AhalyA as a Stone; Material-Causality of Bramhan(Was Two humble questions)

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabramhaNE namaH

SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear SrI Suresh,

 

SrI Hari has already answered the questions well.

aDiyEn would like to add few more to it.

 

> Dear Srivaishnavas and Bhagavathas,

>

> Adiyen humbly requests to clarify two doubts listed below:-

>

> 1.In the SrimadRamayanam Sri Ahalyadevi was said to be in the form a

> Stone/Rock due to some Shapam and was liberated by SriRamar by His

> Padsparshanam.Does it mean that Jiva or Chit can become Achit and

> Vice versa?

 

SrImad VAlmIki RAmAyaNam does not say that she was cursed

to become a " stone " . It was a curse to be alongwith the

dust in the aashram Or at the best be invisible to others.

But the stone episode is quite popular and is also accepted

by PUrvAchAryas. None other than SwAmi DESikan Himself has

mentioned about ahalyA being as a stone in PAdukA Sahasram.

The Stone episode is mentioned in some purANa (forgot it ..

Will check the vyAkyAnams later).

 

JIvAtma becoming a man,dEvata Or even a stone, implies that

it has respective bodies as its SarIra.

 

> 2.If Jiva and Karma are eternal/Anadi, how is Brahman the material

> cause of the same.

 

Two aspects of your question :

 

a. How can Bramhan be a " cause " {specifically " material cause " }

for an entity which exists from time immemorial ?

 

It can be. Bramhan is also nitya {existing from anAdi kAla}

and its the material cause from time immemorial {anAdi kAla}.

 

b. Clay is the material cause of a Clay-Pot. Gold is the material

cause of a Gold-Ring. This is cery clear. But how can Bramhan be

the material cause of this Jagat (ie.Universe = Combination of

chit and achit)? Is itn't that Bramhan is very much different

in nature from both chit and achit ?

 

This is the most important issue in VEdAnta. The genius of

Bhagavad RAmAnuja can be well appreciated if we understand

the correct solution provided by him. Like how Scientists boast

about either Einstein Or Newton Or Galileo for their

intellectual contribution, its Bhagavad RAmAnuja's contribution

on " SarIra-SarIri BhAva " that unlocks all the puzzles of

VEdAnta.

 

Understanding this problem in the following way will make

things much better to grasp the crux of the solution. It

took me some days of thinking few years back to jort down

this issue into this format of understanding; aDiyEn was

not able to understnad this earlier with good enough depth and

clarity (or rather not fully satisfied), when the standard

answer that sookshma-chit-achit-viSisTa Bramhan transformed

itself into sthUla-chit-achit-ViSishTa Bramhan was supplied;

Hence aDiyEn feels that probing more into it in the following

way would be benificial :

 

Transformation of Clay into a Clay-Pot signifies that the

" Substance (Dravya) " involved, modifies itself from the 'state'

(avasta) of being called as a " Clay " into another 'state'

to be called as a " Pot " . The change is say,in the final shape

Or appearence of these two. This shape is one inseparable

attribute of the Substance which has been called as Clay and

Clay-Pot in its different states. Hence, the significant change

is in the inseparable attribute of the substance - " Shape " in

this case.

 

Similarly, in the transformation of the substance Gold,

from its state of being a 'biscuit' to that of a 'Ring',

the change is in its inseparable attribute " Shape " .

 

These two examples are cited in ChAndOgya Upanishad to drive

home the point that Bramhan is the " material cause " of Jagat,

similar to how the above are {Don't read too much into the

'biscuit' specified by me wrt to the originals; Its just

for easier illustration}.

 

Now, Bramhan is a Substance (Dravya), which has Jagat as its

inseparable attribute. Like how the Gold was in its biscuit

state, Bramhan was in a state with sUkshma-Jagat (subtle-Jagat)

as its inseparable attribute <<during PraLaya>>; Like how the

Gold got transformed into a 'Ring', the Bramhan transformed into

a state with sthUla-Jagat (gross-Jagat) as its inseparable

attribute <<the present Universe>>. Like how Gold is the

material cause for the 'Ring', Bramhan is the material cause of

the 'Jagat'.

 

The underlying feature is that, we need to look-out for the

fundamental substance which is present in both of its states

as Cause and Effect. We generally visualize JIvAtma and

prakruti to be separate from Bramhan; But if we visualize

them being inseparable attributes of Bramhan {as expected by

VEdAnta}, like how the red colour is inseparably present with

a " Red Flower " , then we can understand this problem quite well.

 

This is one " Very Big Phase " in the understanding of VEdAnta.

Lets proceed to the next phase as a sequel.

 

All said, the understanding is not yet fully over - Or rather

aDiyEn was scratching my head for few days on this also few

years back. More probing needs to be done. The difficulty is

because, Upanishads can't produce analogies from daily life

experience to fit-in 100% of what all it wants to convey

regarding Bramhan - Its UpAdAna KAraNatvam (Material Causality)

of Jagat is the specific issue in hand.

 

In the analogies of Gold and Clay, we saw that the " Shape " of

the Substance was changed from its states as Cause and Effect.

But, there is nothing called as " Shape " of Bramhan. Its vibhu

(all-pervading) and is basically " jn~Ana " which has no avayava

(segregated parts) ie.Its uniform or same throughout. Bramhan's

essential nature as jn~Ana is termed as DivyAtma-SvarUpam(DS),

which has inseparable characteristics Or attributes like

Satyatvam (Un-changing-ness),aanandatvam(bliss-ness),

amalatvam (blemishless-ness) etc.

 

Bramhan is stated to be nirvikAra (Unchanging) in Upanishads.

In the same breadth, Upanishads do speak about its " Will/Desire "

to create Universe; avatAras; transformation into Jagat etc.

Whats this contradiction is all about ?

 

Bramhan being Nir-vikAra implies that DS does not change. DS is

the Substance " Bramhan " . It has another " Substance " (Dravya) as

its inseparable attribute and it is the " dharma-bhUta jn~Ana "

(dbj),which has its own characteristics. dbj contracts and

expands for baddha jIvAtma, and its vibhu for Bramhan. The

desire/will of Bramhan is nothing but a change in the

state(avasta) of its dbj.

 

Couple of handy definitions :

 

SvarUpa vikAra: In the case of Gold cited earlier, its shape

got changed Or in other-words, the inseparable attribute of

a Substance changed. This type of change attributed to the

Substance is known as " SvarUpa vikAra " . The Substance

Moola-Prakruti, the transformation of which is all of what we

see in the material world, undergoes " SvarUpa VikAra " .

 

SvabhAva-vikAra : In the case of Bramhan cited earlier, during

its Will/Sa~nkalpa, its dbj changes while DS is unchanged.

The Substance dbj undergoes svarUpa-vikAra here. Such a change

to the Substance, wherein a svarUpa-vikAra (Or even

svabhAva-vikAra) occurs to its inseparably attributed Substance,

is called as SvabhAva-vikAra. Bramhan thus has SvabhAva-vikAra

and not svarUpa-vikAra. JIvAtma also has svabhAva-vikAra due its

dbj and does not have svarUpa-vikAra.

 

Lets come back to our Jagat-KAraNam issue. During the time of

creation,

 

(i) Bramhan undergoes SvabhAva-vikAra due to its dbj {Will

to create; Will to Become Many in terms of empirical name

and form}.

 

(ii) The Substance Prakruti undergoes SvarUpa-vikAra under the

Will of Bramhan. Hence SvabhAva-VikAra of this kind is

associated with Bramhan.

 

(iii) The dbj of various baddha-jIvAtmas change as they obtain

appropriate bodies during creation. Hence, JIvAtma undergoes

SvabhAva-VikAra here. If the JIvAtma undergoes such a

svabhAva-vikAra, then Bramhan also undergoes a

svabhAva-vikAra, as Bramhan is the final Substance for which

this JIvAtma (another Substance) is an inseparable attribute.

 

In the Clay/Gold analogy of the Upanishads, the svarUpa-vikAra

of the subtance occurs. This becomes the biggest stumbling block

for many to correctly understand the intent. The analogies are

*not* for making us understand the svarUpa-vikAra of Bramhan

while transforming into Jagat. Since we know that Bramhan can't

undergo svarUpa-vikAra, we land into a fix by seeing this

mis-match between the analogies {with the understanding that

the analogies are for illustrating the svarUpa-vikAra}.

The analogies have the stress on the change (vikAra) of the

inseparable attribute of the underlying substance - which is

in different states as Cause and Effect; This is the similarity

to be understood,as other possibilities like change of svarUpa

itself of Bramhan etc are ruled out. Thats an excellent way

to understand the material causality of Bramhan for Jagat and hence

that by knowing Bramhan, we can know all - Sad Vidya Of ChAndogya

Upanishad.

 

Like how the war between Lord RAma and RAvaNa has no other analogy

other than that war itself, the Jagat-KAraNatvam of Bramhan can't

be illustrated completly through an analogy, since such a phenomena

is unique of its kind. Upanishads aid in a great way to understand

it well through few analogies, which finally makes us arrive at

the siddhAnta we cherish.

 

Another allied point to be noted :

 

All substances are classified Or understood through their

inseperable attributes / Characteristics. Those characteristics

that makes us understand/identify a Substance different from

all other Substances is known as " SvarUpa-nirUpaka-dharmas "

{characteristics that uniquely identify a Substance}. The

changes in inseparable-attributes that were earlier talked about,

will not lead us into a precarious situation. When we say that

a Subsatnce changes from one state to another {in SvarUpa-vikAra

itself}, the svarUpa-nirUpaka-dharmas do not change - If so,

it would mean the absurdity that a substance transformed into

another Substance. In both the Cause and Effect states, the

" Substance " is the " Same " => The svarUpa-nirUpaka-dharmas

(such inseparable characteristics) remain unchanged.

 

AzhwAr,EmperumAnAr,DESikan thiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan alias Anand.

krushNArpaNam.