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Re: Vibhava lokas

From the Bhakti List Archives

Murali Kadambi • September 7, 1999 


Dear bhAgawatas,

Parthasarathy Srinivasan wrote:

> 1) Does the expansion of dharma-bhuta-jnana mean
> that the mukta is
> omniscient like Bhagavan?

The answer to this is (technically) YES.  But Vyasa in his sUtra says: 
"bhOga mAtra sAmya lin~gAccha."  -- Only in the experience of bhOga
(Ananda) or bliss is the jeevAtma equal to the bhagawAn.  The qualities
of "satyakAma, satyasankalpa, apahatapaapma, sarvaj~na"  etc also will
apply to the jeevatma in the state of moksha just like that of
bhagawAn, except that these qualities that the jeeva inherits are the
result of bhagawAn's grace.  Also, vyAsa says "jagad-vyApAra varjyam
...", i.e., the jeeva will not inherit the power to
create/support/destroy the world or to be Sriyahpati - the consort of
SrI.

So, while the only nirupAdhika (unconditioned) sarvaj~na (omniscient
entity) is the Lord, the mukta jIva acquires aupAdhika (conditioned)
sarvaj~natva (omniscience) conforming fully to the sEsha's true
svaroopa.  In other words, the sEsha does not start feeling like the
Lord Himself, since that is not the sEsha's true svaroopa.

> 2) Why cannot this happen while the jiva is here on
> earth, by the grace
> of Bhagavan?

The mukta jIva is beyond the confines of space and time and as such (as
Mani points out) this question of whether the jIva will or will not
attain the quality of omniscience "here on earth" is really moot.  It
is really a state of conscience (again as Mani has written) and
confirmed by Sri Krishna:  "EshA brAhmi sthitih pArtha ...".  That
state is called brAhmi sthitih.  In fact, when I had the bhAgyam of
talking to H.H. SrI Rangapriya swAmi of Bangalore, I asked him about
the existence of a score of religions and philosophies and whether or
not their viewpoints were right or wrong.  HH pointed out exactly this
verse and said:  "While other religions rely for their *TRUTH* totally
on a prophet of some kind that came to this earth, we rely on an
unalterable indisputable state of conscience."
DISCLAIMER:  I am interpreting the statements of the great AcArya with
my limited knowledge, and any obviously or not-so-obvious erroneous
viewpoints are totally my creation.

Mani, the existence of the VishNu lOka is unmistakable according to the
pAncarAtra texts and also in the vEdas.  e.g.,
1.  "na tatra suryObhAti, na candra tArakam ...":  In that lOka of
vishNu, there are no suns, moons, and stars.
2.  "tad vishNO: parampadam | sadA pashyanti sUrayah |"  The nithya
sUris are blessed to have the constant vision of vishNu in the
paramapadam.
3.  There are several phrases like "tamasah parastAt" (beyond the tamO
guNa) and "rajasah parAke" (beyond the guNa of rajas) in the vedas that
denote the existence of the vishNu lOka as a separate entity.

Also as SrimAn Venkatesh Elayavalli has pointed out, rAmAnuja himself
has the "vaikunTa gadya" to his credit, and other later AcAryas have
made liberal use of this work in their own works: e.g., desika's
paramapada sOpana.

So, let me summarize what I think of the state (or place) called
paramapadam.  It is both a state and a place as a result of God's
grace.  It is a state where the true sESatva of the soul shines forth
with the absence of all ego, and also a place where the Lord out of his
compassion displays His splendor and His kingdom for His own enjoyment
and also grants the jIva a full taste of it.  However, what we think
conventionally of place (and time) does not apply to vaikunTam.

> 3) Does this dharma-bhuta-jnana reveal the
> jnanaanandaika-nature of
> Bhagavan also? In other words, does the mukta
> directly perceive the
> swarupa (essential substantive nature) of Bhagavan
> (apart from his
> rupa)?

Regarding whether the Lord will reveal his swaroopa (essential
substantive nature), I believe that will be instantly realizable since
the jIva is a sEsha of the Lord in all of the three senses that
rAmAnuja points out (Adheya - supportee, niyAmya - controllee, sEsha -
object of pleasure of the Lord).

|| sarvam srI krSNArpaNamastu ||
-- aDiyen, muraLi kaDAmbi


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