status of lakshmi

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri.Jagan,

Here is something on the status of Lakshmi I found on the

Bhakti-archives of September'98. It might me useful to you as a layman

like myself.

 

***********************

 

(from the archives):

Dear friends,

I have been browsing through all your excellent discussions on the

position of Sri: and BhagavAn in SriVaishnava theology.

 

Please permit me to make a small interjection.

 

To the uninitiated --- to those of you who may have trouble

understanding the true relationship between BhagavAn and Sri: (and how

the two in the SriVaishnava ' vadagalai sampradAyam' are held to be

inseparable and in fact are said to cohere into each other as One and

the Same) --- to those who might be grappling with that particularly

difficult concept (made doubly difficult by the profusion of Sanskrit

terminology accompanying such discussions), I have a small and simple

suggestion to share and which I believe might help :

 

"Please take time to dwell a while on the theoretical concepts of

electricity".

 

Ask yourself if you can conceive of electricity without its so-called

"polar" aspects.

 

At the kinetic level electricity is defined as energy-source made up of

"positive/negative" charge. But at a functional level --- at the level

where energy is multifariously applied and used --- do you perceive

anything even remotely suggesting the "duality" or "polarity" of

electric power at work?

 

A force that is essentially "dual" in conception is actually a "unit" of

kinetic function, isn't it? (Hasn't it ever struck you as strange that

power should always be expressed in "UNITS" of Kwh or Mwh!! Compare this

on the other hand with something like, say, "pressure" which in the case

of "blood-pressure" we all know is always measured in terms of its

essential "duality" i.e. its "systolic and diastolic" components.)

 

In similar fashion, thus, "BhagavAn" and "Sri:" too may be roughly

conceived of as the "dual/polar" charges of the central "unity"

constituting upanishadic "para-brahmham".

 

One does not, indeed, cannot exist or function without the other.

They are different and yet are the same.

They appear discrete even while they inseparably cohere!

 

Please carry on with your very interesting discussions.

 

adiyEn,

sudarshan

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