Re: Start of the 'Atma'/Soul
Pranams.
Actually, the above views appear to be ISKCON's views, rather than gauDIya vaiShNava views in general.
The logic in vedAnta-sUtra regarding God's partiality/impartiality goes like this:
pUrva-pakshin: We see that people everywhere are unequal. Therefore God must be partial and cruel
vedAntin: No, because the people are unequal due to their different karmas.
pUrva-pakshin: If they have different karmas, then it must be that they started off with different karmas, therefore God is partial and cruel in creating the jIvas with different karmas.
vedAntin: No, because the jIvas never "started off" with karma. They have always been in samsAra, as in, without beginning.
The point is very clear that material bondage is without beginning. Moreover, baladeva vidyAbhUShaNa, the vedAnta commentator for the gauDIya sampradAya, upholds this view in his govinda-bhAShya.
The idea of being in Vaikuntha and then falling from that position is not a vedAntic belief, and as far as I can tell, is primarily only held by some newer sects like ISKCON. I can't help but notice that this view does have a subtly Christian flavor to it, which is probably why it is so popular in the West, as it resembles the Christian myth of the "fall from Eden."
Philosoraptor
"Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something." - Plato
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