Svatantra and paratantra: two kinds of being

Madhvacharya's simplest division of reality has just two members: the independent (svatantra) and the dependent (paratantra). Only Vishnu is independent. Souls are conscious dependents, matter is unconscious dependent. Everything a devotee does — knowledge, action, surrender — is an act of a dependent being, which is why bhakti is not optional decoration but the natural posture of a jiva.