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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00012 Aug 2005

 
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--- In tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Nivrutta Ravi wrote:

> 3. Now the palm. How it is unique? Is it not diff
for diff individuals? By being different it is
> MANY and being unique it is EKAM. Now add one more
angle, mathamatically it is possible that 2 humans
have same palm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That does not
happen or is not proved? That is> my emperuman
>  
MY FIRST QUESTION IS WHETHER IT IS RIGHT TO TRANSLATE
EKAM AS UNIQUE.MY NEXT QUESTION IS WHEN YOU TALK OF
ONENESS AND DIFFERENCE AS COHABITING ATTRIBUTES OF THE
SAME ENTITY, SHOULD YOU NOT GIVE AS COMPARISON A
SINGLE ENTITY CAPABLE OF TWO ATTRIBUTES.PALM LINES ARE
UNIQUE TO EACH INDIVIDUAL,BUT TO SAY THAT THEY ARE
MANY OR DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS IS ABOUT
COMMONNESS.BUT THE BRAHMAN'S QUALITY AS ONE(EKAM) AND
MANY(INFINITENESS) ARE NOT ABOUT 
COMMONNESS.IT IS ABOUT HOW IT IS PRESENT IN THE SAME
ENTITY. 
 Nivrutta Ravi

                    ***************

Dear friends,

It was enjoyable reading the intellectual exchange of
the past 2 days between our two young members SrIman-s
Ravi and Vijayaraghvan. Although I did intend the
casual story related in my post to generate some level
of discussions, frankly, I did not expect it to
generate such vigorous debate. I'm happy however that
the story did provoke deep thought amongst a few
members. That was indeed the very purpose of the
story!

Let me also clarify a few very important queries
raised by Sri Ravi. Yes, the response of the Master
was not strictly in terms of formal logic. The method
used by him was what in logic is called "analogy".
Logicians and philosophers generally all acknowledge
that no analogy is ever perfect. Most often the method
fails as a means of persuasion or argument. It is
indeed correct to say that the Master's analogy, using
the example of finger-prints on the disciple's palm to
illustrate or expound the rather difficult Vedantic
view of God as both "Unity and Infinity", was not
entirely perfect.

But the main purpose of the story, I think, is not so
much about logical persuasion as it is about
philosophical illumination.

The disciple was struggling to comprehend and cope
with the Vedantic conception of the Upanishadic
"Brahman" as being both "Unitary Infinity" and
"Infinite Unity" (i.e. "anantham", "ekam", "anEkam"
etc.). To any sincere student of Vedanta, especially
in the early stages of philosophical inquiry, this
concept can be very mind-boggling and intimidating. To
such a disciple, who was really struggling to come to
grips with a subtle metaphysical idea, we see in
the story that the Master was trying to show that
Brahman cannot be comprehended through logical
analysis alone. 

Pure logical analysis or mathematical theory may not
ordinarily allow for "Unity" and "Infinity" to reside
in each other. But in the view of the Upanishads, in
the perception of what is called Vedantic "darsana",
both Unity and Infinity are truly and perfectly
mirrored by each other in the reality of Brahman.

The analogy of the palm and finger-prints was used by
the Master not to describe or define Brahman. It was
merely used to illustrate, in a very simple but
attractive way, how Infinity and Unity can be shown to
be two different aspects or dimensions of one and the
same physical phenomenon or concept even in the ordinary
world.

This is the way I would tend to approach and
understand the story. Generally, in all such Vedantic
parables and stories, I have found that it is more
profitable to try and grasp the inner 'spirit' of the
story without getting too much engrossed in its
outward 'letter'.

Thanks however to both our members Srimans Ravi and
Vijayraghvan for taking time to share their
thoughts/views with all of us on the list. I welcome
more such participation on the T'venkatam List.

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan 


                
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--- End forwarded message ---







 
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