Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Re: Brahman's omnipresence after cosmic dissolution

From the Bhakti List Archives

tg_ramkumar • August 27, 2002 


SrI:

I know that brahman's nature is beyond the mind's grasp
and verbal description. 

I don't think it is terrible to grapple with It anyway.
(till we attain mukti)

Anyway, let me elaborate my wildly mundane questions
(due to my kArpaNya-dosha-pahata-svabhAva).

I do not know what 'vi-bhu' means exactly.
(does it possibly mean 'That which has become many' ?)

but as opposed to 'aNu-tva' (infinitesimal geometric dimension
of the jIva), I speculate 'vi-bhu' means that the brahman has an 
infinite extent, pervading & enveloping (physically, spatially, 
geometrically too) everything else that exists in It.

Due to this infinite expanse, we could say brahman's pervasiveness
(antar-bahir-vyApti) in everything else is only incidental to the
vibhu-tva, since everything else only exists in brahman physically.

[ a question here - does the brahman exist in places where nothing
 else exists? ]

During total cosmos dissolution, does only the matter, with the
exception of the space it had previously grossly manifested in,  
withdraw into primordial-subtle-matter (mUla-prakRti)?

I perceive difficulty with an answer to this question 
one way or the other.

a) If we suppose that Space contracts geometrically,  what happens
to the brahma-svarUpa (vibhu) which was earlier present 
in that Space?
If we say brahma-svarUpa does not contract, is the brahman
present where nothing else exists? (so satya-tva remains valid)

b) If we suppose the Space does not contract at praLaya, 
   is the Space itself verily brahman (ekam eva advitIyam)?

If you are participating with my insanity, please also articulate 
your replies from the standpoint  of the brahman being both the 
material & instrumental cause of the material universe.


rAmAnuja-dAsan
//Ramkumar


--- In bhakti-list@y..., "Ramkumar T.G."  wrote:
> 
> asmad sarva-gurubhya: nama:
> SrI-vishNave nama:
> 
> Dear Members,
> 
> Wondering as to how the folowing descriptions of
> the brahman (ie SrIman-nArAyaNa) relate to one another:
> 
> a) antaryAmi-tva (pervasiveness, a.k.a svarUpa-vyApti)
> 
> b) vibhu-tva (omnipresence)
> 
> c) ananta-tva (spatial, temporal & material transcendence)
> 
> d) satya-tva (immutability)
> 
> 
> Trying to understand these properties in the following states:
> 
> 1) praLaya-daSa (ie the material universe in its dissovled state)
> 
> 2) during jagat-sRshTi (cosmos regeneration after dissolution)
> 
> 
> Question:
> 
> q1) Does only matter, but not Space (deSa) collapse 
>     during praLaya?    
>     That way the brahman as vibhu does not need to shrink down
>     and satya-tvam & ananta-tva remain valid.
> 
> q2) Does 'vibhu-tva' go by the name 'antaryAmi-tva' when we speak of
>     the brahman in relation to jIva-s or matter ?
>    
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
> //Ramkumar   
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------
> Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com
> The most personalized portal on the Web!



--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/