Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Shad Darshan – Concluding comments:
Conclusion II
In conclusion, all of the above philosophies of Hinduism describe about the fundamental realities, from one, two, three, or five, and their relationships with each other. We can reduce all the realities, before the creation, to just one reality – God. But then we cannot explain all the realities that are in existence after the very first creation. The creation itself is a reality. We have to explain everything based on the minimum possible number of fundamental realities considering all the past, present, and future scenarios of existence. Even scientists have difficulty in reducing everything to just one particle and one force.
All philosophies agree that the Supreme Being is one, unique, incomparable, and unparalleled, who is conceived or understood as the perfect, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, creator, source, and controller of the universe, the cosmos, and everything. He is eternal, without beginning and end, forever stable, and unchanging. He is beyond time, space, deeds, and material world of maya. He is Soul of the souls and God of the gods. In Hinduism, He is known as Paramatma, Parabrahm, Purushottam, or Narayan. “Parabrahm” is so named because it is beyond or transcendental to Brahm (Param Brahm).
Brahm or the Abode of Parabrahm (God) is another reality which is penultimate to Parabrahm. Initially Brahm and Parabrahm were inferred as one reality, but later on it was clearly understood that Parabrahm and Brahm, God and His abode, cannot be just one reality. They are two different realities. Scriptures have described some of the characteristics exclusively for Parabrahm that cannot be applies to Brahm or any other realities. Parabrahm is the Supreme Being – the topmost creator, controller, and the essence of all. Parabrahm is described as the soul (shariri) of Brahm (sharir). Brahm is described as the body (sharir) of Parabrahm. Just as body (sharir) and soul (shariri) seems to be one, Brahm and Parabrahm were also understood to be one reality. But, they are not one and the same entity. Parabrahm can sustain without Brahm, but Brahm cannot sustain without Parabrahm.
In Hinduism, there is description of a super-soul or universal soul called Purush or Ishwar. In Hinduism, there is a crucial distinction between Purush and Purushottam (God). Ishwar or Purush is the super-soul of brahmand (whole universe). Hinduism describes about many brahmands. It is obvious that if there are many brahmands and each brahmand is governed by its own super-soul, then there are possibilities of existence of many super-souls. Existence of many Purushas is described in Sankhya scriptures and other scriptures like Mahabharat and Purans.
In Hinduism, individual soul is understood as ontologically distinct reality from God, Nature (Prakruti), and other realities. There are many individual souls or inner-self called atma or jiv limited to each mundane physical body. Each soul is separate, distinct, and different than its body. Therefore, bodily relations are simply bodily relations and are limited to the current birth only. The past, present, and future bodily relations have nothing to do with the souls. Once the soul is free from its three kinds of body it gets liberation or salvation. Soul has to be brahmanized (brahmrup) to get ultimate salvation called Atyantik Moksh. For that the living being has to take the shelter of God and completely and unconditionally surrender to Him, who resides forever in His abode and also, as His presence on this earth, in Satpurush (God-realized person or sant), in Satshāstra (Holy Scriptures), and in Satkriyā (pious and virtuous actions). No one has seen God as scientists see or observe tiniest particles or farthest galaxies and quasars. Everything what we know about God is from the holy scriptures. Scriptures have described every tiniest detail and the characteristics of God and His true and the choicest devotee or follower. Hinduism believes in worshiping the present form of God on the earth and that also in the form like us with which we can find some resemblance or similarity, develop intimacy, do some communication, and enjoy the same bliss on this earth and in this very life as we would enjoy in His abode. This also makes sure that what we are getting here, we will be getting there in His abode. Anyway, salvation ultimately is in His presence, in His service, and in His close association whether here or in His abode.
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Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Shad Darshan – Vedanta philosophies (contd.):
Swaminarayan philosophy – Jiv
Jiv and its body
1. Jiv or Soul is the essence or life force of the body, which is ontologically different than the elements of the body. The elements of body inherently carries three qualities (tri-gunas) of maya or prakruti, whereas, soul is free of these three qualities, namely, rajas, tamas, and satva, of maya. So, it is known as “asangi”. The body acts as the field (kshetra) for the soul and the soul is body’s fielder (kshetragna). The essence of a jiv or ātmā (soul) is Paramatma (the soul of the souls). Jiv is subtle (sukshma) like an atom (anu). Paramatma is subtler than jiv. Jiv is spiritual, sentient, conscious, or liveliness (chaitanya-rup) in nature, but is finite in capabilities and limited in power, that is restricted to its body only. In contrast, the body is mundane, insentient, or worldly in nature.
Jiv pervades the whole body by its knowledgeability or knowing power (gnan-shakti). It is impenetrable (achhedya), indivisible (abhedya), non-aging (ajar), indestructible (amar), and invisible in characteristics. It is eternal, means, it has no origin (anādi) and permanent (shaswat or sanatana). Souls are many (countless or infinite) in numbers. When a soul becomes brahmrup or brahm-like in qualities, it achieves its full potential. All free (mukta) souls (atma) in the abode of God are identical and have equal potential. In every birth, the soul gets different body in different ways by different parents. In different bodies different souls seems to show different potential and different power. The same soul changes its body many times within the cycle of births and deaths (samsār chakra of lakh chorāsi) among the 8.4 million life forms, until it gets final redemption or liberation. The soul and its body have “the garment and the wearer of that garment” relationship. Person inside (soul) remains the same but garments (bodies) are changed in every birth. The soul and its body also have “the house and its householder” relationship. Householder controls and maintains the house. Once the householder abandons the house, it becomes a haunted house and gets ruined and ultimately becomes “dust unto dust”. In the “Vedastuti” chapter 87 of Dasham Scand of Shrimad Bhagwat Puran it is said that God has created for the soul its body consisting of senses, intelligence, mind, and prāns just to attain liberation. Other usages of the body are minor and just coincidental. Jiv’s body (sharir) is of three kinds: Sthul (gross), Sukshma (subtle), and Kāran (causal), of which the causal body is full of ignorance. It has three states (avasthā): jāgrat (awaken), swapna (dream), and sushupti (deep sleep). The body consists of 24 elements, of which prān, in general, is the topmost (physiological) element. No other philosophies have mentioned about “pran.” Scientists may create fully functioning cell either from the scratch or from the base cell by changing its nucleus with synthetic or semisynthetic nucleus. The functionality of the synthesized cell, test-tube cell, clone cell, or stem cell is because of “pran” which is part of 24 physical and physiological elements, thus, suggesting, the difference between pran and jiv (soul). Jiv then enters the cell and automatically takes the charge according to the system governed by deeds or actions (karma) under the supreme authority or controlling power of God. Souls are divine (divya) and eternal (anadi), and cannot be created, synthesized, or made in the laboratory. In this way, other religious philosophical systems may still be vulnerable to the rigorous testing by science but Hinduism seems to be rather more foolproof religious philosophical system. The soul has to detach from its causal body (Karan sharir) that harbors the basic ignorance (mul-agnān), by gaining true knowledge, to go to the abode of God or to enjoy the company and the bliss of God. On final redemption or liberation, after leaving this mundane body, jiv gets a new kind of body when it stays in Akshardhām or Aksharbrahm – the abode of God Purushottam. This new kind of body is called “Brahmamay tanu” or “divya tanu.” It is of “chaitanya” (sentient) or “divya” (divine) in nature which is quite distinct from the mundane body consisting of the eight kinds of “jad prakruti.”
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Posted in Hinduism - Philosophies, Jiv, Navya Vishishtadvaita, Shad Darshan – Vedanta philosophies | Comments Closed
