Sunday, May 22, 2011

ParaMatha Kandana – II

Jai LakshmiNarasimha,
We have seen last post how Dvaita is different than the other mathas.
In principle Dvaita is the main truth. All other mathas are derivatives of these; a-dvaita ( not dvaita ) vishista a-dvaita (special case of not dvaita), etc.
Some people feel that Dvaita was formulated to counter advaita. While it is true that Acharya has countered advaita specifically, Tattvavada disproves all theories that question scriptures(Baudha), question God (Charvaka or Tarka) or claim that we will transform into God in any state ( advaita, vishishta advaita)
advaita is the work of demons, let us take historical examples.
i)hiranyakashipu claimed himself to be God and demanded that tributes be paid to him instead
ii)paundarika vasudeva considered himself to be krishna
iii)many people thought of Sri Krishna as human being
iv) kalyavana thought Muchukunda was Sri Krishna.
Let us take each case
i) hiranyakashipu claimed himself to be GOD
According to advaita, he should have realized GOD with such a chintane why such a terrible fate.
On the other hand, Bhakta Prahlada was the emodiment of Dasoham attitude, what did he achieve?
One blog I saw, gave an explaination that hiranyakashipu’s chintane was correct but he was not humble, hence he was killed. Prahalad on the other hand was humble hence he was saved.
This utterly absurd logic, ahankara is claiming to be someone greater than who you are. According to advaita if everyone is GOD; then where is the question of ahankara. Conversely what is humility, claiming yourself to lesser than your true capability.
If everything is brahma then what is the use of these two things and why should we even bow to Guru. Bowing to Guru will be like bowing to ourselves. SriMadacharaya raises this objection on the first day, his guru teaches the first shloka of advaita.
See how dangerous this line of thought is, and where it reaches. In fact it reaches to a point that God is just by chance God.
How can anyone even compare Tattvavada to a philosophy like this ? In fact SriMadAcharya proves that it is not a philosophy at all.
Result of Eeshoham chintane.
ii) paundarika vasudeva was an ally of jarasandha, he was defeated by Sri Krishna in the battle for Sri Rukumani Devi. he felt very disappointed; his subjects to cheer him up praised him to Sri Krishna and Vishnu incarnate. he himself started believing it and challanged Sri Krishna to handover his discus and mace over. Sri Krishna went to war with him, on arriving Sri Krishna found paundarika vasudeva dressed exactly like Sri Krishna.
Sri Krishna cuts his head off.
Result of Eeshoham chintane
iii) the kauravas always considered Sri Krishna as a magician and refused to believe he was GOD.
Result of Not beliving Sri Hari is sarvothamma; kula naasha.
iv) kalayavana chases Sri Krishna into a cave, every time Sri Krishna seems to be in his grasp but Sri Krishna escapes into the cave. he mistakes sleeping Muchakunda to be Sri Krishna and kicks him, he opens his eyes and instantly reduces kalayvana to ashes.
Result of thinking a jeeva as Sri Hari (beware baba believers)
In each case we see bheda gynana being propounded.
Bheda Gynana is of five types.
Jiva-Eshwara Bheda ( Jeevas are not GOD)
Jiva-Jiva Bheda ( all Jeeva are not equal ) – Taratamya Gynana
Jiva-Jada Bheda ( Jeevas and non living things are not equal) –
Jada-Eshwara Bheda ( God are Non living things are not equal ) – GOD is in idol; idol itself is not GOD.
and Jada-Jada Bheda ( All Non living things are not equal ) – Saligrama is different from other types of stone, etc.
This whole world is called pra-pancha because of the five fold bheda.
Bheda Gynana is Gynana. Think about it, the ability to differentiate is Gynana. Let’s take music, can people say all music is one, the ability distinguish between ragas, each note, each swara, tala is called gynana. The more you are able to distinguish and discriminate the more gynana a person has.
Many people claiming to be atheists have converted to Tattvavada after listening to it. The reason I’m telling this is that philosophies like advaita, create a horrible image of God and people prefer to be atheists than to follow advaita.

Any mistakes are solely mine.

Jai Bharateesha,
Hrishikesh

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Dvaita Supremacy over other schools of thought

Jai Lakshmi Narasimha !!!

Shastra is divided into two categories : SwaMatha Stapana and ParaMatha Khandana.

These are some of the statements which are floating around the internet.
God – An Advaita or Dwaita or Vishishtadvaita ?
- every person has his own differen view and explanation about God. All the theories are based on guess.No one has evidence to support his view.
- God is an ‘ADVAITEE’. He has free will to be a ‘dwaiti’ and also ‘vishistadvaiti’. O.kay.
- Advaita – God is universe, including you & me
- These 3 are the color of the glasses. God will appear in a color through which you see Him.
- All the three are the ways to lead us to God. Hence all 3 are the forms of God
- These were some of the ways to define God who is beyond words.
- Even if someone prefers to worship other Gods, it ultimately reaches Govinda (Keshavam prati gachhathy). Instead of handing over the letter directly, why send it through a post man. The sages tell us Narayana resides in each and every one of us and He is closer to us than we are to ourselves (and therefore there is no need for a post man)
- all the three philosophies have an equal place in the system of Vedanta and it is just natural that each one considers his own system superior to the other.

#1
These are just some of the millions of statements and feelings of a lot of people. In fact people get angry when disproving advaita, to the extent that they say “Sri HariVayuStuti” is not be chanted since it condemns shankara.
Firstly this is an extension of their philosophy of abheda (non difference), hence they try not to see any difference in the philosophies. Dvaita is the only one that strongly propounds bheda, so being true to our philosophy let us examine the bhedas between the concepts.
advaita, vishishta advaita, bheda abheda, shudh advaita, kevala advaita, etc. all other schools of thought propound that we will become God at some level or another, famous example we are sparks of fire and we return to the fire.

Dvaita alone says that you were never God and will never be. If you claim to be GOD in anyway or at any stage; then you don’t know about GOD at all. Even a spark of GOD is infinite; and infinite is something that cannot be even fathomed forget becoming it.

Sri Hari is nirdosha, sakala guna paripoorna, sadchidananda, ananta ananta guna paripoorna with such qualities how can anyone stake a claim to be GOD.
Ex. Sri Krishna avataara is just a black hair of Sri Hari. He shows whole Vishwaroopa in that avataara. Even a part of infinity is infinity.

In “Pramana Lakshana”, SriMadhvacharya gives a detailed approach on what is proof, and what can be expected as proof?

Pratyaksha pramana is one such proof. Let me give an illustration; lets say the itenary of a person X says he’s supposed to be in a meeting at 1:00 PM; but you see him in the canteen at that time. Seeing him in the canteen overrides his itenary therefore; he is present in the canteen and not in the meeting.

If you try to argue just on the basis of his itenary that he is not X or that he has not seen X; then it is a foolhardy logic.

Applying this pramana, Sri Hari is Sakala guna paripoorna this is anubhava; can anyone else prove to be complete or incomplete. Sri Hari is sarvatra vyapta, Sri Hari is present everywhere; are you present everywhere?

Each guna is ananta in Sri Hari, can anyone claim to swim across the ocean, let alone be the ocean. I’m just trying to iterate bheda theory because all other philosophies at some or other point claim to merge with GOD.
Dvaita on the other hand, clearly proves that even in Moksha you are seperate from GOD. If you jump into the ocean, you don’t become the ocean you are just a body in the ocean. Even in Mukti, by GOD’s grace you experience happiness; but you never become GOD.
No matter how shastras are interpreted if this conclusion does not come forth, then it is a waste of intellectual effort.
* Note we have already seen “Swantantro Bhagvan Vishnuh”; if you are not independent then you cannot be Sri Hari. End of Discussion!!!

#2
The mother of all such statements is that Dvaita is the first stage of spiritual development, Vishishta Advaita is the next step and the last step is advaita.
The problem with this statement, is that people even if they are convinced of Dvaita, they quote this and escape. It then becomes a matter of faith and not of pramana.
As per my research, this statement has been made by Appaya Dixit. A little about Appaya Dixit, before his statement; he was Sri 1008 Vijayendra Swami’s contemporary. Starting from the introduction, he used everyday attack Dvaita and everyday he would be defeated by Sri Vijayendra swamy. His frustration is evident in many of his statements and works. Sri Vijayendra swami has the highest number of works attributed to a Madhva Yati (100+) and most of them are in response to appaya dixit’s works.
With this background, it is easy to see why he would have provided a faith based back door exit, when all other arguments fail. In fact appaya dixit is a renowned scholar in advaita world; but the whole picture is he used to massively fall short and was frustrated every day by Sri Vijayendra Teertharu.
#3
Instead of handing over the letter directly, why send it through a post man
This obviously questions taratamya and Vayu Jeevotama tattva. There are plenty of shastras that can be quoted as to why all souls have to approach Vayu devaru for mukti.
Taking the same example; Mukti is an official application, even if you live next door to the centre; the application will be accepted officialy only if you post it.
Sri Hari Vayu Stuti mentions that Vayu Devaru takes all the mukti yogya souls and makes recommendations to give Moksha to the souls. This recommendation alone is considered and Sri Hari decides based on this recommendation.
We are talking about scoring very very high marks in our life examination. Hence we need to manage time and answers need to be as per the shastras not as per intellect. If it really is so easy and anyone can do anything, then why need scriptures at all.There are numerous ways to fail and numerous ways to pass; but for Rank students all their papers will be similar and few.
Dvaita is an shinning parade of such Rank Holders !!!
I’m just comparing, one aspect of the conclusions; without going into the derivation. We can get into detailed discussion of each claim and see how great Dvaita is compared to the other claims. Lot of people consider it just another approach; but Scholars who dwell on it know that it is not just great; but it is by miles and miles the best approach.

Any mistakes are solely mine.

Jai Bharateesha,
Hrishikesh

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Swatantro Bhagawan Vishnuh

Swatantro Bhagawan Vishnuh !!!

Tattva Sankhyana is a very unique grantha of SriMadacharya (part of Sarvamoola). It brings out the complete supremacy of Sri Vishnu in a very unique way.
The first shloka classifies the entire beings/things into two categories Swatantra ( Independent ) and Aswatantra ( Dependent )
Definition of Tattva
Pramiti vishayai iti avarta, tattva anavarat Pramiti vishayai iti avarta

Swatantra-aswatantram cha dvividham tatvamishyate
Swatantro Bhagawan Vishnuh bhava-bhavo dvidhetarata`|| TS – 1

Lakshmipati padambhojayugam natvaa gururopi
karishye tatvasankhyananavyakhyanam naativistaram` || Mangalacharana shloka of Teeka by TeekAcharyaru

Swatantro Bhagawan Vishnuh !!!
Sri Vishnu is Swantantra !!!
Teekacharya defines swatantra as
swaroopa-pramiti-pravrutti-lakshana-satta-traivide-paranapakshe-swatantram
Swaroopa – existance/roopa
pramiti – knowledge
pravrutti – behaviour/action
One who is not dependent on anyone for their existance, knowledge and action at any point of time is considered as truly independent.

All through shastras Sri Hari alone exhibits this complete independence.
Swaroopa – Sri Krishna is born with complete clothes, jewellery and Shanka, Chakra, Padma and Gada
Sri Narasimha appeared from a pillar ( non living thing giving birth to living )
Sri Narasimha roopa itself shows non binding to prakriti.
Sri Trivikrama shows roopa that prevades whole brahmanda
Sri Krishna shows infinite Vishwaroopa many times in various forms
Every avataara of Sri Hari is an appearance and not a birth, hence Sri Hari is not dependent on anyone for Swaroopa
Pramiti – Sri Hari himself propogates the vedas to Brahma Devaru, further more all the Vedas personfied themselves praise Sri Hari what else is knowledge?
Pravrutti – Sri Hari himself gives boons to Sri Brahma Devaru and Lord Shiva; who else can be self sufficient
Sri Krishna himself shows plenty of times that he is completely independent of all the devatas put together
One important point to note, is that MahaLakshmi is dependent on Sri Hari, in fact it is the only “defect” of MahaLaxmi.

Sri Hari is sarva tantra swatantra; completely independent. Therefore he has no defects, only one who is independent can claim to be defect free. Being Swatantra, Sri Hari can remove all doshas ( this just an illustration of swatantrata as Sri Hari is nirdosha )

Sri Hari is Ananta Ananta guna poorna.
1st Ananta – Quantity – Infinite number of gunas
2nd Ananta – Quality – Each Guna is infinite
So the entire ananta jeevas along with MahaLaxmi put together cannot enumerate all the gunas of Sri Hari; infact they cannot completely understand even 1 guna of Sri Hari; this will help shedding light on the infinite swatantra of Sri Hari
In stark contrast, we are subjected to aswatantra at every stage of our life. Right from getting up in the morning; each and every object/person we use or need signifies our aswatantrata. Infact needing something/someone itself is aswatantrata.
Sri Hari needs no one/nothing at any point of time. At the other end of the spectrum; jeevas are dependent on Sri Hari for each and every aspect.
All jeevas are dependent on something or other; a president/prime minister is dependent on his cabinet to decide and then implement his decision, army is dependent on people and arms, farmer is dependent on rain and sun, banks are dependent on money, countries are dependent on other countries or their own produce/climate, the whole word is dependent on Vayu. Brahma/Vayu are dependent on MahaLaxmi and MahaLaxmi herself is dependent on Sri Hari.
In this way each and every time, we use an instrument or take someone’s help; we can do chintane of Sri Hari’s swatantra tattva.

In this context, Sri Hari, full decorated (MahaLaxmi manifests as his ornaments) reclining on his serpent bed on Ksheera Sagara with MahaLaxmi pressing his feet makes complete sense now as he is completely Swatantra. Reaching Sri Hari's residence ( Vaikunta ) is called Moksha (freedom from bondage or Independence from Samsara). Sri Krishna completely nullifies our paapa and frees us from it's burden because that is his characteristic (One who is completely independent helping us achieve independence to our fullest limit).

In a nutshell, Sri Hari who is completely free, helps us achieve our freedom so that we can reach the land of total freedom.

With such infinite qualities of Sri Hari, the advaitins claim of being God himself is to be strongly chided; it is akin to throwing dust in the eyes so that people don’t appreciate the beauty of the sun.

Understanding/Manana of this tattva more and more is important because understanding of other Gunas of Sri Hari flows from this basis. With this tattva in mind, if Ramayana, Mahabharata and other shastras are read, the true meaning will become clearer.
Yat Bhava tat bhavati – Meditating on such a Sarva Tantra Swatantra Sri Hari will also help us acheiving independence to our fullest limit.
Every person desires happiness, this happiness avoids us as we become dependent/addicted to lesser things. Being dependent on Sri Hari Vayu alone is true dependence and this alone will ensure that we will become truly independent in all aspects of life to our fullest capacity.

Any mistakes are solely mine.

Jai Bharateesha,
Hrishikesh