Measure of firmness (was Re: Dvaita and Sophistry - Part 1(The nature of difference) )

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

--- "M. S. Ravisankar" <ravi at AMBAA.ORG> wrote:

> It should be noted, however, to do this these schools of thoughts may
> end up
> stretching, distorting, and misinterpreting statements in these texts
> --
> just to make it agree with the proposed philosophy. One such example
> is the
> morphing of "sa aatmaa tattvamasi ..." to "sa aatmaa atattvamasi".
>>
> Ravi

Ravi there is also a more fundamental problem in saying that atatvam asi
- Essentially it says you are not that - instead of the meaning you are
that.

Our experience as well as pratyaksha pramaana show that we are not that.
That is general experince of everybody, since eveybody thinks he is this
body, this mind or this intellect and that which pervades everything. If
shaastra as to stand out as a pramaana as a means of knowledge, then it
has to tell me something I do not know already.  It fails to be a valid
pramaaNa if just reitirates what I already know.  The vision of Shaastra
about me is different from the vision I get about myself from the direct
perception if it points out that I am something other than what I think
myself to be based on pratyaksha - That vision is justified by nine
examples provided in that Upanished.

In that sense I find Bhagavaan Ramanuja provides more applealing
interpretation - tat tvam asi -  you are that - as you are part of that
totality - as jiiva-s have organic relation with the Iswara as his part.


Hari OM!
Sadananda

=====
What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your gift to Him - Swami Chinmayananda.

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
http://webhosting.yahoo.com