[Advaita-l] Abedha

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

Namaste,


Shri Srinath Vedagarbha writes:
"Gist: The jIva is extremely limited in his power and knowledge, dependent
on Ishvara, incomplete, and needs support whereas Ishvara is just the
opposite. These being intrinsic [laxaNa-s], they never ever change. 
Hence learned call it shAshvata."


While I am not at all endorsing the extreme view point of "dvaita-vedAnta",
one should not take the other extreme view of, "jIva = Ishvara" either.
The most compelling support for this comes from the concluding section
of brahma sUtra-s. The author of brahma sUtra indeed considers 
"liberated souls" similar to Ishvara in many ways, BUT also different
from Ishvara in some other ways.


jIva possibly can attain the state of Ishvara asymptotically, but that
will take such a lo.....ong time - likely spanning countless cycles of
creation and destruction, that for all practical purposes, it is
best to settle with identity+difference view point.


Regards,
Shrinivas Gadkari