Guest guest Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 One of the Samskrit words for 'body' is 'vapuH'. The derivation of this word is:-- upyate pUrvakarmabhiH iti vapuH. This means 'vapuH' is what is reaped by the sowing of past karma. Thus the derivation of the word itself shows that the present body is the result of past karma. The kaThopanishad, II.ii.7 says that the jiva is born as a human being, animal, bird, etc., or even as a plant in accordance with his past karma and knowledge. BrahmasUtra III. ii. 38 says that the fruit of karma is given by God. BrahmasUtra II.i.34 says that God cannot be charged with cruelty or partiality on the ground that there is so much of inequality and suffering in the world. Each jIva gets the results of his own past karma. The question arises, if each jIva gets results according to his own karma, what is the function of God? Can the karma itself not give results as held by the pUrvamImAmsakas. To this Shri Shankara answers in his bhAshya on BrahmasUtra II.i.34 that God can be compared to rain. The seed sown will sprout and yield its crop only if there is rain. So rain is essential. But the fruit depends on the seed sown. If paddy has been sown, it cannot produce a mango. So the fruit which a jIva gets depends on the seed in the form of karma sown by him, and it has to be given by God. In the next sutra, II. i. 35, the point is raised that there could have been no previous karma for the very first birth of a particular jIva and so how could the first birth be the result of past karma? The answer to this is that there was never any first birth, because creation is beginningless. S.N.Sastri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 advaitin , " S.N. Sastri " <sn.sastri wrote: namaskAraH SrI Sastri-ji, sAshTAnga danDa praNAmaH ! mahASaya, I remember to have read somewhere in Brahma sUtra bhAshya, SrI Sankara asking us to imagine the process of sRishTi-pralaya as being *cyclic* to understand how it could be beginningless. After all, the very word " samsAra " denotes the cyclic existence, does it not? Or should it be " samsAra chakram " ? Kindly explain the meaning of samsAra. hariH AUM ~ ---------------------- > In the next sutra, II. i. 35, the point is raised that there could have > been no previous karma for the very first birth of a particular jIva and so > how could the first birth be the result of past karma? The answer to this is > that there was never any first birth, because creation is beginningless. > S.N.Sastri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Dear Shri Sampat, Very glad to see your post again after a long gap. The word samsAra is derived from the root sRi which means 'to go'. So samsAra is what goes on and on. It comes to an end only with Self-knowledge. Best wishes, S.N.Sastri On 2/25/08, paramahamsavivekananda <paramahamsavivekananda wrote: > > advaitin <advaitin%40>, " S.N. > Sastri " <sn.sastri wrote: > namaskAraH SrI Sastri-ji, > sAshTAnga danDa praNAmaH ! > > mahASaya, > > I remember to have read somewhere in Brahma sUtra bhAshya, SrI Sankara > asking us to imagine the process of sRishTi-pralaya as being *cyclic* > to understand how it could be beginningless. > After all, the very word " samsAra " denotes the cyclic existence, does > it not? Or should it be " samsAra chakram " ? Kindly explain the meaning > of samsAra. > > hariH AUM ~ > ---------------------- > > In the next sutra, II. i. 35, the point is raised that there > could have > > been no previous karma for the very first birth of a particular jIva > and so > > how could the first birth be the result of past karma? The answer to > this is > > that there was never any first birth, because creation is beginningless. > > S.N.Sastri > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 advaitin , " S.N. Sastri " <sn.sastri wrote: mahASaya, dhanyaH asmi ! ------------------------- > Dear Shri Sampat, > Very glad to see your post again after a long gap. > The word samsAra is derived from the root sRi which means 'to go'. So > samsAra is what goes on and on. It comes to an end only with > Self-knowledge. > Best wishes, > S.N.Sastri > > > On 2/25/08, paramahamsavivekananda <paramahamsavivekananda wrote: > > > > advaitin <advaitin%40>, " S.N. > > Sastri " <sn.sastri@> wrote: > > namaskAraH SrI Sastri-ji, > > sAshTAnga danDa praNAmaH ! > > > > mahASaya, > > > > I remember to have read somewhere in Brahma sUtra bhAshya, SrI Sankara > > asking us to imagine the process of sRishTi-pralaya as being *cyclic* > > to understand how it could be beginningless. > > After all, the very word " samsAra " denotes the cyclic existence, does > > it not? Or should it be " samsAra chakram " ? Kindly explain the meaning > > of samsAra. > > > > hariH AUM ~ > > ---------------------- > > > In the next sutra, II. i. 35, the point is raised that there > > could have > > > been no previous karma for the very first birth of a particular jIva > > and so > > > how could the first birth be the result of past karma? The answer to > > this is > > > that there was never any first birth, because creation is beginningless. > > > S.N.Sastri > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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