United States or Fiji ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Without attempting to enter into an analysis, or close exposition, of the Vedanta Philosophy, or so far as concerns the soul, and its destiny, we may say that it holds that there do not exist the countless eternal, immortal souls or Purushas of the Sankhya philosophy, but instead that the individual souls are but the countless "images or reflections" of the Absolute Being, or Brahman, and have their existence only by reason of the Real Existence of the One Only Being.
That which they that are possessed of learning and wisdom say is the highest of all topics, which is Eternal, which is distinguished from all else, which is unborn, which is Knowledge, which is indestructible, is identical with thee, O puissant and illustrious one, thee that art the beginning of all the topics, thee that art indestructible and changeless, thee that art conversant with the ordinances which govern all the topics, thee that art the foremost of Purushas, thee that art the highest of the high.
"'Nara and Narayana said, "The Earth, in days of yore, with her belt of seas, disappeared from the view. Having replaced the Earth in her former position, that foremost of Purushas, his body smeared with water and mud, set himself to do what was necessary for the world and its denizens.
From Him is the seed of all things, and it is He that upholds the Earth with all her mobile and immobile creatures. What can be more wonderful, O Brahmana, than this, that the foremost of Purushas, eternal and mighty-armed, endued with exceeding effulgence, eternal, and without beginning and without end, resides in Surya? Listen however, to one thing I shall tell you now.
Who is that foremost of Purushas, O Brahma, that is being meditated by thee? Great is the curiosity I feel on this point. Do thou kindly dispel the doubt that has taken possession of my mind." "'Brahma said, "O son, many are those Purushas of whom thou speakest. The one Purusha, however, of whom I am thinking, transcends all Purushas and is invisible.
Then matter returns to its quiescent state to be again excited by the Purushas and commence its world-making evolution anew. The doctrine that evolution, dissolution and quiescence succeed one another periodically is an integral part of the Sâṅkhya. The unmodified Prakṛiti stands first on the list of twenty-five principles.
In the same manner in which the many Purushas are said to have one origin in the Supreme Purusha, it may be said that this entire universe is identical with that one Purusha of superior attributes. I shall explain this now, after bowing to my preceptor Vyasa, that foremost of Rishis, who is conversant with the soul, endued with penances, self-restrained, and worthy of reverent worship.
Thou shouldst know that whether acts, good or bad, are laid down in the Vedas and occurrence in heaven and Earth, between the sky and the waters, are all caused by and flow from that ancient Rishi Narayana." "Janamejaya said, 'O regenerate one, are there many Purushas or is there only one? Who, in the universe, is the foremost of Purushas? What, again, is said to be the source of all things?
The many Purushas that exist in the universe have that one Purusha as their basis; and since that one Purushas is said to be the source whence all the innumerable Purushas have sprung, hence all the latter, if they succeed in divesting themselves of attributes, become competent to enter into that one Purusha who is identified with the universe, who is supreme, who is the foremost of the foremost, who is eternal, and who is himself divested of and is above all attributes.""
"Vaisampayana said, 'In the speculations of the Sankhya and the Yoga systems many Purushas have been spoken of, O jewel of Kuru's race. Those that follow these systems do not accept that there is but one Purusha in the universe.
Word Of The Day