Question: If jivas are eternal then how are ciranjivas (like Hanuman, Ashvathama etc.) different?
Answer by Romapada Swami: Jivas are eternal, but in conditioned life, when the term of existence in one body is finished, they transmigrate to another body. Ciranjivas are those who have a special capacity to live for a very, very long period of time, over a span of several yugas in that very same form. However, at the end of the allotted time, they also have to quit their body. Both jives and ciranjivas are entitled to go back to the spiritual world if they become pure in their devotion to the Supreme Lord. Otherwise, they will have to rotate in the cycle of birth and death.
