Danda 1995 - Suhotra Maharaja Archives

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*transcendental* to the web by its identity, yet simultaneously *immanent*throughout the web by its knowledge. This is a simple yet powerful demonstrationof acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. Lord Krsna, in *Bhagavad-gita* 9.4 and 5, says Hepervades the whole universe by His complete awareness of the spiritual andmateriál energies that make up the creation. Yet at the same time, in Hisidentity as the source of everything, He stands apart from the osmicmanifestation.The web is compared to God's Maya-sakti (power of illusion), which emanates fromthe Real but is not real itself. `Not real' means that the features of maya(the tri-guna, or three modes of material nature: goodness, passion andignorance) are temporary. `Not real' does not mean the material world does notexist. The essential ingredient (vastu) of the world is real, because it is theenergy of God. But the form this energy takes at the time of cosmic creation istemporary. Therefore the Maya-sakti is said to be unreal. Reality is thatwhich is eternal: God and God's Svarupa-sakti (spiritual energy). The temporalfeatures of the material world are manifestations of the Maya-sakti, not of GodHimself. These features of Maya bewilder the souls of this world just as fliesare caught in the spider's web. But they cannot bewilder God. God appearswithin this material world as the supreme individua person, yet He is not boundby this world, exactly as a spider is able to move anywhere in its web-creationwithout being bound by it.Sankara and BuddhismSometimes Sankara's Advaita Vedanta commentary is presented in books aboutHinduism as if it is the original and only Vedanta philosophy. But in factSankara's philosophy is more akin to Buddhism than Vedanta. Buddhism is, ofcourse, a nastika or non-Vedic religion. Before 600 AD, the time of Sankara'sappearance, most Vedantist scholars did not endorse a doctrine of impersonalism.Evidence gathered from the writings of pre-Sankara Buddhist scholars shows thattheir Vedantist contemporaries were Purusa-vadins (purusa = `person', vadin =`philosopher'). Purusavadins taught that the goal of Vedanta philosophy is theMahapurusa (Greatest Person). Bhavya, an Indian Buddhist autor who livedcenturies before Sankara, wrote in the Madhyamika-hrdaya-karika that theVedantists of his time were adherants of the doctrine of bhedabheda (differenceand nondifference). That Sankara borrowed Buddhisti ideas was noted by theBuddhists themselves. A Buddhist writer named Bhartrhari, who lived at the sametime as Sankara, expressed some surprise that although Sankara was a brahmanascholar of the Vedas, his impersonal teachings resembled Buddhism. This isadmitted by the followers of Ankara themselves. Pandit Dr. Rajmani Tigunait ofthe Himalayan Institute of Yoga is a present-day exponent of Advaita Vedanta; inhis book, *Seven Systems of Indian Philosophy*, he writes that the ideas of theBuddhist Sunyavada (voidist) philosophers are `very close' to Sankara's. Ankarainserted into Vedantic discourse the Buddhistic concept of ultimate emptiness,substituting the Upanisadic word Brahman (the Absolute) for Sunya (the void).Because Sankara argued that all names, forms, qualities, activities andrelationships are creations of Maya (illusion), even divine names and forms, hisphilosophy is called Mayavada (the doctrine of illusion).However, to compare Brahman with the void is philosophically unteneble. TheVedanta-sutra defines Brahman, not Maya, as the cause of everything(janmadyasya-yatah, V-s. 1.1.2). How can that which lacks name, form, qualityand activity be the cause of that which possesses these features? *Nil possecreari de nilo*: nothing can be created out of nothing. Mayavadi Vedanta avoidsthe issue of causation by arguing that the world, though empirically real, isultimatly a dream. But dreams also have elaborate causes.
SELF-ENVYQuestions from Vrajendra Kumara dasOctober 26, 1995Can you please explain what self-envy is? In S.B.6.16.42 it is stated:"...Bycausing pain to one's own self due to self-envy and by causing pain to others,one arouses Your anger and practices irreligion". Someone told me that inEnglish envious also means enimical but I couldn't find that meaning in thedictionary. Moreover if it means "enimical" in this case why the other word ischosen? I don't know how it sounds in English but in my language (Russian)"self-envy" doesn't make any sense. Sanskrit equivalent for this word is "svadrohat".The second question is from B.G.18.26:"One who performs his duty withoutassociation with the modes of materiál nature, without false ego, with greatdetermination and enthusiasm, and without wavering in success or failure is saidto be a worker in the mode of goodness". Why first it is stated that one workswithout association with modes (literally mukta-sanga - "liberated from allmateriál association) and then the statement goes ..."this Wolker is in the modeof goodnes"? And in the purport Srila Prabhupada is speaking about activities inKrishna consciousness. So it seems that he equates the aktivity in the mode ofgoodness and in pure Krsna Consciousness. Could you please clarify this apparentcontradiction.Answer by Suhotra SwamiOctober 26, 1995"A demoniac person, being always against God's supremacy, does not like tobelieve in the scriptures. He is envious of both the scriptures and theexistence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is cause by his so-calledprestige and his accumulation of wealth and strength. He does not know that thepresent life is a preparation for the next life. Not knowing this, he isactually envious of his own self, as well as of others. He commits violence onother bodies and on his own. He does not care for the supreme control of thePersonality of Godhead, because he has no knowledge. Being envious of thescriptures and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he puts forward falsearguments against the existence of God and denies the scriptural authority."(From Bg 16.18p)"But unfortunately, especially in this age, na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum:people do not know that the highest goal of human life is to please Lord Visnu.On the contrary, like demons, they simply plan to kill Visnu and be happy bysense gratification." (From SB 7.2.14p)*Svartha-gati* (quoted above, which comes from SB 7.5.31) Prabhupada oftentranslated as "self-interest." Thus, by envying Visnu and planning to kill Him,materialists kill their own self-interest. In this way they are envious oftheir own self.Your second question is answered in the purport to SB 8.5.29."Sattvam visuddham vasudeva-sabditam (SB. 4.3.23). In this material world, thethree modes of material nature--goodness, passion and ignorance--prevail. Amongthese three, goodness is the platform of knowledge, and passion brings about amixture of knowledge and ignorance, but the mode of ignorance is full ofdarkness. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond darkness andpassion. He is on the platform where goodness or knowledge is not disturbed bypassion and ignorance. This is called the vasudeva platform. It is on thisplatform of vasudeva that Vasudeva, or Krsna, can appear. Thus Krsna appeared onthis planet as the son of Vasudeva. Because the Lord is situated beyond the
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DANDA1995Questions and AnswerswithH
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I have already replied to the argum
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Similarly, in an ISKCON temple, a d
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even be well-intentioned (let the c
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Answer by Suhotra SwamiJanuary 15,
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Comment by Vipramukhya SwamiI've me
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Page 45 and 46: TIME PERCEPTIONQuestions from Rohit
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