nature of the soul and its liberation

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SrImate Ramanujaya namaH

Namo Narayanaya,

Respected Bagawathas,

adiyen's pranamams.

 

I have a question from my firend. i hope some of the learned scholars in the

forum can help him.

 

adiyen

Narasimha dasan

 

Sri Sita Ramachandra Parabrahmane namah.

 

My respectful namaskarams to the members of this forum.I've a question

regarding the validity of a very famous example quoted by the advaitis

regarding the nature of the soul and its liberation from material

entanglement. They say that the jiva is like space enclosed in a

pot(ghatAkAsha) and the the Nirguna Brahman is like the space outside

pot(MahAkAsha). ie. The Nirguna Brahman becomes conditiond by Maya just

as a space becomes covered by the pot.Once the pot breaks, there is no

difference between the space which was covered by the pot and the space

outside.In the same way when the covering of Maya is unveiled, the jiva

is non-different than the Nirguna Brahman. The advaitins quote a few

scriptural references in support of this view.

 

Srimad Bhagavatam:

ghate bhinne yathAkAsa AkAsah syad yathA purA

evam dehe mritejivo brahma sampadyate punah

(12.5.5).

 

Brahma Bindu Upanishad:

ghata samritamAkAsham liyamane ghate yatha

ghato liyate nAkAsham tatvatjivo nabhopamah.

 

As space enclosed in a jar remains in its own place even when the jar is

moved to another locality, for it is the jar that is moved and not the

space, or as a jar enclosing a space may be broken into pieces but the

space remains the same and is not destroyed, so is the soul like space.

( If I remember correctly, there is a similar description is their in

Amrita Bindu Upanishad.)

 

Also in the Muktika upanishad, when Lord Rama instructs Hanuman about

the different types of mukti, he explains that "videha mukti is that

type of mukti which is obtained after the destruction of the body just

as the sky in the pot merges with the rest of the sky".

 

Sri vedanta desika refutes this argument in TMK by saying that the

merging of the sky in the pot into the rest of the sky as per the

advaitic explanation is not tenable as this will imply the destructuion

of the jiva itself.But the sruti says that jivas are eternal.I'm able to

undertsand this .But I'm not clear about the Vaishnava acharya's stand

in explaining this example.I humbly request the members of this forum to

give the vaishnava understanding of this illustration.

 

Trying to be a humble servant,

L.Harikumar

 

 

 

 

 

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