You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - Oct 2005

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00081 Oct 2005

 
Oct 2005 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


--- 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 ---








------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Click here to rescue a little child from a life of poverty.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/rAWabB/gYnLAA/i1hLAA/VkWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 




[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list