[Advaita-l] Re: Universe finite or infinite?

[Raghavendra N Kalyan]

>>“If purusha is infinite, so must be a quarter of the purusha”

>Badisa: Your opinions are respectable. But, please quote sruti references to your views.

Would you agree that the purusha sUkta leads to the conclusion that the universe (creation) represents one quarter of the purusha? (The same idea is repeated in the chhAndogya upanishad). Since you also mentioned rAmAnuja,  here is the interpretation of the relevant verses of the purusha sUkta from a srI vaishNava website - 
 
http://www.ramanuja.org/purusha/sukta-2.html
 
That a quarter of infinity is infinity comes purely from elementary logical considerations, which are a pramANa in their own right. Therefore, creation can be considered to be infinite. 
 
If you dont agree to this interpretation, you are free to give your own interpretation of the purusha sUkta. 
 
 
>Badisa: Please refer 10/42 in “The Bhagavad Gita with the commentary of Sri >Sankaracharya, Samata Books, Madras, by sri Alladi Mahadeva Sastry.

>Also please refer 10/42 in “Bhagavad Gita Bhasya of sri Sankaracharya” with text and >English translation, by Dr. A. G. Krishna Warrier, published from sri Ramakrishna Math, >Madras
 
 
I dont have the above said books. Instead I referred to the translation of Swami Gambhirananda. I did not find Sankara mentioning there that the created universe is finite.
 
>Badisa: The moment you say “one-fourth”, you are invariably implying its finite nature. There >is no doubt about it. But, as always I respect the views expressed by you. Can you quote >some references if possible?
 
 
I presume this is not addressed to me, but anyway - One fourth of infinity is infinity. If not, then infinity would be four times something finite and would therefore be finite, - a contradiction. This comes from purely logical considerations and needs no supporting references. 
 
 
No one asks for references to Sruti to show that the crow is black or that 2+2 = 4. vedAnta accepts three pramANa-s (some say six). Sruti is not the only one. Even otherwise, I think Jayanarayanan mentioned a purANa supporting the view point that the universe is infinite. vedAnta also accepts smRti. So your demands for references are already met.

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