Dharmi jnanam

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas,

Namo narayana.

 

In February of 1999 I had posted a note in which I used the statement "our

load of karma is such that we are almost one with inanimate matter." I

interpreted the statement as saying that even the dharmi jnanam is

contracted. It was brought to my attention, by Sri. Madhavakkannan (in a

kind manner), that maybe I had misunderstood the concept; I posted a note

acknowledging that I may be wrong, but was unsure. However, recently,

while glancing through Sri. RamAnujAcArya's vedArtha-sangraha, I found

that my initial interpretation of the statement, referred to above, may

not be improper; I am now the posting this information. I would be

grateful if some of the more learned bhagavatas can elaborate on this

issue.

 

VedArtha sangraha:

 

Verse 51. The answer follows. For us who hold this conception of brahman

and the Veda, the criticism has no force. Consciousness, we maintain,

though an inherent attribute of the individual is subject to real

contraction and expansion by the force of karma. Thus the difficulty

urged is eliminated. For you, consciousness is the substantive nature of

the self and not its attribute. You do not admit either contraction or

expansion. In our account, concealing factors like karma, bring about the

non-origination of the spread of consciousness. If the nature of

nescience is to veil, nescience, the agency that viels, must be, as urged

before, destructive of the essential nature of consciousness itself.

According to us karma, in the form of nescience, brings about the

contraction of the consciousness that is an eternal attribute of the

substantive nature of the Atman. By virtue of this contraction arises the

wrong attitude to the self, taking it for gods, men, or any other

empirical creature.

 

Please note in this verse Sri. RamAnujAcArya is answering an Advaitic

objection (criticism.) There are two important points to be taken

from this short verse:(Please note this is a neophyte's (Sri. venkat)

interpretation of a translated verse, so please excuse any errors.)

 

1. The set of Sentences starting with "For us no force" to the sentence

ending in "Thus the difficulty eliminated" are beautiful. Sri.

RamAnujAcArya is saying that advaita and Vis'istAdvaita differ in some

fundamental premises, the criticisms offered by the advaitan are

inappropriate, given that vis'istAdvaita uses a different set of premises

to draw a valid argument.

 

2. "According to us karma, in the form of nescience, brings about the

contraction of the consciousness that is an eternal attribute of the

substantive nature of the Atman. By virtue of this contraction arises the

wrong attitude to the self, taking it for gods, men, or any other

empirical creature."

 

Adiyen ramanuja dasan,

Venkat

KrishNarpaNam