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Tatvatrayam: The three entities

In Sri:vaishnava samprada:ya that is established on the ve:da:s, there are three distinct entities. They are called cit , acith and Ishvara. They are usually referred as soul , inanimate matter and the Lord. Let us understand what these three things are.

The soul:
The soul called cit is full of knowledge. It is different from the body , senses or mind. It has no incubation , birth , youth , old age or death. It cannot be perceived by the senses . It is atomic. It is self - illuminatory. It is subject to the powers of the Lord. It has the lord as its soul(thus , super soul) and exists only because of Him. The soul is always subservient to the Lord and engages in eternal servitude or kainkaryam of the Lord.
These souls are of three types.

1.Nithya:s
The Nithya sooris like Sri: anantha , Sri vishvakse:na and sri: garuda, who never enter the domains of this materialistic world fall in this category. They always serve the Lord and reside in Sri:vaikuntam with eternal bliss. They can take forms in the states of the Lord such as vyu:ha and perform kainkaryam to Him. If directed by the Lord, they can also involve in creation , destruction and protection.

2.Muktha:s
By sheer grace of the Lord, certain souls bonded to material world , get rid of this bondage (and leave their bodies) and attain Sri:vaikunta through a path called archira:di ma:rga. These people have initially been subject to the vageries of the materialistic world and have been rescued by the Lord to His abode of Vaikunta.

3.baddha:s
Due to association with the materialistic world for times immemorial, these souls are bound to bodies and minds and continue to reside within bodies. They enjoy or suffer the fruits of their actions . They are ignorant of ways to reach the Lord and are blinded by their ignorance.
Precisely , it is these badhha:s who get elevated at some stage in to the category of muktha:s when they attain salvation.

All of us are currently baddha: souls.

The other two entities are the inanimate matter or acit (which we usually regard as objects without life. This includes our body too as it is lifeless without the soul) and the Isvara (the Lord who has both cit and acit as His body and rules over them - He is the ultimate entity without whose grace the other two entities will not exist). A more rigorous discussion on the nature of the Lord will be explained in the later sections.