[Advaita-l] In Advaita alone the jiva is not jaDa

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Jul 21, 2018 at 6:38 PM, kuntimaddi sadananda <
kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com> wrote:

> PraNAms
>
> Jeeva is not jaDa in VishiShTaadvata too. They have two categories -chit
> and achit -conscious and unconscious entities. Under Chit - Jeeva and
> parameswara come and achit is the world. Parameswara pervades both
> jeeva and jagat as antaryaamin. Iswara is also the supreme controller.
> avidya of jeeva involves not knowing this fact and not knowing that
> jeeva cannot operate without the support of Iswara - that does not mean he
> is jada.
>

Thanks Sada ji for the response.  When it is said // jeeva cannot operate
without the support of Iswara // what is the 'support' from ishwara and
what is it that is 'supported'.  Rangaramanuja says in the Kenopanishat
bhashyam for the very first verse:

 Impelled by whom does manas, prana, eye, etc. function in their fields?
This is the question of the disciple.  Rangaramanuja says: The disciple
knowing that the insentient mind, prana, etc. cannot function without being
impelled by a sentient entity, he poses this question.

>From this it is clear that the impelling by chaitanyam is required only for
the insentient things. Is  the jiva insentient?  Only if this is so can the
statement // jeeva cannot operate without the support of Iswara //  be
true.  And if this is true, then the jiva is jaDa.  If the jiva is
separated from the mind, prana, organs etc. which alone require the
impelling by the Chaitanyam, then what is the status of the jiva in
Visistadvaita?  They hold that the jiva is 'nitya paratantra' as Velukkudi
Krishnan Swami has said. If the jiva is forever dependent on Vishnu, then
for what is the dependence? What is the manner of control Vishnu have on
the jiva, even in mukti?  These questions have to be clearly answered.
Shankara has never left these questions unanswered. For him, only the jaDa
mind, prana, indriyas are impelled by Chaitanyam.  Once the jiva knows that
he is not the anaatma jaDa manas, etc. he realizes that he is the
chaitanyam that impels these.  So, the jiva free of kshetram, jaDa anatma
is not in need of any impelling by any higher entity.  Hence the jiva is
not jaDa.  In other systems that hold the jiva to be forever under the
control of Vishnu, the jiva has to be jaDa alone.

Shankara in the antaryami brahmana of Br.Up. too has very unambiguously
stated: the body-mind complex of the prithvi, etc. devataas alone are
impelled by the antaryami.  And the mantra there culminates in teaching:
your Atma is the antaryami.  This is the mahavakya there: like tat tvam
asi.  This idea is not found in other systems.

regards
subbu


> avidya of jeeva is also beginningless but can end when jeeva recognizes
> the above facts and surrenders to the Lord -maam evaye
> prapadyante maayaam etaam tarantitE-is very much emphasized where maam
> stands of Lord Narayana and eva is emphasized as He is the only one (His
> avataaras included as Him only) who can give moksha. Lakshmi helps the
> jeeva in preparing jeeva for moksha like mother prepares and dresses after
> cleaning all the dirt and presents the child to the father. Hence 'Shree'
> becomes very important in Shree Vaishnavism.
>
> Hari Om!
> Sadananda
>
>
>
>