Ishwa helper Reged: 03/03/02 Posts: 553

Re: WHAT IS BRAHMAN? [Re: vinaire] #13293 - 03/13/02 01:56 AM Edit Reply Quote

Dear Vinaire, It's good to get a standard glossary fo the words! I'll give some extra explanatory remarks below: A-vyakta.............un-manifested = potential (said of the Nirguna Purusha-Prakrti). Brahman is Kha-m here = Cha-os. Ni(r)-vrtti���where the Vrttis are out: Homeward Path/Adventure out of Saguna. Nir-biija���..where the biija or seed is out = Nir-guna. Pra-vrtti���.. where the Vrtti is in front (pro), proceeding: Forward Path/Adventure into Saguna. In Saguna Brahman the Nirguna potential Kha-m is enjoyed as created Su-kha (pleasant kha)and Duh-kha (unpleasant kha). That what is pleasant (klishta) or unpleasant (aklishta) is a matter of TIMING and not of morality (heat may be pleasant when it is cold season, but unpleasant when it is already hot season). In this sense I use the word Karman = timing of action. And the TriGunas have the threefold movement of expanding-balance-contracting in this timing. (Maybe Karman is in this sense somewhat comparable to Chronos) Rajas and Tamas in the (proto)physical sense are matter and antimatter. S�nkhya���.. system of positionally summing up: of the Tat-tva or Such-ness, the attributes of Purusha in/with Prakrti. Svar�pe-avasth�nam...........ava=away sth�nam=standing, situation: in which the (attributive) situation is gone. This gives sva-r�pa: in which the appearance or presence is one�s own, that means potential again. (In the Saguna it becomes attributive r�pa) V�sishtha..........a member of the Vasishtha family, which gave India many great sages: Maitr�varuni, Apava, Atharvanidhi, Devar�j, Indra, Mayu T�pasa, Shakti, Gauriviti Shaktya, Parashara Shaktya, Upamanyu, Veda Dhaumya, Vyasa Parasharya, Krshna Dvaipayana, Badarayana, Panchashikha, etc. Yajnavalkya is mentioned as belonging to this gotra in the older GrhyaS�tras. Prakrti������.from pra=pre and kr-ti = crea-tion. Purusha�����.has an obscure etymology. Probably from pur and ush/vas=to shine. I think that not Purusha, but Prakrti is the active principle of Brahman, because the active part is imbedded in the very word itself: praKRti. Prakrti, with a female abstract ending �ti� is what later becomes Shakti, or the active part(ner) of Shiva, the in mythology more prerhythmical meditationing Yogi, who gets �seduced� by the predancing Shakti to take part in the Cosmic Creation Dance, curving around like the binary DNA-RNA. The Chinese have an active principle Yang which is male. How different with the Hindu system, where rightly the female is the active one, as we can all see how families are run. Even when women are suppressed, even then they have that active role. No male can give birth to a child (yet). Of course male and female are dubious words. They are more bahihkarana or biological words. For, every biological man (bahihkarana) as representation of Shiva has an antahkarana of Shakti and vice versa. To get a holistic unified TwinChitta, you first have to realize your inner Shakti as a man and your inner Shiva as a woman. Only then you�ll meet your Twin and get homeward to be reunited as One Chitta or In-dividual (from in=not dividu=divided) or Arddha-N�r�shvara. In this sense Soul=One, Total is used (holo=solo=sarva. Sa in sakrt means one). The United twins are in the Vy-ashti or Individual/Personal sense (Vyakti). All the twins get reunited in the Sam-ashti or Collective sense as Mahat/Jiiv�tman (Vyakta). The Trinity of classical Hinduism are used in two ways: 1. The potential passive is �male�: Brahm� or Vishnu or Shiva is Nirguna and creating active is �female�: Sarasvati (from sr = to flow, move), Laksm� (laksh=to designate, mark) and Sati (from as=to be) is Saguna. 2. The created Trinity as Ishvara-J�v�tman-Pr�krta are represented through Brahm�-Vishnu-Shiva, because Ishvara-Brahm� is more associated with Sattva (balance from sat-rta=order), Vishnu more with Rajas (expansive force from raj=expand, shine) and Shiva more with Tamas (contracting force, from tam=tame). These three have the attributes respectively Cit-Ananda-Sat, together Sachchid�nanda. Only the Middle is the one which is enjoying (ananda), Ishvara is the Suparna which is watching, J�v�tman is the Suparna which is eating the fruits and Pr�krta is the fruitgiving Vrksha. To me every story in Hindu mythology has a (para)psychological deeper meaning which can be applied to our physical plane too. So the names of gods and goddesses are representations of deeper processes. When personified or deified they can become the inspirational representating tools of help or enlightment (deva) for us in the psychological field (as thought-M�rtti) for our Nivrtti Path, just like Sth�la-M�rtti is on the physical level for some persons. Anyone may choose what he appropriately needs in his Homeward Journey with respect for the co-creators and co-created. Edited by Ishwa on 03/13/02 00:54 AM (server time).