Time of Attainment of Moksha.

[Guest guest]

Dear Mani,

 

You had asked me to clarify what I mean by Moksha and its time of

attainment. I have based my understanding primarily on Vedanta

Desikar's RTS and His various minor Rahasyas.

 

Sri Gurubhyo Namah:

 

All statements in scripture are context sensitive and have to be

understood accordingly. For example Ramanujacharya points out in the

Geetabhashya that in one verse when Sri Krishna uses the word Svarga

He means Vaikuntha in very shortly thereafter He uses the same Svarga

to mean the abode of Indra.

 

In the same way the word "death" or the term "fall of this body" can

also mean something other than departure of the soul from the

physical body. Example: When Ashvatthama killed the five sons of the

Pandavas while they were asleep, Arjuna chased after him and brought

him back to the Pandava camp bound by ropes. Krishna wanted Arjuna

to kill Ashwatthama while Draupadi pleaded that Arjuna should not

make Drona's wife weep like Draupadi was weeping at that time.

Arjuna looked at Krishna who indicated that Arjuna should somehow

satisfy both Krishna who wanted Ashwatthama dead and Draupadi who

wanted him alive. Arjuna cut off Ashwatthama's shika and the Mani on

Ashwatthama's forehead. Forcible removal of the Shika was considered

to be equal to death for a brahmana those days. Coming back to our

context, death need not be simply departure of the soul from the

body. It can be viewed as departure of the body from the soul. The

body besides the gross body consisting of the 5 elements also

includes Manas or mind, buddhi or intelligence and Ahamkara or ego.

 

Sri Vedanta Desikar describes the journey of the soul through various

lokas to Vaikuntha, where the jivatma is received by ushers in

Vaikuntha and is then taken by Narayana under His feet and then the

jivatma serves Narayana AT ALL TIMES, IN ALL PLACES AND UNDER ALL

CIRCUMSTANCES.

 

Sri Vaikuntha is not just one loka a zillion miles from here. It

will manifest itself to the mukta jivatma wherever Narayana sends it.

Evidence: The sons of Kubera, Manigriva and Nalakuvera were drunk

and bathing naked with many women in a lake. Narada passed that way.

The women rushed to cover themselves but the sons of Kubera were too

drunk to even realize that they were naked. Narada cursed them to be

born as trees. They were liberated when the trees were brought

crashing down by baby Krishna after mother Yashoda had tied Him to a

mortar. After liberation the sons of Kubera did not go to Sri

Vaikuntha but returned to Kubera where they served Narayana by

serving their father. Taking the jivatman under His feet means

becoming a servant of Narayana. Purification of Ahamkara means

revealing to the jivatma what it had forgotten from beginningless

time. That it is the servant of Narayana and it serves Narayana by

serving another jivatma (with a few exceptions like Garuda,

Vishvaksena etc). Purification of the manas and buddhi means

replacing the mind and intelligence made up of the 3 gunas with a

shuddha sattva mind and intelligence. There is no rajo or Tamo guna

influencing the physical body of the mukta jivatma. In a vast

majority of cases, this happens only with the death of the physical

body of a prapanna. But it does not have to be so if Narayana

decides to give moksha to a jivatma and still has work for that

individual on earth. Besides this jivatmas may come from Vaikuntha

propagate Bhagavath Dharma and liberate baddha jivatmas. Such

jivatmas are the kindest incarnations of Bhagavan. They are

incarnations because they are totally manipulated by Bhagavan for

their purposes. It is through tnem only and not the Archa form or

Antaryami form that Bhagavan finally gets baddha jivatmas moksha.

 

Besides Ramanuja says in the Vedartha Sangraha that two types of

jivatmas take part in Bhagavan's leela vibhutis - the baddha jivatmas

and the mukta jivatmas. This earth is a part of Bhagavan's leela

vibhuti and therefore mukta jivatmas can and do take birth here to

fulfil Bhagawan's purposes. This is stated by the Bhashyakara

Himself.

 

Sri Vedanta Desikar states in the beginning of the RTS "Narayana,

Himself assumes a mortal form out of compassion and lifts up the

world submerged (in samsara) with sastras as His hand" and so also,

"Our Lord dressed in His yellow raiment came as the guru out of

compassion to impart the teachings of the Veda". In a subsequent

chapter Sri Vedanta Desikar states that a God will not speak through

a man who is covered with negative qualities. He also explains how

these qualities are only as a result of the souls contact with a body

made up of the 3 gunas and why we should not worship other deities

because they are also products of Karma.

 

Based on these I find it inconceivable to consider an Acharya chosen

by Malola Himself (through the previous Acharya) to be a baddha

jivatma.

 

Mani, while you may be able to dispute my contention that a baddha

jivatma may be able to get moksha without "dying" as we normally

understand it, you cannot dispute that mukta jivatmas take birth to

fulfil Bhagavan's purposes. To dispute my contention that all 45

Jeers of Sri Ahobila Mutt were Mukta jivatmas, you will need divine

revealation. All scriptural evidence points to the contrary.

 

Jaganath.