The Basics of The Three Philosophies-5

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Dear Members,

 

Contd…..

 

VISHISHTADVAITA

 

In the Vishishtaadvaita school, three principles,

namely, chit (sentient beings), achit (insentient

matter), and Ishwara (The Supreme Lord) are accepted.

These are known as the ‘tattvatraya’ (the three

tattvas) in this school. All the three are eternal and

dissimilar.

 

Among them, Ishwara is Sriman Narayana who is The

Supreme Soul or Paramatman. He is all pervading and

the inner controller of all ( antaryaamin i.e.

residing within, He controls the world and all the

living beings). He is sung as The Supreme by the

Upanishads and the Vedas. Sruti texts like

‘antarbahishcha tatsarvam vyaapya naarayastithah’,

‘tatsrushtvaa tadevaanupravishat’ etc are the sruti

pramana (scriptural support) for this. Lord Sriman

Narayana is the Supreme Brahman. He possesses infinite

knowledge, bliss, and infinite auspicious qualities.

The entire creation (including the chit and achit)

form the body of this Supreme Being. This is known

from texts of the Upanishads like ‘ yah pritivyaam

tishtan.. esha ta atma antaryaamya bhutah’. The divine

auspicious form (divyamangala vigraham) of Sriman

Narayana is extremely pure. He is adorned with

innumerable ornaments and weapons. Further,the srutis

describe Him to have a golden complexion like that of

dazzling sun, eyes like lotus and as always young and

seen by the great Niyta Suris who are eternally

liberated.

 

Thus the Sruthis have their import in extolling Sriman

Narayana. He is self-contented, always pure like the

clear sky and is beyond the darkness of ignorance. He

is the controller of the entire universe. His form is

that of the entire universe. He is the root cause for

everything. The Jivatmas (individual soul) are his

subordinates. They get liberated by completely

surrendering them to Lord Sriman Narayana. One who

realizes this Lord as the greatest asset residing in

the caves of one’s heart gets liberated from the cycle

of births and deaths. Sri Mahalakshmi, the divine

consort of The Lord, is the queen of the entire

universe. ‘asyeshaano jagato Vishnupatni..’ etc are

Sruti Pramana for this. Considering the welfare of all

beings, she, who is full of compassion, beseeches the

lord and gets the jivas liberated. The Lord manifests

himself in five stages.

 

o Param: The Lord in SriVaikunta

 

o Vyuham: The manifestation of Lord as

Vasudeva,Sankarshana,Pradyumna and Aniruddha

 

o Vibhavam: the incarnations of the Lord as Rama,

Krishna etc.

 

o Archa: The Lord in the form of idols and

 

o antaryaamin : The Lord as the inner controller of

all beings.

 

Next, we shall see the nature of the sentients called

the Jivaatmas.

 

The jivaatma in its essential nature is full of

Knowledge. The jivaatma is different from the physical

body in the form of human, animals, devas etc which

are all the products of the insentient matter

(prakriti). He, in his true nature, is only full of

knowledge and bliss. The jiva is atomic in size. He is

subordinate to the Lord in all respects. The jivas

acquire bodies according to their karmas (past deeds).

This physical body is a combination of the five

principle elements. All these features are common to

all jivatmas. The jivatmas can be classified into

three categories:-

 

6. Nitya

 

7. Muktha

 

8. Baddha

 

The Nithyas are those who never get drowned in this

ocean of samsara and enjoy the highest bliss

eternally. This can be known from the famous vedic

verse “ tat vishnor paramam padam sadaa pashyanthi

soorayah”.

 

The Mukthas are those who initially toil in the

samsara, and attain liberation by the Lord’s graceful

glance (Kataksham).

 

The Baddhas are those who keep toiling in samsara

always. Until they attain liberation, they attain

various bodies according to their store of Karmas and

undergo sufferings.

 

Next we shall deal with the insentient Prakruthi.

 

This world which contains all the jivaatmas possessing

various forms is Brahman’s ‘sarira’ or body. It is

devoid of intelligence. Hence it is referred to as

‘achit’ or insentient. This is not Maya. It truly

undergoes a change. During deluge it dissolves in

Brahman. The Lord governs and rules this prakruti. It

becomes the object of enjoyment for the jivatmas.

There are three qualities for prakruti namely

Sattva,Rajas and Tamas.

 

!!! Will continue !!!

 

Regards

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

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