The six assertions - assertion 2

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darsanam bhEda Eva ca - the true religion has differences among the entities

· This is a very important concept in the true religion. The differences that the Lord says are

· Between the Lord (Isvara) and the jIva (cit)

· Between the sentient and insentient beings (cit/acit)

· Between the individual sentient souls

· During rAmAnuja’s time, and even now, many people say that (i) there is only one soul (ii) everything we see and feel are an illusion caused by lack of knowledge (iii) all of things we see are the same as the ultimate soul, and this will be apparent once the illusion is removed through the right learning

· The above position is negated here by saying that in the true religion, there are differences among the tattvas.

· This assertion helped rAmAnuja (and therefore helps us) in understanding the true nature of the tattvas - i.e. there are three tattvas – the chit, acit and Isvara that are different from each other. Once that is known, the question of the relationship among them naturally arises, and per our religion, the cit and acit emanate from Isvara and are completely dependent and subservient to Him; the true state of the cit being complete servitude to the Isvara.

· This sets the foundation for the ultimate nature of a human being – since every living thing is different, the concept of service to other beings arises.

· This answer also helps us in one key practical aspect of our daily lives - our ego. By knowing that the individual soul is NOT the supreme soul, we tend to understand that we are not all-powerful and all knowing, and this helps us in reducing the amount of "self" in us.