[Advaita-l] Re: Exit of soul (Badisa)

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

Therefore, the conclusion is that the soul before salvation is finite,
and it will be infinite at salvation. Unlike you, I am not saying that the
soul is both finite and infinite at the same time. My understanding is
based on sruti support.

praNAms Ramesh prabhuji
Hare Krishna

>From the above you are implying that there are multiple jIva-s which one
 after another as an individual self identify themselves with the absolute
 secondless brahman that too after the death of these *selves* physical
 bodies!!  But as far as my understand goes praramAtman (real Atman /
 absolute) should be recognised as jIva's own self.  It is not that advaita
 preaching that the puny jIva after some time,  after getting rid of body
 will identify itself with secondless brahman.  Ofcourse, from the
 transactional view point, it is true that we have somany jIva's & their
 salvation but it does not hold water from the absolute point of
 view...since there is no jIvatva as such apart from parabrahman.  If we
 think jIva, its bondage & its subsequent release & identification are all
 pAramArthically real, then this process limits the parabrahman!!...coz.
 till such time (identification period after death of body) parabrahman
 will be short of those jIva-s & will be awaiting for those jIva-s to come
 & identify with himself.  Kindly refer shankara commentary on AtmEti tUpa
 gacchanti grAhayanti cha....where shankara refutes the transmigratory
 nature of jIva.  Elsewhere in the AraMbhaNAdhikaraNa sUtra bhAshya too
 shankara says the same thing & asserts that it should be understood that
 all this universe of manifold things such as the experienced and the
 experiencers *does not exist* apart from brahman in the same way pot
 ethers and jar ethers etc. are not distinct from ether in the general.
 You can also refer *vyatihArAdikaraNa* sUtra bhAshya with regard to
 this...where in there is a disucssion on jIva & Ishwara.

Moreover, it is to be noted that the existence of Ishwara has been accepted
 by advaita only from the empirical view point nirguNa, nirAkAra brahman
 considered as Ishwara only & only when we concede the distinction of the
 ruler & the ruled.  Shankara's comments in ArabhaNAdhikaraNa sUtra bhAshya
 is very interesting in this regard.  He says Ishwara's Ishvaratva (nature
 of Ishwara), omniscience (sarvajnatva) and omnipotence (sarvashaktitva)
 are only relative to the limitation due to the conditioning associates
 called up by avidya!!  But from the absolute point of view there can be
 neither Ishwara nature nor the convention of omniscience etc. in the
 Atman.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar