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Re: Re : Attribute, Mode of Brahman

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mani2 • March 13, 2002 


--- In bhakti-list@y..., swamy swarna  wrote:
> we can probably think of Brhman as the network of
> individual Jeevatmas, just like a computer network or
> even as a group of people. each individual of the
> group has a sense of individual identity, but the
> group identity is not just a sum of the individuals
> but something more. 
> 

Dear Swarna,

This is an interesting analogy, and I thank you for this
anubhavam. Though it is pictureseque, I feel it falls slightly 
short of Vedantic conception of the jIva-brahma relationship 
which Sri Ramanuja elaborates in one way.  There is the perhaps 
unintended implication that the individual jIvas help to "add up"
to be Brahman (God), or that Brahman is somehow missing something
without the jIva.  This is not quite the case. 

The jIva is no doubt indivisibly related to Brahman, but
the essential nature of Brahman remains unaffected by
having the jIva as Its attribute or mode. In that sense,
Brahman is not made up of a combination of the jIvas; it
is not an additive summation. It is more of a qualitative
concept that presents us with the idea that the jIva is
totally and inherently ensouled and controlled by Brahman,
which is the very basis of its existence.  In contrast,
Brahman is in no way dependent on the jIva for its existence.

With regards,
aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
Mani



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