Acharya vaibhvam.... - 9 - Tattva thraya- jeevathma, matter and the Lord [chith, achith and Iswara]

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

[My sincere apologies for having sent the tenth post

y'day ahead of the ninth.... Probably it is Bhagavath

sankalpam to get to know about the Srivaishnava

concepts clearer first and then to know of the tattva

traya now].

 

Let us see what is tattva traya..

 

As per our sampradaya: There are three tattvas:

(1) jeevathma, It is also called Chit, soul, self,

atma, and chethana. It is sentient i.e. has knowledge,

(2) achethana or matter or achith It is non-sentient.

i.e. does not have knowledge

(3) Iswara or the Supreme Lord

 

The jeevathma or the soul is eternal. It has no

beginning or end. The souls are infinite in number and

are atomic in size. There is no death for the soul and

the death is only for the body. The soul passes from

one body to another or attains salvation or moksha.

 

The souls or jeevathmas are divided into three

categories:

 

1. Baddha jeevathmas- who are subjected to repeated

births and deaths and are bound to karma and are in

samsaara

2. mukthas- who are released from the bondage of

samsaara and have attained moksha

3. Nithyas- [or Nithyasuris] who are eternally

liberated like Adisesha, Garuda, and Vishvaksena.

 

Achethana means it does not possess any jnAnam or

knowledge and is divided into three categories as (1)

matter [prakrithi] (2) Time [kaala]; (3) suddha

sattva.

 

Matter is also called as moola prakrithi, akshara or

pradhana, avyaktha and triguna. Matter is made up of

three qualities or attributes (Gunas) which are

sattva, rajas and tamas.

 

Srivaikunta is fully suddha sattva. The archa forms of

the Lord and PiraaTTi in the temple are also of Suddha

sattva.

 

Iswara or the Supreme Lord is Sriman Narayanan . His

essential nature is Truth, knowledge, infiniteness,

happiness and Purity. [sathyam, jnAnam, anantham,

Aanandham and amalathvam]. He is present everywhere

and knows everything [Omnipresent and Omniscient]. Out

of compassion for the human beings, Sriman Narayanan

takes the avatharams and comes into this world as

Rama, Krishna, et al out of His own accord, free will

and desire. The purpose of the avatharams is to

protect the good and punish the evil or wicked and to

uphold dharma.

 

The most important principle of VisishtAdvaita

philosophy is the Body /Soul relationship [sareera –

Sareeri bhaava] between chethana, achethana and Iswara

i.e. the souls [jeevathma], matter and the Lord. The

Brahman or Isawara is the Soul and the other two

entities or tattvas, namely Chethana or Jeevathmas and

achethana [or Matter] form His sareera.

 

The Vedas are the basic fundamental authority

[Pramaana]. This world is real. Lord Sriman Narayanan

has all the most auspicious [kalyANa guNAs] attributes

or qualities. All beings are dependent on Him, i.e.

supported by Him, controlled by Him and exist only for

Him or for His pleasure. The entire universe starting

from Chathur mukha Brahma Rudra, devas, human beings,

animals, birds and others are all His creations.

 

The ultimate aim or objective of the human beings is

to attain salvation or moksha. We are repeatedly born,

come into this world and die. There is the repeated

cycle of births and deaths. There is tremendous

suffering in the world. Salvation means release from

all these suffering, from all this cycle of births and

deaths. This means attaining of Paramapadham or

Srivaikuna and permanently enjoying and serving the

Lord Sriman Narayana and Mother Sri Mahalakshmi.

 

The means or upaya that we have to adopt for achieving

salvation are bhakti yoga and Prapatti. [we will

discuss about this later in details] The Lord is

pleased with our adoption of the upaya or the means

and grants mOksha or salvation at the end of this life

in the case of Saranagati [or Prapatti] and either at

the end of this life or latter for bhakti yogins.

 

Kamra and Jnana yoga are described in the Gita itself

in details. Karma yoga leads to jnana yoga and then to

bhakti yoga. Or karma yoga directly also leads to

bhakti yoga. Jnana yoga leads to bhakti yoga.

Ultimately, thus, it is only bakti yoga or prapatti

[saranagati] are the emans for moksha [salvation.]

 

With the above background, the Bhagavad Gita should be

studied and learnt at the lotus feet of Acharya, and

then enjoyed for better appreciation.[from the book

Bhagavad Gita – Introduction -written by Oppiliappan

Koil Sri U Ve VN Gopaladesikan Swami].

 

asmadhAchArya paryanthAm vandhE Guru paramparAm

Regards

namo narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

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