual jiva-souls (marginal living entities), like Krsna, have existed for "infinity," both are beginningless and endless and were NEVER created, although the jiva-soul's existence fully depends on Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of all causes.

The individual jiva-soul's original home is the perpetual Vaikuntha planets, or Goloka-Vrindavana, and NOT the decaying material world of repeated birth and death restricted to a material bodily vessel, or a dormant (inactive) "bodiless spark" in the impersonal brahmajyoti, both these are "fallen conditional" states of the jiva-souls.

The individual jiva-souls are eternal spiritual living PERSONS as a spiritual body, they are NOT the temporary material bodily vessel they possess in the material world that is subjected to the cycle of repeated birth and death. 

The individual jiva-souls can never be destroyed, terminated in any way or extinguished. The jiva-souls are indestructible.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be." (BG, Ch 2 text 12)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change." (BG, Ch 2 text 13)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul." (BG, Ch 2 text 17)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." (BG Ch 2 text 20 "corrected" 1983 edition)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "O Pārtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?" (BG, Ch 2 text 21)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." (BG, Ch 2 text 22)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind." (BG, Ch 2 text 23)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same." (BG, Ch 2 text 24)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the material body." (BG, Ch 2 text 25)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament."  (BG, Ch 2 text 27)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all." (BG, Ch 2 text 29)

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - "O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the material body can never be slain. Therefore, you need not grieve for any living being." (BG, Ch 2 text 30)

Srila Prabhupada – "There are no new souls, new and old are due to this material body, but the jiva-soul is never born and never dies, so if there is no birth, how can there be new souls?" (Letter to Jagadisa dasa, 7/9/1970)

The individual jiva-souls (marginal living entities) are indestructible PERSONS who are on an endless journey, they can never be destroyed, terminated or extinguished.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura therefore quotes these verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.9.13-14)-

na cāntar na bahir yasya

na pūrvaṁ nāpi cāparam

pūrvāparaṁ bahiś cāntar

jagato yo jagac ca yaḥ

taṁ matvātmajam avyaktaṁ

martya-liṅgam adhokṣajam

gopikolūkhale dāmnā

babandha prākṛtaṁ yathā

The Personality of Godhead appeared in Vṛndāvana as the son of mother Yaśodā, who bound the Lord with rope just as an ordinary mother binds a material child. 

There are actually no divisions of external and internal for the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (sac cid ānanda vigraha [Bs. 5.1), but when He appears in His own form the unintelligent think Him an ordinary person. 

Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) although He comes in His own body, which never changes. mūḍhas, the unintelligent, think that the impersonal Brahman has assumed a material body to come in the form of a person. Ordinary living beings assume material bodies, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not. 

Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme consciousness, it is stated herein that saṁjñāna-mātram, the original consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, was unmanifested before the creation, although the consciousness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of everything. 

The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (2.12), "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be." Thus the Lord's person is the Absolute Truth in the past, present and future. In this regard, Madhvācārya quotes two verses from the Matsya Purāṇa-

nānā-varṇo haris tv eko

bahu-śīrṣa-bhujo rūpāt

āsīl laye tad-anyat tu

sūkṣma-rūpaṁ śriyaṁ vinā

asuptaḥ supta iva ca

mīlitākṣo 'bhavad dhariḥ

anyatrānādarād viṣṇau

śrīś ca līneva kathyate

sūkṣmatvena harau sthānāl

līnam anyad apīṣyate

After the annihilation of everything, the Supreme Lord, because of His sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), remains in His original form, but since the other living entities have material bodies, the matter merges into matter, and the subtle form of the spirit soul remains within the body of the Lord. The Lord does not sleep, but the ordinary living entities remain asleep until the next creation. An unintelligent person thinks that the opulence of the Supreme Lord is nonexistent after the annihilation, but that is not a fact. The opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead remains as it is in the spiritual world; only in the material world is everything dissolved. 

Brahma-līna, merging into the Supreme Brahman, is not actual līna, or annihilation, for the subtle form remaining in the Brahman effulgence will return to the material world after the material creation and again assume a material form. This is described as bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). When the material body is annihilated, the spirit soul remains in a subtle form, which later assumes another material body. This is true for the conditioned souls, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead remains eternally in His original consciousness and spiritual body." (SB, Canto 6 Ch 4 Text 47, Purport)

Devotee - "The individual jiva-soul is non-material, so what is the real spiritual form of the jiva-soul?

Srila Prabhupāda - "There is eternal spiritual form, just like this material body is compared with the dress. Now, just like in your present material form you have got hand; therefore your coat has got hand. If you have got... You have got leg; therefore your pant has got leg. Therefore it is to be assumed that the spirit soul has got form, and it has developed into hands, legs, heads, everything. It is not formless; it has got form. But with our material eyes at the present, gross eyes, we cannot find it; therefore we say it has no form." (Lecture BG, Ch 2 Text 14, Mexico, Feb 14, 1975)

Srila Prabhupāda - "Every living entity has got an independence, minute, because he is also spiritual atom. We are all spiritual atoms. That atomic, spiritual atomic force. Just like a material atomic force is so strong, so you can just imagine how strong is spiritual atom. In the modern age, the atomic age, the scientists have discovered the force, the power of material atoms. But they have not yet known what is the force of spiritual atom. There is spiritual atom, we are spiritual atom. 

The atom is described in the Vedic literature, the form of the spirit which we are actually. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). Keśāgra means the hair, the upper portion of your hair. When it is divided into ten thousand parts. And just imagine. That one part is the spiritual atom. It is so small, it is so minute, that it is not possible to see with our material eyes. 

Even the material atom also we cannot see. When the material atoms are combined into six, then you can see floating in the air through the sunshine which is entering your room through the holes of a window. You can see some particles. That small particle, they are combination of six atoms. That particle, when it is divided into six, that becomes the atom. So you cannot see even the material atom, and what to speak of the spiritual atom." (Lecture BG, Ch 4 Text 11 - New York City, July 27, 1968)

Devotee - "Śrīla Prabhupāda you state that the jiva-soul has form."

Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes."

Devotee - "Otherwise, how is the material body grown to accommodate the spirit soul? Just like a shirt has no form, but when it's put on the body, it takes the shapes of the body. Does that mean that the spirit soul has the shape of the body that is accommodating it?"

Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes, you have got body, shape, very minute shape. That we cannot see, we cannot measure. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, anumeyam, what is that? You cannot measure. What is that word used? Aprameyam. Aprameyam. You cannot measure. But it has a form. 

How? What is the length and breadth of that form? THAT’S is not in your power. In your power, but not materially. That is... If you have got spiritual power, then you can measure it. And that measurement is also given in the śāstra. What is that? One ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Hair is a very small point. And divide it into ten thousand parts. That one part is the measure, magnitude of the soul.

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya

śatadhā kalpitasya ca

jīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ

sa cānantyāya kalpate (CC Madhya 19.140)

Everything is there. But you have no eyes to see, how to see one ten-thousandth portion of the top of the hair. You cannot see even the original top of the hair. Everything is there. We must have eyes." (Lecture SB, Canto 1 Ch 16 Text 24, Hawaii, Jan 20, 1974)

Srila Prabhupāda - "This material world is existing on the spiritual prakṛti. You can calculate what is your body. This body is existing on the spiritual body. Just like your shirt. The shirt is existing on your actual hand. The shirt has got a hand because you have got hand. So matter is impersonal. But because the superior prakṛti, jīva, he is person, therefore the matter appears like a person. 

Because I have got hands and legs, therefore this cloth has got hands and legs. Otherwise the cloth has no hands and legs; it is impersonal. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni. This body is just like dress. Just like your coat has got hand, your pant has got leg, but either the pant or coat has no leg, no hand. 

Because you have got leg and hand, therefore the coat has got leg and hand. Everyone can understand, it is very easy. So, the original eternal the spirit soul has got form. Therefore the cloth has been cut into form. It is very easy to understand, otherwise how you get the form? And in this form the spirit soul is trying to enjoy this material world. But it is not puruṣa. It cannot enjoy. That is false. That is illusion." (Lecture SB, Canto 3 Ch 26 Text 3, Bombay, Dec 15, 1974)

Srila Prabhupāda - "We are not studying what kind of dress you have got. Now, you are also not studying what kind of dress I have got. We are concerned with philosophy, with knowledge, similarly, we are not concerned whether you are American or Englishman or African or this or that, a cat or dog. We want to give you Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because everyone is conscious. So that consciousness has to be changed. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. 

Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). One has to become clear, very clear! First that clearing. So sarva-upādhi-vinirmuktam, upādhi. We have got these designations, 

I am Indian, 

I am American, 

I am brāhmaṇa, 

I am Muslim,

I am Christian,

I am Hindu. 

These are all designations. So, we have to become free from these designations, come to the spiritual platform. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. Nirmalam means without any... Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). 

When you come to that purest form of spirit soul, you don't think that your indriyas, or senses, are lost. No. Senses are there. At that time, if you enjoy your senses in cooperation with the Supreme, that is called bhakti, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness." (Lecture SB, Canto 5 Ch 5 Text 1, London, Aug 30, 1971)

Devotee - "Would the jiva-soul that is within, say, a cow's body, is in a different shape?"

Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes, it has got also legs, but the shape has taken a form according to his desire. Just like a bird, it has two wings, two legs. The animal has got four legs, and man has got two hands, two legs. So the same parts of the body, they are appearing in a different type. But the four limbs of the body are there." 

Devotee - "Is the original body of the spirit soul a human form?"

Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes, human form, God is also human form. "Man is made after the shape of God." I think there is in the Bible. Is it not? So God is also like human form. Here you see Kṛṣṇa, two hands, two legs."

Hari-śauri - "How do we understand, then, that there are peacocks and flowers and trees in the spiritual world? Are these not eternal forms?"

Srila Prabhupada - [explaining also the material covering] "Yes, they are more covered, just like if you cover your body with blanket, the hands and legs are invisible, but you are not the blanket. So the trees and plants, they are more covered. They are not in full manifestation. The human form is the full manifestation of the jiva-soul."

Hari-śauri - "They are covered in the spiritual world as well?"

Srila Prabhupada - "Not in the spiritual world, there that is voluntary, some devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as flower; they become flower there. If I want to be a flower I shall lie down at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and become flower, voluntarily. And he can change from flower to human body. That is spiritual life. There is no restriction. If some devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as cow, he serves Kṛṣṇa as cow, as calf, as flower, as plant, as water, as ground, field, or as father, as mother, as friend, as beloved, anything. Ye yathā mām prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). That is Kṛṣṇa's all-powerfulness, spiritual life." (Lecture SB, Canto 6 Ch 1 Text 1, Melb, Australia May 21, 1975)

Srila Prabhupāda - "In Vaikuṇṭha, people, they also dress with yellow cloth, pīta-kauśeya, or this saffron color. This is Vaikuṇṭha dress. Kauśeya, pīta, the dress, garments. Kirīṭinaḥ: "with helmets." Kuṇḍalinaḥ: "with nice earring." Kirīṭinaḥ kuṇḍalino lasat-puṣkara-mālinaḥ, "and very nice flower garland." 

This is Vaikuṇṭha dress - Lasat puṣkara mālinaḥ, sarve ca nūtna-vayasaḥ: all young men. In Vaikuṇṭha there is no old age, although they are eternal. That is the real form of the spirit. The old age is due to this body, material body. Material thing is born and stays for some time, and then it is annihilated. So up to the time of annihilation, it becomes so old, nasty, bad-looking. But in the Vaikuṇṭha there is no such thing. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam. The Vaikuṇṭha planet, because that is spiritual body, that is nityaḥ śāśvataḥ." (Lecture SB, Canto 6 Ch 1 Text 33 - San Francisco, July 18, 1975)

Srila Prabhupāda - "The living entity is not nirākāra. Living entity has got hands, legs, everything, spiritual. Just like my, I have got my body, and this body's covered by this shirt, and because I have got this hand, the shirt has got hand. Otherwise wherefrom this hand comes? Unless the spirit soul has got hands and legs, how we have got these material hands and legs? Therefore it is, the conclusion is that spirit soul has form. As Kṛṣṇa has got form, sac cid ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1), similarly spirit soul, jīvātmā, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, it has got form. That form is also described in the śāstra. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca, jīva bhāgo sa vijñeyaḥ (CC Madhya 19.140). A rough idea of the form of the living entity has been given in the Padma Purāṇa that one ten thousandth part of the tip of the hair.

Now, perhaps we have no instrument how to measure one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. But this is given there. So anyway, because we get information from the Bhagavad-gītā, that this body, material body is, is like a dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāny yathā vihāya. As we give up old dress, garment, similarly, when this body becomes useless, we give up this body and accept another new body. Navāni ghṛṇāti." (The Nectar of Devotion - Vrndavana, Oct 26, 1972)

Srila Prabhupāda - "We have fallen down in this material condition. But Kṛṣṇa never falls down in material condition. When He appears before us, don't think that "He is also fallen soul like me." The fools consider like that. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG, Ch 9 Text 11). Mūḍhā means fools. 

The fools consider Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man. Mānuṣīṁ paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. The fools do not know what is immense potency, background, of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they think Kṛṣṇa as like one of us. So here it is said, sarva-ādi. Sarva-ādi means the primal. Primal. And sarva-aṁśī. Sarva-aṁśī means He is the original thing, and everything is part. We are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśa, in the Bhagavad-gītā. Aṁśī. Aṁśī and aṁśa. 

Just like this hand, It is called part, and I am, as whole body, I am the whole. So we can understand part and whole. So therefore He is whole, and everything is His part. He is the aṁśī; He is the whole. Sarva-aṁśī. Kiśora-śekhara. This very word, kiśora-śekhara, "the supreme boy." The supreme boy. His feature is just like a fresh boy, but the supreme. Kiśora-śekhara cid-ānanda-deha, spiritual body. Just mark this description of Kṛṣṇa: cid-ānanda-deha. Cid-ānanda-deha means transcendental, spiritual body, not this body. 

Because the less intelligent persons, they cannot think of personal God... Because they think that whenever there is question of personality, it is material body. They cannot find out the shape of the spirit soul. It is so small that from material eyes, by material instrument, you cannot find out the shape of the soul. Therefore, they conclude that there is no shape. 

The same example: just geometrically, the definition of point is given, "point has no length, no breadth," because a point cannot be measured by any human instrument. But nothing can be without. Even the atom has got its measure. But because we have no power to measure, we set aside, dismiss: "Oh, there is no, nothing." So similarly, "Because we do not know what is spirit, and we think spirit is something just opposite to this matter, and matter we find manifestation, form, therefore spirit should be formless." That is their conclusion. But actually it is not so." (Lecture CC Madhya-lila 20.152-154 - New York City, Dec 5, 1966)

Hayagrīva dasa - "Aquinas believed that God is the only single essence that consists of pure form. He felt that matter is only a potential and, in order to be real, must assume a certain shape or form. Being in the universe have to acquire an individual form in order to actualize themselves. When matter unites with form, the form gives an object its individuality and personality. A form gives an object its individuality and personality."

Srila Prabhupāda - Yes, matter has no form but the jiva-soul has got form. Though matter is covering the actual form of the jiva-soul, the matter then appears to have form. Just like the original cloth has no form, but when the tailor cuts the cloth according to the body of the person, then the shirt and coat takes a form. The matter itself has no form. When you take clay, it has no form, but if you make it like a doll, like a man or woman, then it has a form. When you change the clay, and you manufacture a fort, then the fort has form. So form and formlessness is of the matter, but in the spiritual world everything has got form. The spirit soul has got form. God has got form. This is the truth."

Hayagrīva dasa - "Aquinas believed that only God and the angels have form that is not material. There is no difference between God's form and His spiritual self."

Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes, as in the material world any form-man or beast or anyone—in the outward, external covering is matter, but within the matter there is the soul. The soul has form and God has form. That is real form. And the material form is simply shirting and coating over the spiritual body." (Philosophy Discussion with Prabhupāda on Thomas Aquinas) 

Hayagrīva dasa - "He considered that matter was necessary to give the jiva-soul form."

Srila Prabhupāda - "No, he has got his original form."

Hayagrīva dasa - "Original form?"

Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes."

Hayagrīva dasa - "Which is the form of the body."

Srila Prabhupāda - "Original form, that is the form of the spirit."

Hayagrīva dasa - "Of the spirit."

Srila Prabhupāda - "Yes, and the form of the body takes place on account of the form of the spirit. This is very nice example. The cloth has no form, but when it is cut according to the form of the gentleman, it takes a form. Similarly, matter has no form. When it is coated on the spiritual form of the soul, it takes the form. This is very easy to understand." (Philosophy Discussion with Srila Prabhupāda on Thomas Aquinas)

Guest - "And it is eternal bondage there.

Srila Prabhupada - "No. Bondage for so long you are in this material bondage."

Guest - "In some form..."

Srila Prabhupada - "No, first of all you have to understand in the spiritual form, not material covering"

Guest - "Yes, even there is spiritual form, one has to live in certain form, without which..."

Srila Prabhupada - "That is natural form, that is not a conventional form. Just like you have dressed yourself with black coat, it is not your natural form. So material..."

Guest - "Has spirit no want?"

Srila Prabhupada - "Yes, no want."

Guest " Without it, you see..."

Srila Prabhupada - "Everything you desire, it is present immediately."

Guest - "So, the spirit (jiva-soul) has got subtle form, though it may be exact form?"

Srila Prabhupada - "Yes, yes, yes."

Guest - "Though mind has got no form outside but mind has a form."

Srila Prabhupada - "The spirit has a form."

Guest - "Intelligence is also accepting..."

Srila Prabhupada - "These are different coating. Just like you have got your form, therefore your coat has got a form."

Guest - "No, I was thinking in this form."

Srila Prabhupada - "Don't think like that way. First of all you try to understand. Because you have got a form, your coat has got a form. You try to understand this."

Guest - "Yes, water, though may not have form, but it has got form."

Srila Prabhupada - "Why may not? You try to understand practically. You have got a form, therefore your shirt has got a form, your coat has got a form."

Guest - "That spirit has this form, no?"

Srila Prabhupada - "Yes, because originally you have got hand, your coat has got hand. Because originally you have got hand, your shirt has got hand. Therefore this form, the material form which you are seeing, it is coating only."

Guest - "Material form of what?"

Srila Prabhupada - "You, me, everything."

Guest - "No, 

Guest - "That is what I say, any spiritual being will have certain form."

Srila Prabhupada - "Not certain form. He has got his original form."

Guest - "Original means all the... We are living from the eternal..."

Srila Prabhupada - "Yes, eternally you have got a form."

Guest - "From the eternal we have got certain form."

Srila Prabhupada - "That is material. Past certain form, that is material. But you have got an original spiritual form."

Guest - "Spiritual form is there but due to the bond man has taken this form."

Srila Prabhupada - "This form is being developed according to your mental condition." (Room Conversation - Jan 17, 1971, Allahabad)

Srila Prabhupada - "This form is being developed according to your mental condition."

Guest - "Mental conditions are due to want."

Srila Prabhupada - "Subtle form, subtle form."

Guest - "Those are again due to want."

Srila Prabhupada - "Due to want, yes?"

Guest - "All these forms are due to want."

Srila Prabhupada - "Want. That want because you are in the material condition."

Guest - "Every person in a material... Spirit in matter remains because both are there."

Srila Prabhupada - "Yes, yes."

Guest - "Now, as we have got a material form..."

Srila Prabhupada - "Spirit has got no material form. Spirit has got spiritual form."

Guest - "Spiritual form but yet also it has got a material form."

 Srila Prabhupada - "Because he has come, just like you have accepted this kind of coat. I have got a different kind of coat. She has got a different kind of coat."

Guest - "Yes, according to that there is..."

Srila Prabhupada - "Yes. So as I liked, so I have got shirt and coat. This is material. But originally, spiritual form is the same as you have got, I have got, she has got a form, everyone. That is original form."

Guest - "Now, our question... (indistinct) We try. Now, question of earning also, the definition is not here, being..."

Srila Prabhupada - "The question of earning comes so long you have got this material form. But from the spiritual form there is no question of earning."

Guest - "In what way we will live in that spiritual form?"

Srila Prabhupada - "That you have to know. That you have to know. Ānanda cinmaya rasa pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). That spiritual form means complete blissfulness, complete knowledge, and eternity." (Room Conversation - Jan 17, 1971, Allahabad)

Srila Prabhupada - "In further reference to your question about the form of the spirit soul of the conditioned living entity, there is a spiritual form always but covered while in the material world. However, it will develop fully ONLY when the living entity goes back to Vaikuntha.  This form is again uncovered according to the desire of the living entity. Until this perfectional stage is reached, the form is lying dormant like the form of the tree is lying dormant in the seed." (Letter to Rupanuga - Los Angeles 8 Aug, 1969) 

Srila Prabhupada - "Regarding your questions: The dormant spark (jiva-soul) fallen to the impersonal brahmajyoti certainly does have form which means hands, feet, etc. This we learn from Bhagavad-gita. The body is described there as Vasamsi, which means dress. So unless one has got originally hands and legs, how the dress, coat and pants and shirt, takes such form? Therefore the spirit soul has original form. When he is in the material energy the dress is evolved materially and when he is in the spiritual energy, the dress is evolved spiritually. This is also not very difficult to understand, as our students before coming to my contact, he was supposed to be materially dressed, attached to sense gratification, and after devoting himself in Krishna Consciousness, he is gradually developing a spiritual dress. That means attached to satisfying the senses of the Supreme." (Letter to Rupanuga - Hawaii 14 March, 1969).*×*.