--- In tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "RUMESH BABU V. E."
<selvi_rumesh@xxxx> wrote:
> Dear all,
>> Could any kindly explain the meaning of the five forms
>> Para - vyuha ? vibhava antaryamin and archarupa
>> babu
>> thanks.
****************
Dear member,
In response to your above query, another learned member Sri Pydakula
Narayanan has already posted a very informative message, giving
quotations from the AzhwAr's prabhandhams and relevant excerpts from
Sri Anbil Ramaswamy's book "Hinduism Re-Discovered"
(Publishers:Tiruvenkatam Group, Kuwait).
Supplementing the above learned sources, I give below a simple
analogy which laymen (like myself) find useful in order to grasp the
deep "tattva" or principle underlying the reality of the "pancha-
vyUha".
*************
In theoretical physics, Energy is conceived as pure Force. It is
defined as "Mass multiplied by Velocity square" in the famous
Einstienian equation E=mc2. In theoretical physics Energy is
conceived as elementary but real Force. But few people other than
physicists themselves can really understand the reality of Energy at
such an elemental, abstract level.
Energy conceived at such a elemental and abstract level may be said
to be somewhat akin to the metaphyical conception of God as "para
vyUha". Only yogis and mystics can comprehend the "para tattva" just
as only physicists really comprehend E=mc2.
*************
Ordinary people understand the concept of Energy only in its
manifested forms, and not in its elemental form. There is solar
energy, for example, which everybody easily understands because they
see it manifested in several thermo-dynamic forms. Similarly, people
understand hydel energy because they can see it manifested in giant
hydel-power dams. People also understand energy as it manifests
itself in thermal energy, wind-energy and nuclear energy.
Just as ordinary people understand the various manifestations of
Energy better than they do Abstract Energy (i.e. E=mc2), so do they
better understand the various manifestations of God -- i.e.
His "vyUha" forms -- than they do His "para" form.
*****************
Some people -- little children, for example -- cannot comprehend
what Energy is even in its manifested form. Try explaining how hydel
energy is generated in a dam to a child of seven. The child will not
be able to grasp what you explain. Similarly, to some ordinary
people even the "vyUha" forms of God Almighty (viz. Vasudeva,
Sankarshana, PradhyUmna and Aniruddha) are incomprehensible. For
such people Energy can be conceived and understood only in its
grossest form -- at the least elemental and most elementary level.
If you point the child to the roof your house and to the electric
fan or to the electric bulbs in the chandeliers, and tell him that
Energy is what makes the fan rotate or the bulb light up, the child
will easily comprehend what Energy is. If you let the child also
operate the on-off switch, it will gleefully play with the switch,
turning it on and off, again and again playfully, and pointing out
to the fan or the light and gushing with delight, "Energy! Energy!
That's Energy!".
Similarly, those ordinary people who cannot understand the ALmighty
in his "para" or "vyUha" forms, will however immediately recognize
him in forms that are (happily) less metaphysical. And such easily
recognizable or comprehensible forms are what are called "archA"
and "vibhava" forms of the Almighty -- the iconic forms or "AgamA"
forms in which we find God in temples and shrines and the "avatAra"
forms, as well, in which we find the Glory of God described in our
ancient "purAnAs" and "itihAsa".
****************
Sooner or late in life, people realize (through experience and
wisdom) that whatever may be the various forms and manifestations in
which Energy appears in this world, the truth of the matter is that
ultimately all Energy is really One -- and it is a great,
indestructible and elemental Force of Life!
Such knowledge dawns and when it dawns one will know that the same
energy that lights up the ordinary electric bulb also turns the
wheel of the motor car and propels the rocket into outer space....
That knowledge ultimately dawns on us in life that ultimately, all
Energy is One ... and One only!
Such intuitive understanding of Energy -- as being the common
substratum of every other form of energy existent in the world ---
is more or less akin, we may say, to the knowledge and understanding
of God as being the "antaryAmin" of all Creation and all Life.
******************
Trust the above analogy will help you, my dear friend, in some way
to grasp the "tattva" of the "pancha-vyUha" principle of Godhead
which is a very unique and profound subject in Vedanta.
Thank you for asking a very common but profound question of Vedanta
theology.
Regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan
--- End forwarded message ---
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