Priti Sandarbha 5.1 : Reexamining jiva tattva in the light of the ultimate...


Someone asked the other day why Sri Jiva Goswami is spending time debunking direct experience of the Tattva in the Brahman aspect when surely that had been done before. Nevertheless, here in this section we see that Jiva is doing a quick review of the various arguments that were made in the earlier Sandarbhas in order to show that the idea of the jiva fully merging into the Tattva is not possible. The jiva is a part, not of Brahman as such, but of Its energy, like a photon of light in relation to the light's source,, the sun. This is a long anuccheda, the first few parts of which are really a continuation of commentary on the two verses that preceded in Anucchedas 3 and 4.


atra pūrve tattva-bhagavat-paramātma-sandarbheṣv evaṁ mūlyena śruty-ādibhiś ca pratipāditam |

jīvākhya-samaṣṭi-śakti-viśiṣṭasya parama-tattvasya khalv aṁśa eko jīvaḥ | sa ca tejo-maṇḍalasya bahiś-cara-raśmi-paramāṇur iva parama-cid-eka-rasasya tasya bahiś-cara-cit-paramāṇuḥ | tatra tasya vyāpakatvāt tad-eka-deśatvam eva jīve syāt | nirākāratayā tad ekadeśatvaṁ na viruddham | tathāpi bahiś-caratvaṁ tad-āśrayitvāt | taj-jñānābhāvāt chāyayā raśmivat māyayābhibhāvyatvāc ca bahiś-caratvaṁ vyapadiśyate |

raśmi-sthānīyatvaṁ ca tad-vyatirekād vyatirekitayā yas tad-āśrayi-bhāvaḥ | yā ca pūrva-yuktyā bahiś-caratve’py eka-vastutva-śrutis tad-ādibhir gamyate |

śaktitvaṁ ca tad-rūpatayaiva tadīya-līlopakaraṇatvāt |

aṇutvaṁ ca śabdāt hari-candana-binduvat tasya prabhāva-lakṣaṇa-guṇenaiva sarva-deha-vyāpteḥ |

sarvaṁ caitat paramasyācintya-śaktimayatvād aviruddham iti pūrvaṁ dṛḍhīkṛtam asti, "śrutes tu śabda-mūlatvāt" [ve.sū. 2.1.27] iti nyāyena, "eka-deśa-sthitasyāgneḥ" [vi.pu. 1.22.56] ity-ādinā ca |


eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā
parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat

Discussed extensively earlier in BhagS 14, 16; ParamS 70, 72, 105

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Mind! Meditate on Radha's Breasts

Image
Flickr As I go through the dāna-līlā episode of Chandi Das's Śrī Kṛṣṇa Kīrtana , there are many songs in which Krishna describes Radha's beauty, and a regular feature of that includes descriptions of her breasts. In fact, breasts are a subject that is prominent in all Sanskrit poetry, and is even standard in prayers to goddesses. There does not seem to have been any inhibition in talking about breasts in the ancient Indian culture, even though I dare say, there is more of one in the modern society, in spite of Bollywood. There is, however, an apparent restriction in talking about genitals, male or female, in the so-called erotic poetry of India--Sanskrit or vernacular--even when lovemaking etc., is described. Such descriptions would automatically fall into some other genre. In Radha and Krishna descriptions, I cannot recall ever seeing or hearing a passage that mentioned genitals or overt sexual activity. It is nearly always spoken of somewhat euphemistically. I remember
Read more

Swami Vishwananda's Bhakti Marga and Parampara

Image
It has been a little strange here at Jiva these past few days. Swami Vishwananda is here with his troupe of disciples, of whom there are a goodly number, perhaps 80 or so. When I arrived in Vrindavan already a couple of weeks back, almost the first thing I noticed at the corner of Mathura Road and the Parikrama Marg was a big billboard with Swami Vishwananda’s charming smile and glowing tilak staring charismatically out at the world and announcing that he would be giving darshan on March 8 at the Jiva Institute. Below him, in a smaller frame was Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji, who besides being his host will be speaking on the Bhāgavatam at the darshan event. This is not the first time that Vishwananda and his group have been at Jiva. Satyanarayana Dasaji calls Vishwananda a friend, and indeed the relations between the two are very cordial. Vishwananda's group is mostly young and enthusiastic, predominantly European (German and points east), who are very enthusiastic about
Read more

Erotic sculptures on Jagannath temple

Image
This was written on the basis of Sundarananda Vidyavinode's Sri Kshetra and intended for a devotee audience, as it was done on a commission by disciples of Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaj. It has never been published. I decided to put this on line since there was a discussion on Facebook on the subject and I thought I would revisit what I wrote here nearly twenty years ago. This is from chapter ten on temple renovations. Please note that I have removed the images that I had found of some of the sculptures. I have been blocked from posting links to this blog on Facebook for some infringement of its "community standards". The only thing I can think of on this blog that might have offended some prudish person in cyberspace is this. I do not have much hope for redemption as it has been over six months since my ban is "under review" and there has been no sign of action. Needless to say, I find this heavy-handed action on the part of Facebook dangerously authoritar
Read more