[Advaita-l] Are the Lord's bodies too ephemeral?

[S Jayanarayanan]

The Divine Form of the Avatar is eternal, but the body is not. 
 
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 8/16/17, Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Are the Lord's bodies too ephemeral?
 To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 Cc: "Venkatesh Murthy" <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>
 Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 10:14 PM
 
 Namaste
 
 2017-08-17 9:03 GMT+05:30 S Jayanarayanan via
 Advaita-l <
 advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>:
 
 > Simply put: Yes. If they
 weren't ephemeral, we could actually see Rama and
 > Krishna walking around today :-)
 
 
 Some great
 devotees may say they have seen Raama or Krishna today. Is
 it a
 lie? No. It is like having a Darshan in
 a dream. They will see God in
 whatever form
 they have Bhakti. Therefore we can say God's bodies are
 there
 for devotees only. If he wants to see
 it he can see it. Like in a dream.
 
 2017-08-17 9:03 GMT+05:30 S Jayanarayanan via
 Advaita-l <
 advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>:
 
 > Simply put: Yes. If they
 weren't ephemeral, we could actually see Rama and
 > Krishna walking around today :-)
 >
 > Seriously, the
 Mahabharata speaks of Krishna letting go of his physical
 > body using "Maha-Yoga"!
 >
 > The difference
 between the Jivas' and Ishvara's bodies is that the
 former
 > is born via Karma, whereas the
 latter via Yoga.
 >
 >
 >
 >       From: V Subrahmanian via
 Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-
 > vedanta.org>
 >  To:
 A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-
 > vedanta.org>; Advaitin <advaitin at yahoogroups.com>
 > Cc: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
 >  Sent: Monday, August 14, 2017 8:02 PM
 >  Subject: [Advaita-l] Are the Lord's
 bodies too ephemeral?
 >
 > In the BG 2.12 the Lord says:
 >
 > न
 त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न
 त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
 > न चैव न
 भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः
 परम् ॥ १२ ॥
 > 
 भाष्यम्
 > <http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/
 > Gita#bhashya-BG_C02_V12>
 > 2.12 But certainly (it is) not (a fact)
 that I did not exist at any time;
 > nor
 you, nor these rulers of men. And surely it is not that we
 all shall
 > cease to exist after this.
 > न तु एव जातु
 कदाचित् अहं नासम् , किं
 तु आसमेव ।
 > *
 अतीतेषु
 देहोत्पत्तिविनाशेषु
 घटादिषु वियदिव नित्य
 एव
 अहमासमित्यभिप्रायः
 ।*
 > तथा न त्वं न
 आसीः, किं तु आसीरेव ।
 तथा न इमेजनाधिपाः न
 आसन् , किं तु
 >
 आसन्नेव
 >  । तथा
 न च एव न भविष्यामः, किं
 तु भविष्याम एव, सर्वे
 वयम् अतः अस्मात् दे
 > हविनाशात् परम्
 उत्तरकाले अपि ।
 त्रिष्वपि कालेषु
 नित्याआत्मस्वरूपेण
 इत्यर्थः
 >  ।
 देहभेदानुवृत्त्या
 बहुवचनम् ,
 नात्मभेदाभिप्रायेण ॥
 १२ ॥
 > *English Translation Of Sri
 Shankaracharya's Sanskrit Commentary By Swami
 > Gambirananda*
 >
 > 2.12 Why are they not to be grieved for?
 Because they are eternal. How? Na
 > tu
 eva, but certainly it is not (a fact); that jatu, at any
 time; aham, I ;
 > na āsam, did not
 exist; on the contrary, I did exist. *The idea is that
 > when the bodies were born or died in the
 past, I existed eternally*. [Here
 > Ast.
 adds ghatadisu viyadiva, like Space in pot etc.-Tr.]
 Similarly, na
 > tvam, nor is it that you
 did not exist; but you surely existed.
 >
 > In BG 4.5 too the
 Lord says:
 >
 >
 बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि
 जन्मानि तव चार्जुन ।
 > तान्यहं वेद
 सर्वाणि न त्वं वेत्थ
 परन्तप ॥ ५ ॥
 > 
 भाष्यम्
 > <http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashyaVyakhya/Gita?vyakhya=
 > AG#bhashya-BG_C04_V05>
 >
 > 4.5 The Blessed Lord
 said O Arjuna, many lives of Mine have passed, and so
 > have yours. I know them all, (but) you
 know not, O scorcher of enemies!
 >
 > Shankara says:  बहूनि मे
 मम व्यतीतानि
 अतिक्रान्तानि
 जन्मानि तव च हे
 अर्जुन
 > ।
 > [Many births of mine have gone by.]
 Anandagiri says:
 >
 >
 अतीतानेकजन्मवत्त्वं
 ममैव नासाधारणं, किन्तु
 सर्वप्राणिसाधारणमित्याह
 - तव
 > चेति ।  [That many
 births have gone by is not unique to Me, but it is
 > common to all jīva-s.]
 > From the above we know that Shankara holds
 the bodies of Bhagavān too to be
 >
 subject to utpatti - birth and vināśa - destruction. He
 gives the example
 > of the pot-space for
 the bodies of Bhagavān as well. That is, the pot is
 > akin to the bodies and the space that does
 not get affected by the birth
 > and
 destruction of the pot, is likened to the Ātmā, Pure
 Consciousness.
 > Om Tat Sat
 >
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 -- 
 Regards
 
 -Venkatesh
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