Guest guest Posted November 16, 2000 Report Share Posted November 16, 2000 >Hello, my husband Paul and I are new members of this list and so appreciate the opportunity to be part of such wonderful dialogues. The sections of the Gita translation was a gift we are thankful to have received. Could anyone please tell me what is the difference between the concepts God, Lord, the Absolute or Self? Why is God referred to as an entity such as He?(Or She) To whom or what is one to be devoted to, to trust in, to rely on, to surrender to? And who or what is the devotee? Why is this not duality once again. And what is one to do about concepts in the first place? Om, Evelyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 2000 Report Share Posted November 16, 2000 >"Drs. Moschetta" <evpaul >advaitin >advaitin >Re: Digest Number 771 >Thu, 16 Nov 2000 10:02:24 +0000 > > >Hello, my husband Paul and I are new members of this list and so >appreciate >the opportunity to be part of such wonderful dialogues. The sections of the >Gita translation was a gift we are thankful to have received. >Could anyone please tell me what is the difference between the concepts >God, >Lord, the Absolute or Self? Why is God referred to as an entity such as >He?(Or > She) To whom or what is one to be devoted to, to trust in, to rely on, to >surrender to? And who or what is the devotee? Why is this not duality once >again. And what is one to do about concepts in the first place? Om, Evelyn --------------------- WaH! You have asked the whole of Vedanta in a nutshell! Welcome to advaitin list. Each of the questions you have asked requires elaborate discussion. Some of the questions in relation God will be answered when we come to Suutra 2 in the Notes on brahmasuutra - the discussion of suutra 1 is still going on. Here are brief answers to some of your questions: God and Lord are one and the same. God is a factor brought in to explain the creation that I see - the whole universe that is in front of me. It involves analysis to show that the universe is a creation and the cause for this creation is the creator who is both intelligent and material cause. Intelligent cause is that who is the locus of knowledge of creation - that is he has the know-how of how to create, just as the pot maker should have the know-how of how to create a pot. Unlike the pot maker who is different from the clay (material for the pot), this creator of the universe cannot be different from the material cause - if it is we will end-up with serious of questions of where was that material from and who created that material etc. One who creates a pot has the knowledge of the pot. One who creates the entire universe with all the laws that are discovered and that are yet to be discovered, should have complete knowledge - hence he has to be omnipotent - the author of all the laws in the universe - hence he has the Lordship of the entire universe - hence he is the Lord. An unconscious entity cannot create. Hence creator has to be a conscious entity - with supreme intelligence to create such a complex universe. Hence is referred to as He or She or a conscious being. - Remember the Biblical statement - I am that I am - I stand for conscious and am stands for existent entity. What is absolute? - Absolute is that which is not relative. It should be existent entity since we cannot talk about non-existent entity. It should be conscious entity since unconscious entity cannot be creator - it has to be infinite entity since finite makes it a relative and not absolute, and should be unlimited since any limitation make it relative. That which is non-negatable or non-dismissable since that which can be negated or dismissed becomes limited and relative. It cannot be object since object by definition is limited and hence non-absolute. Hence it is the subject - which is existent, conscious and unlimited - that is what is called in Vedanta as Brahman. Brahman means infiniteness - the adjective 'big' is transformed into a noun to coin the word Bigness or Brahman. It is to indicate that there is nothing that it can qualify since qualification objectifies or conditions. Hence it is unconditionally big, hence Brahman. Since it is infiniteness it includes everything and excludes nothing. It has to be an a-dviata or non-dual since in any duality one limits the other and neither can be infinite. Hence absolute is one without a second or advaita. It is beyond the concepts. Hence beyond God, Lord or creation etc. Creation exists only when I consider myself an individual, which is different from the rest of the creation. As long as I feel that I am limited individual - creation, creator or God or Lord or Iswara exists. Devotion automatically arises once I as an individual recognizes that there is a superior intellect out there that has the Lordship of the entire universe. I become a devotee when I recognize the existence of that intelligence that is called God or Lord etc. I become j~naani or wise man when I realize that I am not the limited individual - I am that conscious entity which is existent-conscious- unlimited that absolute. I evolve from the state of a devotee to the state of j~naani. That is the Advaitic State and that is the same as self-realization. That is realization that self in me is the self in all and I am that sat chit and ananda that I am longing far in all my pursuits . That is the teaching of Vedanta - tat tvam asi - you are that - aham brahma asmi - I am that Brahman, ayam aatma brahman - this self is Brahman, praj~naanam brahma, consciousness is brahman. etc. That is the advaita philosophy beyond any concepts since concepts are in the mind or thoughts - this is not a thought but is a fact. I hope all your questions are answered not necessarily in the order but in total. Hari Om! Sadananda _______________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 2000 Report Share Posted November 16, 2000 Greetins: According to Advaita, the Brahman is the ultimate reality. God, Lord or other names and forms including the gender is just an intellectual visualization of the (manifested) Brahman. I recommend the following three postings available in the list archive who WEB SITE addresses are given below. These three have been posted by Prof. V. Krishnamoorthy who have written several books on Hinduism. These three will give sufficient background materials on Advaita for the new members of the list. The search engine at the website: http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/ can search articles of the list by author, keyword and thread. Thanks for your kind remarks about the list and the credit goes to all the members of this list. warmest regards, Advaitin List Moderators WEB SITE ADDRESS ================================================ http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m644.html http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m5280.html http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m1850.html =============================================== Drs. Moschetta writes: > Could anyone please tell me what is the difference > between the concepts God, Lord, the Absolute or Self? > Why is God referred to as an entity such as He? > (Or She) To whom or what is one to be devoted to, > to trust in, to rely on, to surrender to? And who > or what is the devotee? Why is this not duality > once again. And what is one to do about concepts > in the first place? > Om, Evelyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 2000 Report Share Posted November 16, 2000 Kuntimaddi Sadananda <k_sadananda wrote: WaH! You have asked the whole of Vedanta in a nutshell! --\ ------------ Dear Shri Sadananda, Wah ! You have indeed, in your reply,condensed the whole of Vedanta in a nutshell. Hari Om ! Swaminarayan. Calendar - Get organized for the holidays! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 2000 Report Share Posted November 16, 2000 > To whom or what is one to be devoted to, to trust in, to rely on, to > surrender to? And who or what is the devotee? Why is this not duality once > again. And what is one to do about concepts in the first place? Om, Evelyn > Questions such as these really overwhelm us especially when we are in despair or when a tragedy overcomes us. A very nice answer was given by Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi to this. A "devotee" ( I dont say what that means) of long standing of Bhagavan suddenly lost his only son. He was enveloped in grief so much so that he doubted the presence of any benevolent power in the world. After fighting within himself for long, he decided to "have it out" with the Maharshi. He went straight to Bhagavan's presence and in full tension blurted out, 'What is God?" Bhagavan looked at him with full compassion and gently replied, " What IS , is God !'. Regards, Anand ------------------ Get free personalized email at http://www.iname.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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