Some thoughts on iishaavaasyopanishhad

MSR miinalochanii at YAHOO.COM
Thu Aug 22 16:39:21 CDT 2002


- shanti mantra of this upanishhad is "puurNamadaH ..."

- The word puurNa means complete, lacking nothing. It definitely does
not mean infinite. Some thing could be infinite, yet lacking something.
Take set of rational numbers as an example. This notion of using
"infinite" for puurNa comes from bogus scientific notions*.

- purNamadaH, that (unmanifested) brahman is puurNam or complete. How?
Because it is non-dual, has no parts, and it is said so in the shruti.
Here "that" indicates brahman.

- puurNamidam. This manifested world is also complete. How? Because
this very upanishad says "iishaavaasyam idam sarvam". The difference
between adas and idam is only apparent. idam denotes this manifested
universe.

- With brahman as its basis this manifested universe came into being.
"This" has "that" as its basis.  This is not like I have a bag full of
rice and I take a cup of rice out of it. If it were so, then the bag
will lose something. How this apparent duality came into being from a
nondual brahman cannot be explained. mAyA is not an explanation. But it
is a technical term, denoting this inherent complexity.


- Even though the manifested universe  has Brahman as its basis. It in
no way takes away the completeness of brahman. Why? Because the
manifested universe is only from the point of view of ignorant. From
the absolute perspective there is no duality.

- It is very fascinating to see the echo of "puurNamidam" in
"iishaavaasyam idam sarvam".

Your flames :-)) are welcome to light (or torch) these thoughts (should
I say doubts).


Ravi
* it is mostly non scientists, and non physicists, who delight in
making a mess out advaita vedanta and modern physics. It is OK as long
as it helps their sAdhana.


=====
ambaaL daasan

Ravi

sharaNAgata raxakI nivEyani sadA ninnu nammiti mInAxI

http://www.ambaa.org/  http://www.advaita-vedanta.org

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