Some issues on the life of a mukta ....

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SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaH

SrI Lakshminrusimha Divya PAdukA SEvaka SrIvaN-

SaThakOpa SrI NArAyaNa Yateendra mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

This is in response to the question by a devotee and a nice

friend of aDiyEn, regarding the rememberance of past life by

a mukta etc :

 

> I have a doubt regarding Sri Ramanuja's opinion on an aspect of

> moksha. The question is as follows. In the state of moksha,

> the jIva is said to regain its true nature as a monadic centre

> of infinite consciousness. All identification with the body

> ceases and the jIva is hereon blessed with the blissful vision of

> the paramAtman which overflows into divine service. However, does

> the jIva retain its memory of all its past births and its countless

> individual identities? Or does the jIva lose all idea of this

> identity and solely know itself as sesha of the paramAtman,

> without reference to any past karmas?

>

> From what I gather, Sri Ramanuja does not explicitly present

> his view on this matter. Can one of our knowledgable members

> inform me as to whether Sri Vedanta Desika has anything to

> say about this, or whether Sri Ramanuja does hint at an

> answer somewhere?

>

> One vedAnta vAkya to consider is praSna upanishad 6.5:

>

> Just as rivers flowing toward the sea, having reached it,

> lose themselves in it, their names and forms are lost and

> there is only mention of the sea ...

>

> Anyone who knows Sri Sankara's position on the matter from the

> vyavahArika standpoint is also requested to provide input.

---

 

Dear ....,

 

I guess that you are thinking about the mukta's state as

in our siddhAnta in contrast with advaitin's concept

of attainment of moksha from the vyavahArika plane,

wherein {in the moksha state} nothing of the previous

state {viz. vyavahArika} is remembered by the jIvAtma

{Well, Bramhan ? !!} ie. Any similarity in so far as the

" non-rememberance " of the past and attainment of a

new state as mukta.

 

Anyway, in SrI RAmAnuja's siddhAnta, the mukta attains

sarvajn~atvam like ParamAtma, which implies that a mukta

has the capacity to perceive anything in the co-ordinates of

space and time {ie. a mukta can perceive any spatial element

like a chEtana's activity at certain place, a divya-dEsam at

earth etc - Be it in the past,present or future}. A sub-set of

this will imply that a mukta can perceive its own past as it was

a baddha.

 

In the abhAvAdhikaraNam (4.4.5), the last SUtra is

" svApyayasampattyOranyatarApEkshamAvishkrutam " ie.

<< It has reference only to either deep sleep Or

state of death, as explained in the context >>.

 

As explained by Bhagavad RAmAnuja (BR) this sUtra answers the

PUrvapakshin <Objector> who from the Br.Up text " PrAjn~EnA-AtmanA

samparishvaktO na bAhyam ki~nchana vEda nAntaram " (6.3.21) <*>,

claims that when a jIvAtma attains union / reaches Bramhan,

it loses all the knowledge of inside and outside ; Hence a mukta

can't be a sarvajn~a {all-knower}.

 

<*> : JIvAtma embraced by the all-knowing Aatma does not

know what is inside and outside.

 

The SUtra states that by the context, it will not apply

to a mukta's union with ParamAtma <refer above>.

 

In SrI-BhAshya, BR states " ....muktasya cha

sarvajn~atvam-Avishkrutam hi srutayaH " <ie. Sruti itself states

the sarvajn~atvam of a mukta> and quotes few texts from Ch.Up to

substantiate it. A notable sentence is " tathA 'sarvam ha paSyaH

sarvamApnOti sarvaSaH' iti cha spashTamEva sarvajn~atvamuccyatE " ,

ie. Through the text " The one who sees this sees everything ;

obtains everything everywhere <Ch.Up. 7.26.2> " sarvajn~atvam <for

a mukta> is very clearly spoken off/established.

-----------

 

The above is only about mukta's " capacity " . But a mukta will

not think about the trivial issues like his past etc and will be

immersed in Bhagavad-anubhavam and its overflow viz.service.

This is my strong feeling and I think that it follows logically

from other pramANas on the BramhAnubhavam. I have also confirmed

this during my kAlakshEpam few months back.

 

But, there is another issue also to be kept in mind. What is that

Bhagavad-anubhavam ?.In the next adhikaraNam viz.<JagadvyApAra -

adhikaraNam>, for the sUtra " vikArAvarti cha tathA hi sthitimAha " ,

BR states that the mukta's anubhavam of Bramhan ie.the

DivyAtma-svaroopam extends to its divine qualities and also to

those things that are controlled by Bramhan viz.the jagat of

chit and achit, But a mukta is not involved in jagad-vyApAra

{defined by BR as " nikhila-chEtana-achEtana-swaroopa-sthiti-

pravrutti-bhEda-niyamanam " in the first sUtra of this

adhikaraNa}.

 

A better understanding of this will be obtained from the

ParipUrna-bramhAnubhavAdhikAram of SwAmi DESikan's SrImad RTS,

wherein its explained that SAyujyam between Sriman NArAyaNa and

the mukta means that there is no difference so far

as the objects of enjoyment are concerned <viz. Brahma-Swaroopam

+ Its ViSEshanas including KalyANa guNas and jagat> ie. Both the

Brahman and the mukta enjoy the same objects; sArshtithA

(between the two) means that there is no difference in the degree

or intensity of their enjoyment. Please refer the source texts

with commentaries for more details regarding the grammatical

issues and the pramANas.

 

Hope this helps. I think that the rest of the gap(s) can be

filled by yourself.

--------------

Further, the devotee replied .....

 

> As usual your answer displays great maturity earned through

> kAlakshepa at the feet of learned acharyas. Once again I am

> jealous!

>

> I thank you so much for your response. This confirms what I

>suspected, that the jIva, being a sarvajna, does have knowledge

>of all its past births, but does not care to produce an image

>of a sAmsArika pitR, mAtr, etc., because it cares only for

>brahmAnubhava.

 

The issue regarding the creation of pitrus etc by a mukta

has been analyzed well in various commentaries of SrI-BhAshya

and other independent works.

 

The following is a short version and I haven't read all the

commentaries. But, during Dec '99, SrI PerukkAraNai swAmi

explained some important aspects of this issue during the

kAlakshEpam.

 

The significant texts are :

 

1. " sa tatra paryEti jakshat krIDan ramamANaH sthrIbhirvA yAnairvA

jn~AtibhirvA " <Ch.Up 8.12.3> ie.

There he <mukta> enjoys Him all around; he eats, he enjoys

<as per his wishes>, he sports with women, vehicles (chariots)

or cousins.

 

2. " sa yadi pitrulOka-kAmO bhavati sa~nkalpAdEvAsya pitaraH

samuttishThanti " <Ch.Up. 8.2.1> ie.

If he <mukta> has the desire for the world of fathers,

by his will alone fathers rise up before him

 

 

In the Sa~nkalpadhikaraNam (4.4.4) the first sUtra states

that by his will alone, his desires gets fulfilled and nothing

obstructs it.{Note: Mukta's sa~nkalpa will never be against

the wishes of ParamAtma because of its complete realization/

knowledge}. From the next sUtra we understand that he is " free "

and not subject to VEdic injunctions {say, observance of

VarNAshrama dharma etc} and hence he is capable of doing

what he desires to. There is no need of any external effort other

than his will. But, mukta's play with women, enjoyment of the

chariots etc Or creation of fathers etc are not for his own

pleasure; It has the chief aim to produce happiness to BhagavAn.

Its not ofcourse a result of lust as in the case of a baddha jIva.

 

In the abhAvAdhikaraNam (next one; 4.4.5) by the first three

sUtras, the siddhAnta that a mukta can either choose to have a

divine body Or can be without it also, is established. The next

two sUtras are regarding the creator of such divine bodies

taken by muktas. From the first sUtra, we get to know that

a mukta who has no body and senses made by himself, can

enjoy the things created by ParamAtma Himself, as in the case

of dream state. ParamAtma can provide bodies to mukta. Due to

the leelA-rasam of BhagavAn, He can make muktas enjoy the

pitru-lOkas created by His leela and the mukta with the body

provided by BhagavAn enjoys His leela-rasa and performs

bhagavad-anubhavam. The next SUtra " BhAvE JAgrAtvat " states that,

with the possesion of a body also, a mukta can enjoy as it is done

in the waking state. BR comments {SrI-BhAshya + VEdAnta Deepa}

that sometimes, a mukta creates body by his will and can even

incarnate to have father,mother etc as BhagavAn did by His will in

His avatAras like that of RAma and KrishNa. In this case also,

mukta enjoys the leelA-rasam of PerumAL with the inherent

Bhagavad-anubhavam. BhagavAn can also make the mukta to have

fathers etc directly by His will.

 

In SrI-VaikuNTham also, muktas can live as families with

various relationships like father,mother, wife,husband,children

etc - all by the mutual understanding of various muktas for the

pleasure of SrIman-NArAyaNa. The life out there is quite dynamic

indeed !!

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan.

krushNArpaNam.