Vedantic thought can be classified into three schools - Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita. “Tat tvam asi” or “Thou art that” is a sentence found in the Vedanta (literally means the end of the Vedas). The Advaitists take this as proof of the rightness of their philosophy that God and the self are one, there being no difference between the two. The followers of the Vishishtadvaita school interpret this statement to mean that the self is a part of the Supreme. The Dvaitists take the entire statement, split it appropriately as “sa atma-atat tvam asi” which would mean “Thou art not that” and contend that it is their philosophy which distinguishes between God and the self, which is right. Though these three schools of thought are prevalent in the Vedanta, they were resurrected a few centuries ago. Adi Sankara was a strong proponent of Advaita, Ramanuja advocated the philosophy of Vishishtdvaita while Madhwacharya founded the Dvaita tradition. There is a beautiful anecdote in the scriptures denoting the Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita and Advaita philosophies translated as dualism, qualified monism and non-dualism respectively. There have always been differences between these but Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa referred to this incident to point out that these philosophies may sound contradictory but are not actually so. ‘One day, Lord Rama asked Hanuman, in which form he saw Rama. Hanuman’s reply was “When I see myself as a physical being, you are the master, I am the servant. When I consider myself as an individual being, you are the whole, I am one of your parts. And when I perceive myself as the Atman, I am one with you.” So it is evident that there need be no clash between these seemingly different ideas. The same person may unwittingly follow these three different viewpoints at different times as indicated by Hanuman. It may also be a spiritual progression for a person who believes in a separate being called God, then feels that he is a part of Him and finally realises that he is one with God. “Philosophy I know not, Spirituality is not … [Read more...]
The Story of Krishna’s Birth- A Poem
One day, thousands of years ago, in Vaikuntha, the realm of Vishnu, the Lord was resting on Adishesha. As he looked down, he saw that forces of evil overwhelmed Bhoomidevi; the innocent suffered, wickedness prevailed. The Lord of the Universe, in all His mercy decided that enough was enough; it was time to incarnate again. For flesh and blood, he chose Devaki – the sister of a tyrant called Kamsa and her husband, the gentle Vasudeva. Kamsa already wise to the fact that Devaki’s eighth offspring will cause his end, imprisoned the couple and challenged destiny. Over the years were born six children, each mercilessly killed by their uncle; the hapless parents were mute witnesses. The seventh child was whisked away, and entrusted to Vasudeva’s second wife; he was Balarama, an incarnation of Adishesha himself. It was the eighth night of the waning moon, the month was Shravan, the star Rohini; the skies thundered and showered forth torrents of rain, welcoming baby Krishna. Vasudeva’s shackles broke free, the gates of his prison opened, he carried the baby-laden basket, across the swollen Yamuna. In the dead of night he reached Gokul, Nanda’s house, the destination; Yashoda, Nanda’s wife was resting after child-birth. Vasudeva having exchanged the babies, hurried back with Nanda’s baby girl. The infant’s cry alerted Kamsa’s guards, he stomped angrily to the prison but, before he could smash the child, lo behold! she escaped, warning Kamsa that his killer was safe elsewhere. Thus did Lord Vishnu, like in every Yuga, assume an avatar, this time , as Krishna, to uphold good, to destroy evil, to protect the virtuous, to establish dharma. Poet: Pratibha Shenoy (Bangalore) … [Read more...]
