idealism in the Vishnu Purana

From the Bhakti List Archives

• May 14, 2002


Fellow Jijnaasus,

Recently, a friend pointed out some slokas in the Vishnu Purana that 
point toward a very idealistic conception of the world. I would
like your comments on them, and how you think Sri Ramanuja would
have understood them:

VP 2.12.44, for instance, could almost be taken out of a yogAcara
work:

*  tasmAn na vij~nAnam Rte 'sti ki~ncit kvacit kadAcid dvija vastu jAtam /
*  vij~nAnam ekaM nijakarmabhedavibhinnacittair bahudhAbhyupetam //

*  Therefore, O twice-born one, apart from consciousness no
*  substance ever arises anywhere. The one consciousness is
*  variously perceived by those whose minds are differentiated by
*  the distinctions of their own actions.

Or as VP 2.6.46 has it:

*  j~nAnam eva param brahma j~nAnam bandhAya ceshyate /
*  j~nAnAtmakam idam viSvam na j~nAnAd vidyate param //

ramanuja dasa
Mani





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