Sriman NArAyaNAya namaha|
Srimathe RamAnujAya namaha|
Srimathe NigamAnta mahAdeSikAya namaha||
nama: Sri ranganAdhAya nama: Sri rangasAyine
nama: Sri rangadevAya Sri srinivAsaya te nama:
Question 1:
Vishistadvaitins do say that the differnece between JEEVATMA and
PARAMATMA is that, PARAMATMA has the power of creation and the power
of bestowing MOKSHA to JEEVATMAs. If that's what makes the JEEVATMA
to
be controlled by PARAMATMA, is't it unfair/unjust giving one the
power of creation and denying it to the other, thenin making one
pray to the
other for MOKSHA, though they both coexist for eternity?
This is said to be question of a scientist. Being a scientist and
engineer,
and a bhakta raised in the fold of Srivaishnavam adiyen cannot pass
the opportunity to answer this question.
The answer is as follows. Jiva by definition is but an amsam of the
Lord.
In whatever form he exists, he also chooses to control the jivas
while
they are alive. The control is implicit in science, but it is
explicit
in religion. The science postulates intrinsic forces associated with
matter.
At what point do the forces enter the matter? Do the matter and
forces were
created and paired instantaneously? If not, which came first,
matter
or force? This is described by the taitriya upanishat beautifully as
follows:
tat shrutva tatonupravishat.
God created the things (in the sense of shrusti ) and entered them (
in order to
support [sustain] them for the rest of their lives .) Rest of the
upanishat
starting with this line is also very beautiful.
Here both the advaitins and vishishtAdvaitins cannot say anything
contradictory
and theorize what this verse tries to postulate. It is vedam and a
sensible one too.
Even the scientist can appreciate that there is very small time scale
where there could be difference between pure matter and matter with
added force.
This suggests a Nobel-prize winning opportunity for a physicist to
perform
an experiment in order to separate the force from matter! All the
matter
that we see is the matter with an added force. All light emanates
from matter. This completes the basic picture of the universe.
Elsewhere
we have seen that the Lord is jwalantam since He makes everything
shine.
He creates and adds the shining ability ( which the science can
quantify in 'innumerable' ways ). Thus the light is also explained.
Finally, if It creates and sustains, It is certainly the Lord
and the rest are just dependants. Assuming that it is not so and
that everything has equal power, why does the jiva in us let us die
within time scale which is very small compared to the cosmic time
scale
of inert objects as well as the powerful stars in the universe? In
other words,
why are we not as powerful as the stars, at least in terms of
longevity?
It is obvious that we are not equal to even a single star. Then we
cannot
be equal to the might of the galaxies of stars ('Koti' surya )
put together. The 'Koti' surya is still finite compared to the
Infinite.
Thus we, the JIVAMATMAS, are certainly just very small, and hence
are
at the mercy of the PARAMATMA.
Since the question follows the messages related to a question on
'Aham Brahmasmi', let me add the following. We can expose the
weakness of strong advaitic arguments made in favor of Aham
BrahmAsmi
and Tat Tvamasi this way. Saying A=B (Aham Brahmasmi) and B=A
(tat tvam asi) and (hence) A is identically equal to B (once
ultimate realization is attained[questionable]) is certainly
mighty incorrect because we have proved just above that jiva
is controlled by the paramatma. We can only subscribe to milder
supplicative (in)equality advocated by Sri Ramanuja.
Why? Vedantam supports advaitam. But only in a sensible way.
Not to an illogical extreme. The purport of the vedantam is to show
that
the Lord also lives in us in the sense of providing a part of him
for our
forms (matter [derived in the sense of Purushs suktam] )
and function ( through anupravesam, etc.). The purport is not to
show
absolute equality at the end. By any measure it is insensible to
assume
this perfect equality. Also it is insensible to write non-advaitic
commentaries on Brahma sutras which have origins in Vedantam
which is actually 'advaitic'. Thus Sri Ramanuja and Vishtadvaitam
having been the first in having made correct assumptions
are certainly lofty and deserve our attention.
Question 2:
BUDDHA is considered as one of the avataras of Vishnu by some.
As everyone knows BUDDHA preached AGAINST Vedas. If Buddha is one of
the
avataras of Vishnu, why did he contradict the Vedas?
Adiyen has gathered from a Web site the detailed answer given by
Srila Prabhupada for this question. The argument is powerful indeed.
The answer is provided as a commentary of a verse in Srimad
Bhagavatam.
>From the verse stated below, we believe Buddha was born to delude
the non-believers and correct their errant ways. The himsa-filled
yagas of Vedas and the resulting rivers of blood made a person
as powerfully influential as Buddha to revolt against the
Vedas. By Vedas we mean the non-vedanta portions that described
animal
sacrifices. Vedanta (upanishats) completely avoid this blemish
and strongly preaches ahimsa. Thus the modern hinduism is
essentially
vedantam.
On the question of Buddha, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.24 would say:
tatah kalau sampravritte sammohAya sura-dvishAm
buddho nAmnAn'jana-sutah kIkatheshu bhavishyati
Let us look at what Srila PrabupAda has to say for this verse.
'Then, in the beginning of Kali-yuga, the Lord will appear as Lord
Buddha,
the son of Anjana, in the province of Gaya, just for the purpose of
deluding those who are envious of the faithful theist.'
"Lord Buddha, a powerful incarnation of the Personality of Godhead,
appeared in the province of Gaya (Bihar) as the son of Anjana,
and he preached his own conception of nonviolence and deprecated
even the animal sacrifices sanctioned in the Vedas. At the time when
Lord Buddha appeared, the people in general were atheistic and
preferred animal flesh to anything else. On the plea of Vedic
sacrifices, every place was practically turned into a
slaughterhouse,
and animal killing was indulged in unrestrictedly . Lord Buddha
preached nonviolence, taking pity on the poor animals. He preached
that he did not believe in the tenets of the Vedas and stressed
the adverse psychological effects incurred by animal-killing.
Less intelligent men of the age of Kali, who had no faith in God,
followed his principle, and for the time being they were trained
in moral discipline and nonviolence, the preliminary steps on
the path of God realization. He deluded the atheists because
such atheists who followed his principles did not believe in God,
but they kept their faith in Lord Buddha, who himself was
the incarnation of God. Thus the faithless people were made
to believe in God in the form of Lord Buddha. That was the mercy
of Lord Buddha: he made the faithless faithful to him.
Killing of animals before the advent of Lord Buddha was the most
prominent feature of the society. People claimed that these were
Vedic sacrifices. When the Vedas are not accepted through
the authoritative disciplic succession, the casual readers of
the Vedas are misled by the flowery language of that system
of knowledge. In the Bhagavad-gita a comment has been made
on such foolish scholars (avipaschitah). The foolish scholars
of Vedic literature who do not care to receive the transcendental
message through the transcendental realized sources of disciplic
succession are sure to be bewildered. To them, the ritualistic
ceremonies are considered to be all in all. They have no debth
of knowledge. According to the Bhagavad-gita (15:15),
vedaicca sarvair ahameva vedyo, the whole system of the Vedas
is to lead one gradually to the path of the Supreme Lord.
The whole theme of the Vedic literature is to know
the Supreme Lord, the individual soul, the cosmic situation
and the relation between all these items. When the relation is
known,
the relative function begins, and as a result of such a function
the ultimate goal of life or going back to Godhead takes place
in the easiest manner. Unfortunately, unauthorized scholars of
the Vedas become captivated by the purifactory ceremonies only,
and natural progress is thereby checked.
To such bewildered persons of atheistic propensity, Lord Buddha
is the emblem of theism. He therfore first of all wanted
to check the habit of animal killing. The animal-killers are
dangerous elements on the path going back to Godhead.
There are two types of animal-killers. The soul is also sometimes
called the 'animal' or the living being. Therefore, both
the slaughter of animals and those who have lost
their identity of soul are animal-killers.
Maharaja Pariksit said that only the animal-killer cannot
relish the transcendental message of the Supreme Lord. Therefore
if people are to be educated on the path of Godhead, they must be
taught first and foremost to stop the process of animal-killing
as above mentioned. It is nonsensical to say that animal-killing
has nothing to do with spiritual realization. By this dangerous
theory many so-called sannyasis have sprung up by the grace of
Kali-yuga who preach animal-killing under the garb of the Vedas.
The animal sacrifice as stated in the Vedas is different from the
unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse. Because
the asuras or so-called scholars of Vedic literatures
put forward the evidence of animal-killing in the Vedas,
Lord Buddha superficially denied the authority of the Vedas.
This rejection of the Vedas by Lord Buddha was adopted in order
to save people from the vice of animal-killing as well as
to save the poor animals from the slaughtering process of
their big brothers who clamor for universal brotherhood,
peace, justice and equity. There is no justice when there
is animal-killing. Lord Buddha wanted to stop it completely,
and therefore his cult of ahimsa was propagated
not only in India but also outside the country.
Technically Lord Buddha's philosophy is called atheistic
because there is no acceptance of the Supreme Lord and
because that system of philosophy denied the authority
of the Vedas. But that is an act of camouflage by the Lord.
Lord Buddha is the incarnation of the Godhead. As such,
he is the original propounder of Vedic knowledge. He therefore
cannot reject Vedic philosophy. But he rejected it outwardly
because the sura-dvisa, or the demons who are always envious
of the devotees of Godhead, try to suppor t cow-killing
or animal-killing from the pages of the Vedas,
and this is now being done by the modernized sannyasis.
Lord Buddha had to reject the authority of the Vedas altogether.
This is simply technical, and had it not been so he would not
have been s o accepted as the incarnation of Godhead.
Nor would he have been worshiped in the transcendental
songs of the poet Jayadeva, who is a Vaishnava acharya.
Lord Buddha preached the preliminary principles of the Vedas
in a manner suitable for the time being to establish
the authority of the Vedas. Therefore both Lord Buddha and
Acharya Sankara paved the path of theism,
and Vaishnava acharyas led the people on the path towards
a realization of going back to Godhead.
It is interesting to note that Sri Ramanuja would write
a fairly long polemical commentary for gIta verse 15.15
in his gIta bhAsya deriving support of several verse
from the upanishats and establish the vishnu tattvam.
Effectively this verse states
'And I am seated in the hearts of all.
>From Me are memory, knowledge and their removal also.
Indeed I am alone am to be known from the Vedas.
I bring about the fruition of the rituals of Vedas;
I alone am the knower of the Vedas.'
Thus Sri Krishna establishes the Godhead in the udgita upasana.
dAsan
U. Ve. RTV Varadarajan
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