Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 namaste, The distinctive feature of advaita is that all phenomena are of the 'as if' (iva in sanskrit) kind; the rope looks as if it is a snake; the nacre looks as if it is silver. Likewise, birth and death occur as if the soul comes and goes. If one accepts the definition of Reality as that which is immutable, these phenomena can only be explained by its power (call it maya or whatever) to veil itself and project as something other than what IT IS. Regards, S. ----Original Message Follows---- Colette <colette advaitin advaitin death:is it the soul leaving the body? Sat, 29 Jan 2000 05:03:58 +1100 ~Mrs Atwood .. The Hermetic Mystery" ____ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Hi everyone. Am reading this topic with interest. Gummuluru Murthy wrote: > Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy > > namaste. > > 1. The common way to look at death is as the end of life and > as a calamitous event. The near and dear cry over it and > the society has devised ways of treating it. > > 2. The people who believe in karma theory and re-incarnation > treat this as the end of a particular phase of the soul's > journey in search of its identity with Atman. They say > the soul has left the body, travel through and will attach > itself to another body in due course of time. > > I think we have all evolved out of (1) above. While not > denying (2), even in (2), it seems to me that the thinking > that the soul has *left the body* is an incorrect way to > look at. The soul has not gone anywhere. A more correct way > to say this is *the soul has discarded the body*. > > Just like a snake discards its skin-wrap, just like a jeeva > changes its shirt, or a human passes out excretion, the soul > has discarded the body. Just like we do not pay attention to > a discarded shirt or excretion, similarly we do not pay any > undue attention to the discarded body. Just like any discarded > item decomposes, the discarded body also looses its light > and temperature, and decomposes. > > If we start thinking that the body is discarded (rather than the > soul has left the body), we have shifted the attention from the > body to the soul, and climbed many steps in our understanding > of what we are. > > The soul (irrespective of whether it has discarded the body > or not) is nothing but the Atman. As the soul sees its identity > with the Atman, its (soul's) identity with the body (here, I use > the body to include the gross, the subtle and the causal) becomes > weaker and the jeeva's individuality becomes weaker. Recognition > of the identity of the soul with the Atman will be there if the > cit is pure. The purer the cit is, the clearer will be the > reflection of the Atman in the cit. > > I will be most obliged for any comments/clarifications. > > Regards > Gummuluru Murthy I know that this is an advaitin list which might be commonly seen as an eastern approach, & my studies into consciousness have been from an eastern direction (after a catholic start :-) But anyhow, at times I seem to find parallel in alchemical writings so will share this quote here .. I feel it is supportive of advaitin philosophy .. if I'm wrong just tell me. "There is a twofold death; the one indeed universally known, in which the body is liberated from the soul; but the other peculiar to the philosophers (alchemists) in which the soul is liberated from the body; nor does one entirely follow the other. That which nature binds, nature also dissolves; that which the soul binds, the soul likewise can dissolve; nature indeed, binds the body to the soul, but the soul binds herself to her body. Nature therefore liberates the body from the soul, but the soul may also liberate herself from the body. " ~Mrs Atwood .. The Hermetic Mystery" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Colette wrote: > >"There is a twofold death; the one indeed universally known, in which the > body is liberated from the soul; but the other peculiar to the philosophers > (alchemists) in which the soul is liberated from the body; nor does one > entirely follow the other. > > That which nature binds, nature also dissolves; that which the soul binds, the > soul likewise can dissolve; nature indeed, binds the body to the soul, but the > soul binds herself to her body. > > Nature therefore liberates the body from the soul, but the soul may also > liberate herself from the body. " > > ~Mrs Atwood .. The Hermetic Mystery" namaste Smt Colette- yes, this represents, from what i understand, the middling metaphysical view. it could be broken down thus: from the vyavaharika (relative perspective): naive materialistic: "body gives up the ghost." novitiate metaphysical: "soul sheds the body." middling metaphysical: both the above advanced metaphysical: both/neither of the above from the paramarthika ('absolute' perspective): says nothing on the matter. om shaanthi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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