Theos-Talk Archives (January 1998 Message tt00122)

Dear Friend:

What is the source of the quote from Shakaracharya ?

I would say that the problem lies with the translator.  Shakaracharya would
know quite well that the PARAMATMAM is the source for ATMAN, and when
Manvantara occurs the power of the Karmic skandhas causes the return into
manifestation and life of all those intelligent beings which made up
evolution in an earlier Manvantara.

It were perhaps better to translate the idea that the ABSOLUTE SELF
concerning which nothing can be described in any terms that we know of,
limited as we are to our few "dimensions"  (space, time  and motion) can
have no relations or cognizance of the "embodied selves"  -- that does not
mean it is is either detached or attached -- it is unconcerned and
unaffected.

IT is both source and goal.  The experience reaped in manvantara is an
accretion to the mental aspect of living, and the three aspects of living:
birth. existence and death are complemented by the after-death states
whereby the "good" and the "evil" done by any entity that is self-conscious
is reviewed and either set up for further refinement in  subsequent lives,
or built into the permanent character and quality of the immortal and
reincarnating "ego-mind."

Of course these looked at in terms of the ALL are mayavic, since they
change.  But, three things are permanent.  The 1st is our selves.  We
exist. Our minds embrace the concept of the INFINITE and the ALL.  so there
is a link between our minds and the ABSOLUTE.  The ABSOLUTE as the ONLY
SOURCE AND GOAL of ALL. exists.  There is 3rd. a continuing relationship
between these two extremes, and it is the mind : Buddhi-Manas-Kama which
forms the link.  [ ATMA-BUDDHI-MANAS is said to be eternal and immortal.
But the link to the lower aspects of life and nature is through
KAMA.

I hope this is of some help				Dallas



Dallas TenBroeck

dalval@nwc.net                        (818) 222-8023
                   23145 Park Contessa,
            Calabasas, Ca., 91302, USA.

----------
> From: "Visanu Sirichote" <visanu@health.moph.go.th>
> Subject: Reality-Maya; Something-Nothing
> Date: Thursday, January 15, 1998 8:07 AM
>
> Hope some of differing reflections on recent discussion may suit
> someone's taste.
>
>    All this universe, being other than the SELF, is unreal; for,
>    the SELF alone is all inclusive, constitutes the ultimate goal
>    and is self-established and self-dependent.
>    There is neither absoluteness nor non-absoluteness, neither
>    non-entity nor entity; for It is absolutely non-dual in Its nature.
>
>                                       Sankaracharya
>
>    We feel we are nothing...for all is Thou and in Thee;
>    We feel we are something...that also has come from Thee;
>    We are nothing, O Thou...but Thou help us to be.
>
>                                       Tennyson
>
>    To say "it is" is to grasp for permanence.
>    To say "it is not" is to adopt the view of nihilism.
>    Therefore a wise person
>    Does not say "exists" or "does not exist."
>    "Whatever exists through its essence
>    Cannot be nonexistent" is eternalism.
>    "It existed before but doesn't now"
>    Entails the error of nihilism.
>
>                                       Buddha's Discourse to Katyayana
>
>    What language expresses is nonexistent.
>    The sphere of thought is nonexistent.
>    Unarisen and unceased, like nirvana
>    Is the nature of things.
>    Everything is real and is not real,
>    Both real and not real,
>    Neither real nor not real.
>    This is Lord Buddha's teaching.
>
>                                       Nagarjuna
>
>    The absolute and infinite is composed of the conditioned and finite.
>    Causes are conditioned in their modes of existence and attributes,
>    and as individual aggregates - unconditioned and eternal in their
>    sum or as a collective aggregation.
>
>                                       K.H.
>
>
>