The jīva is without beginning, has no initial appearance and no end. The jīva is beyond material cause and effect. The pure jīvātmā cannot be said to be either effect or cause because it has given up the material states of name and form (effect – prakṛti in manifested stage) and absence of name and form (cause – prakṛti in undifferentiated state). Effect means possessing individual name and form in the material world, and cause means devoid of name and form, the state after destruction or before creation.
The jīva is without beginning, has no initial appearance and no end. The jīva is beyond material cause and effect. The pure jīvātmā cannot be said to be either effect or cause because it has given up the material states of name and form (effect – prakṛti in manifested stage) and absence of name and form (cause – prakṛti in undifferentiated state). Effect means possessing individual name and form in the material world, and cause means devoid of name and form, the state after destruction or before creation. However, the jīva is endowed with spiritual form and quality, being a very small particle of consciousness endowed with the eight qualities. If brahma refers to Paramātmā, its qualities are described as follows: That form has no beginning because it is His svarūpa and so eternal. Kṛṣṇa alone is the supreme shelter of Paramātmā, as He would later say brahmano hi pratiṣṭhāham. And it is beyond cause and effect. The Lord is the master of jīvātmā, and also the master of matter.