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

Jaldhar H. Vyas jaldhar at braincells.com
Thu Aug 17 01:13:44 EDT 2017


On Wed, 16 Aug 2017, V Subrahmanian wrote:

I mistakenly wrote this is 10.2.32-43. It is actually 10.3.32-45.

> A question arises:  If this very couple has been Prajāpati twice, why are
> they not that now, in Krishnavatara time? Or were they? Prajāpati is quite a
> high position in the cosmic hierarchy.

They did not before because after 12,000 divine years of tapa when Vishnu 
Bhagavan asked them for a boon, they were enraptured by His sight and 
deluded by His maya so asked that He become their son rather than for 
jivanmukti.  This attachment has kept them in samsara for two more 
lifetimes but their punya has led to Bhagavan taking birth as their son 
each time.

It is a given that all the Devas and Asuras have reincarnated on Earth 
during the Krishna avatara but the text does not specifically claim that 
they were the incarnation of Prajapati and His wife.  Shridharacharya in 
the introduction to his commentary on the 10th skandha quotes verbatim a 
work called Krishnopanishad which describes who became what.  I translated 
this on the list around this time a few years ago.

http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2012-August/032727.html
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2012-August/032749.html
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2012-August/032776.html

Note according to this, Vasudeva is the embodiment of the Vedas and Devaki 
of Jnana.  Kashyapa and Aditi are His mortar and rope but other than that 
Prajapati isn't mentioned.

> Is there any evidence that this
> couple got finally liberated in this birth when Lord Krishna was their son?
>

Yes Krishna Bhagavan says they will do so in shloka 45.

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


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