Jaiva Dharma is a Vaisnava novel written in Bengali prose. Most of the book is very philosophical, consisting of dialogue of questions and answers between the characters of the book. The book is primarily based on two books of Srila Rupa Gosvami Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu and Ujjvala-nilamani. These two books are accepted as the most important and authoritative books on rasa-tattva. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has taken the essential understanding of these books and presented it in an easy-to-read story format. Simply by reading Jaiva Dharma, the serious student of bhakti can understand the intricacies of the soul's eternal relationship with the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
The precise meaning of Jaiva Dharma is given in the book itself, as follows: The activity of such pure souls is called Bhakti-the devotional service. Hari-Bhakti - the devotional service to Lord Hari, is also called by the names Suddha-Vaisnava-dharma - pure Vaisnava religion. Nitya-dharma the eternal religion. Jaiva dharma - duty of the individual souls. Bhagavata-dharma - religion of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Paramartha-dharma - the way to attain the final goal of life, and Paradharma - the highest religion.
