Sat, Chit, Ananda - reply to Sri Sankarraman (with reference to the explanation of eternal)

[Guest guest]

Thankyou Sri Subrahmanian,

 

Your explanation is very clear and points out the right verses from the Gita as

well. I had understood the statement in this sense only, I think. Is there an

instance in my words that indicates that I understood incorrectly. Sometimes, it

may be that one is thinking that he has understood well, but his statements will

reveal that he actually understands nothing. I donot want to have a superficial

understanding. So kindly tell me if from any statement of mine it becomes clear

that I misunderstood something. It may be quite possible you see and I want to

avoid that. Maybe, I misconstrued something as something else and thought I

understand. This will become apparent from my statements if any. If you could

point out, it would be of great help. That way I will know what is the

misunderstanding. Sometimes there may be a very thin difference between

understanding and misunderstanding.

 

All the same, I wanted to ask you one further question:

 

If Brahman is eternal - in the sense that it does not come into existence and go

out of existence, then the word eternal does not mean 'presence in all time'.

This is because time, space etc., have the characteristic of change and since

Brahman is beyond the realm of all that changes, it is not correct to say that

it was or will be present before or after this time etc. This in my opinion is

because time itself has no meaning in the context of Brahman. Therefore, a

statement of 'eternal Brahman' is in the sense of 'changelessness' and not in

terms of 'presence or existence [in the conditioned manner that we understand]

in all time.'

 

Please comment about the above and tell me if I have misunderstood Sankara's

position by making the above statement(s). If this is correct, I might have one

more question. But I would rather get my understanding clear before I volley too

many questions.

 

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

-Bhikku Yogi