A couple of questions on visishtAdvatha philosophy

October 1, 2008

Sri:SrimatE rAmAnujAya nama:Dear bhAgavathAs,A bhAgavathA wanted to clarify a couple of question on Sri VisishtAdvaitha philosophy. Please help him clarify.One of this friends asked these questions and he responded

as follows but wanted to get scholarly opinion. I posting thesequestions on behalf of him.-----1. Can jivatma occupy several bodies at the same time?

My reply to him was clearly not, because only Brahman can have the

power to occupy many bodies at the same time. Otherwise, it would

contradict Visitadvaita vedanta. Am I correct? I would appreciate if

you or other scholars in this field can answer this question.

2. Can a jivatma have access to other jivatma's mind? That is, can one jivatma know what the other jivatma is thinking?

My reply is no. If it were so, the plurality of jivatmas will

lose all indviduality and end up as one atman, which will again

contradict Visitadvaia vedanta. Am I correct in this reponse? Again,

I would like to have scholarly opinion on this subject.-----adiyEn rAmasAmy rAmAnuja dAsan

October 1, 2008

SRIMATE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA

1)Jeevatma can have more than one sharira.Sowbari rishi had taken 50 bodies at a time.The upanishad too says ekada bhavati,trida bhavati meaning liberated soul can take many bodies one at a time or simultaneously.

2)All saints are able to know the minds of other persons.Here common link being Paramatma,it is possible.

dasan

On Wed, 01 Oct 2008 Ramasamy wrote :

>Sri:

>SrimatE rAmAnujAya nama:

>

>Dear bhAgavathAs,

>

>A bhAgavathA wanted to clarify a couple of question on

>Sri VisishtAdvaitha philosophy. Please help him clarify.

>

>One of this friends asked these questions and he responded

>as follows but wanted to get scholarly opinion. I posting these

>questions on behalf of him.

>

>-----

>

>1. Can jivatma occupy several bodies at the same time?

>

>My reply to him was clearly not, because only Brahman can have the

>power to occupy many bodies at the same time. Otherwise, it would

>contradict Visitadvaita vedanta. Am I correct? I would appreciate if

>you or other scholars in this field can answer this question.

>

>2. Can a jivatma have access to other jivatma's mind?

>That is, can one jivatma know what the other jivatma is thinking?

>

>My reply is no. If it were so, the plurality of jivatmas will lose all

>indviduality and end up as one atman, which will again contradict

>Visitadvaia vedanta. Am I correct in this reponse? Again, I would

>like to have scholarly opinion on this subject.

>

>-----

>

>adiyEn

>rAmasAmy rAmAnuja dAsan

October 3, 2008

Swamin, Please find the reply from Sri. U. Ve.Vishnuchithan Swami, Melathirumaligai, Thiruvellarai. Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan Srinivasan. "Vishnuchithan .S" <vchithan wrote: I'm afraid both the answers are wrong. On the surface, it would appear that a jivatma cannot occupy more than one body, so also he cannot have access to others' minds. While this is true in general, exceptions present themselves almost immediately. 1) Sage Sowbari married the 50 daughters of a king. He took 50 different bodies and lived in 50 separate houses with them and enjoyed all the pleasures. He was a single jivatma. He was able to bear all the bodies because of his knowledge and power. 2) Great sages can know what others think. In fact they know

things that happened, those that are happening and those that will happen in the future. So also they know what others think. Of course, all this is in relation only to those jivas living in this world. All Muktatmas and nityatmas can take several bodies at the same time. Also they are all sarvajgnas. They know what is in the minds of others. I don't see why this should contradict vishistadvaita. There would be a contradiction only if every jivatma knows the mind of every other jivatma. In that case it would suffice it there existed only one jivatma. Ramanujadasan S.Vishnuchithan. On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 11:52 AM, srini vasan <gsreeni_vasan wrote: ---------- Forwarded message

----------Ramasamy <vaishnavan , ramanuja , Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:43:54 -0700A couple of questions on visishtAdvatha philosophy Sri:SrimatE rAmAnujAya nama:Dear bhAgavathAs,A bhAgavathA wanted to clarify a couple of question onSri VisishtAdvaitha philosophy. Please help him clarify.One of this friends asked these questions and he respondedas follows but wanted to get scholarly opinion. I

posting thesequestions on behalf of him.-----1. Can jivatma occupy several bodies at the same time?My reply to him was clearly not, because only Brahman can have thepower to occupy many bodies at the same time. Otherwise, it wouldcontradict Visitadvaita vedanta. Am I correct? I would appreciate ifyou or other scholars in this field can answer this question.2. Can a jivatma have access to other jivatma's mind?That is, can one jivatma know what the other jivatma is thinking?My reply is no. If it were so, the plurality of jivatmas will lose allindviduality and end up as one atman, which will again contradictVisitadvaia vedanta. Am I correct in this reponse? Again, I wouldlike to have scholarly opinion on this subject.-----adiyEnrAmasAmy rAmAnuja dAsan