Why the same dream?

Gummuluru Murthy gmurthy at MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA
Wed Dec 10 06:40:46 CST 1997


On Wed, 3 Dec 1997, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:

>
> It is acceptable that the real world is the creation of Saguna Brahman or
> Ishwar.  This would be in agreement with the Shruti statements which say
> God created the world.  Our dreams are caused by the effect of the world
> on our minds.  Of course this is vyavahara.  All such distinctions will
> disappear on the achievement of jnana.
>

Namaste.

My apologies for the delayed response.

Yes. It is more than acceptable that Saguna Brahman or the personal God
created the world. It is the only theory we have.

But, where is Saguna Brahman ? Isn't Saguna Brahman an imagination of our
mind in the wake-up state ?  I do not want that comment to be taken in a
wrong sense or would not like to be branded as an atheist. I believe in
God and pray God regularly. I do Lalitha trisathi and sandhya vandanam
twice a day and Vishnu sahasranaama as time permits. And I believe that
it is Shri Lalitha's grace that the world I see is what it is. However, in
the final analysis, Shri Lalitha and Shri Vishnu are in our mind only.

>
> > S. Radhakrishnan [The
> principal upanishhads] commenting on the
> > MandUkya upanishhad, verse 3, says (and this comment may be appropriate
> > here):
> >
>
> I'd be careful of Radhakrishnan.  He's another one of those who quotes
> Advaita when it suits him and makes up his own junk at other times.  I
> don't think Vedanta is nearly as idealistic as he makes out and in fact
> the Advaita Acharyas probably tried to tone down that sort of thing in
> order not to appear Buddhistic.
>
> > "The waking state is the normal condition of the natural man, who without
> > reflection accepts the universe as he finds it. The same physical universe
> > bound by uniform laws presents itself to all such men."
> >
>

Shri Vyas  does not like the credentials of S. Radhakrishnan [Principal
Upanishhads] as an advaitin. I quote a similar statement by Swami
Nikhilananda [Man in search of immortality]:

"... During the waking state Atman, called Visva or Vaisvanara,
experiences phenomenal objects [GM's comment: I do not see Atman
experiencing anything and so differ slightly from Swami Nikhilanda's
usage of the word Atman] by means of organs of action and perception,
such as hands, feet, tongue, the organs of generation and evacuation,
and also through mind, intellect(buddhi), mind-stuff (chitta), and
I-consciousness (ahamkara). The external world perceived during this state
is common to all. ...."

Still superposed on this perceived external world, we, the individual
jeevas colour it as per our discriminating senses, and call it our world.

>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
>

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
... aham bhAvodayAbhavo bodhasya paramAvadhih ...
                        Shri Shankara in Viveka ChuDAmaNi (verse 424)

The end of the rise of the sense of "I" of the ego is the culmination
of knowledge.
------------------------------------------------------------------------



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