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Re[2]: Ramanuja Siddhantham Questions

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TV.Venkat • August 27, 1998 


                         SrimathE NArAyaNAya namaha

On Date:    8/25/98 4:49 PM

Sri Mani wrote
-------------------------Quote ------------------------------
> >The living entity (jIvAtmA) is the smallest thing that exists.
> >It is therefore infinitesimal.  The number of jIvAtmAs is so large that it
> >is said that even the ParamaatmA cannot keep count of their number.
> (Question asked by Sri Balaraman Sriram)
> How come that even paramaatmA cannot keep count of thier number ?
> This defies the definiton of God as All-Knower.

     .......(Some portion deleted)............

     (Sri Mani's reply)
  Similarly, there is no limit to the number of jIva-s, so even
God cannot count them to their limit.
------------------------Unquote--------------------------------

     I now have a doubt on the basis of Thirumangai AzhwAr's pAsuram.

     In Periya Thirumozhi, in 11m patthu, 6m pathigam, all the 10 pAsurams
     starting with "mainninRa karun~gadal vAi......", Thirumangai AzhwAr
     asks all the human being to do saraNAgati to Sriman NArAyaNan who save
     the life during the praLayam.

     In all these 10 pAsurams, he quite frequently refers to
     "..ulagamEzhinaiyum oozhil vAngi..." and ".. thiruvaiyiRRil
     nedun~gAlam kidandhadhu...".

     So it is clear that during the praLayam, emberumAn takes all of us and
     other living things in Him and lets us out after the praLayam. This is
     referred by Thirumangai AzhwAr as "..emberumAn undu umizhnda ecchil.."
     in the same 10 pAsurams.

     So when it is said this way, how is it that count of jivAtmAs is
     infinitesimal. It could be only this way. The creation of emberumAn is
     so much that He Himself gets bored to count all the numbers so He is
     not counting. So all the jIvAtmAs are finite. This is what I
     understood.

     Mani, can you please throw some more light on this and explain me in a
     way rather in simple words as to clarify my doubt. I may be wrong in
     my claim above due to my ignorance or very little knowledge.

     adiyEn RAmAnuja dAsan

     Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh