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Re: a question on nitya-suris

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Murali Kadambi • April 25, 2000 


SrImAn Kasturi,

The ChAndogya upanishad refers *only* to the creation
of the 'material universe.'  That is why the acharya
uses the word 'idam,' which means 'this,' referring to
the already-manifested universe that the shisya is
seeing in front of him.   That is why 'sat' alone
existed as Iswara along with the unmanifest prakriti
and the jeeva at the beginning of *this* kalpa.  Note
that the creation and dissolution process itself is
eternal, so the acharya refers only to this kalpa when
he says 'in the beginning.'  The 'spiritual universe'
consisting of vaikuntham and the nitya and mukta
jeevas are *not* to be included in this context, since
they do not have any creation or dissolution
associated with them.

- murali kadambi


--- Kasturi Varadarajan  wrote:
> Dear friends,
>      The Chandogya Upanishad referring to the
> creation of the universe says
> that this was `sat' alone which is one only without
> a second. 
>   
>   sad-eva saumya idam agra AsIt ekam eva advitIyam
> 
>      This Ramanuja interprets as saying that during
> dissolution chit and
> achit exist in their subtle form. And Brahman with
> chit and achit in their
> subtle form can be described as `one without a
> second'
> 
> 
>      On the other hand, we have the nitya-suris who
> have been in Vaikuntha
> for ever irrespective of the state of the universe
> in its cosmic cycle. They
> can hardly be said to be unmanifest or in their
> subtle form. How are these
> facts reconciled, if reconciliation is needed at
> all?
> 
> thanks
> Kasturi
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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