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Greetings,

I suggest that the "jalpa/vitanda" subforum is more suited for this original/opening post.

Sincerely
WM

Sri Ramakrishna Math has a fairly well stocked bookstore if you are in and around Chennai. Many of the works of Shankara are available (Upanishads, Brahmasutras and Gita commentary). Prices are...

Hanuman never complained when asked to go in search of the Sanjeevni herb. Without thinking twice, he nonchalantly lifted the entire mountain and brought it to Lakshmana's side. A great inspiration...

Hi,

Unlike user devotee, I would suggest that you do NOT jump into any threads online.

To understand the intricacies of our various darshanas, it is a much better idea to become familiar with...

Hi,



The Jivanmukta is an elightened being who while being alive and after having burned away all prior karma, continues to operate in this world with no new karmic accumulation.

Yes. Varna system is proclaimed in the Vedas as well. Not sure what you mean by "correct" here, though.



What makes you think it is not followed? [It is.] You mean, there are no Brahmins,...

Hello skull,

While the empirical self is indeed ultimately denied by all astika schools as transient, unreal and hence sublateable, a spiritual atman that is unchanging and undergoes...

Greetings,

There are few things that have to be established within the Advaitic framework.

(1)First, Shabda as a pramana has to be shown to be independent of and irreducible to other pramanas...

Hi,

The idea here is that God is the common cause just as how rain is the common cause for the sprouting of different plants from different seeds, just as how sunlight is the common cause that...

The problem with such stories, IMO, is that it proves or disproves nothing.

If the life in the womb is not complete, in itself, and it requires birth to attain such completion, then this opens up...

Hi,



There are multiple layers to this question.

Per Nyaya realism, everything that exists, exists independent of consciousness. So, Nyaya holds that the following are equivalent.

(a)A...

Hi,

Two schools of thought on this.

Nyaya/Vaiseshikha - the self of each person is omnipresent. The individuality of each self is secured by associating this omnipresent self with an atomic...

Hi,

There is a short answer to this and a long answer. The long answer requires a guided tour through a substantial portion of Indian metaphysics and epistemology. Good references for these are:
...

Hi SoL,



In all Dharmic philosophies (this includes Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism), the universe did not begin to exist. It always was. That is, we can keep going back and back and we will...

The reasons why Abrahamic religions are despised by us Hindus are the following:

(1)Xity is mostly deceptive in its operation. For e.g. there is no Indian figure anywhere in the Bible....

Hi,

Samkhya does not believe in atomism like the Nyaya Vaiseshikha do.

So, from a Samkhya POV, any subatomic particle today, such as quarks, atoms, etc., are an instantiation of a particular...

Good question!

The basic idea in Samkhya is that the effect pre-exists in the cause. That is, when we observe the gross elements, the effect, it is but a manifestation of what was pre-existent,...

Hi,



Firstly, there was no "start" to anything. There is no creatio-ex-nihilo in Hinduism. Prakriti and jivas are beginningless -- affirmed by the Lord in the Gita itself. The universe is...

Hi,

The effect cannot be completely different from the cause, for we never see a mustard seed used to produce a cloth. Yes, the limited goodness of the human condition is possible only because...

Hi,

There is a large body of work by Christopher Framarin and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad on this topic. Many of the links above could be behind paywalls. In any case, I provide some references and...

I will approach this from the soteriological angle. There is a dispute between Naiyayikas and Advaitins about the status of the jiva in moksha.

Naiyayikas define the state negatively. i.e. moksha...

Greetings,

A few analogies may help the beginner.

A woman searches hither-thither for necklace. She finds it around her own neck where she had never looked before and is now relieved.

Where...

Greetings,

God has no unfulfilled desires for himself. This is because our scriptures declare God to be all-blissful.

So, why does God act then, at all, assuming action necessarily has to be...

Yet another sublime rendition of Thyagaraja Yoga Vaibhavam by Ranjani and Gayatri.

Hi yajvan,

I did some digging around. The references are

BS 3:3:27-31.

BS 4:1:17

Best.

I managed to track down the specific Samkhya Karika sutra that deals with the discussion of "subtle body". It is aphorism 40.

The discussion on this (source Samkhya Karika, Sri Ramakrishna Math...

Hi,

The problem with being able to answer this question is, it is not clear in our living life what it means to die and what happens when we die.

So, we have to rely on scripture/philosophical...

Hi,

Nice question.

Few things from Hindu metaphysics perspective.

Consciousness can only be predicated of the self (jiva/purusha). Prakriti (body) is considered insentient. So, it neither...

Hi,



Well, there are bragging rights attached to the "first" discoverer of a law. There is a certain mystique and awe associated with the "pioneer" even though the same law may be rediscovered...

Greetings.

The grammarians believed that reality is one, all pervading and eternal. They introduced the concept of sphota. The basic idea is that each word that we speak imposes a limitation on...

Hello folks,

Before we debate whether Brahman has attributes or does not have attributes, perhaps we should define a substance (dravya) and an attribute (guna) as was discussed in Indian...

Hi:



There are many (rather famous) counter examples to this debated in Indian philosophy. For e.g. centuries of Nyaya Buddhist debates revolved on the counterexample provided by Buddhists of...

Hi Satay,

Since you posted as a user and not as a moderator, I wish to "take you to task" as it were for the above.

I hope you reconsider the wording in your post above. It appears you have...

Hi



It is not just Buddhism, but even Mimamsa and Samkhya have a purely naturalistic explanation for karma with no over arching mind guiding the process.

Cause and effect are naturalistic...

Greetings,

Atleast according to some schools of Buddhism, everything is momentary. To exist is to be causally efficacious.

Putting in syllogistic form, we get:

(1)Nothing exists for more...

Greetings,

Karma is anything that differentiates one self from another prior to birth.

Allow me to elucidate further using a syllogism.

P1. God's knowledge is eternally unchanging. (i.e. God...

Greetings,

My knowledge of Jain metaphysics is limited and mostly derived from discussions of Jainism in the Brahmasutras and other secondary sources.

IIRC, Jainism holds that the self varies...

Hi,

One should be clear what one means by "universe". If the definition of the "universe" is "all that exists", then what is this parallel universe? If that parallel universe exists, why does not...

Why would anything created by the Divine NOT be holy?!

Howdy,

Samkhyakarika makes no mention of Iswara.

Yoga accepts Samkhya ontology/metaphysics but provides for a place for Iswara as a special being concentration upon whom helps in sadhana.

Hi,

It is not clear to me why this question should arise.

I wrote:



That is, there was no point in time in the past when this lotus was NOT blue.

Greetings,

There is a difference between ontological priority/precedence and temporal priority/precedence.

There are many possible cases.

(1) Two entities can have a temporal infinite past...

Greetings,



Are you meaning "before" in a temporal sense or an ontological sense?

By form, do you mean matter?

In any case, the traditional Hindu realist view is that time itself never...

hello,



What do you mean by "technically" here?



Again, what do you mean by "technical sense" here?

hello,

Which particular verse's commentary do you have?

The problem of why different people are born into different circumstances is considered here in the Brahmasutras.

The quick summary...

Excellent. So, we have two types of desires:

(1) Desires for ends/fruits.

(2) Desires for means to ends/fruits.

So, Krishna is against desires of type (1) but favours desires of type (2).
...

In most theories of motivation and action (both Western as well as Indian), action necessarily implies the pre-existence of desire. For e.g. according to Manusmriti:

Belief -- > Desire* -- >...

Reference for Premise 1: Krishna advises Arjuna to act without desire.



Reference for Premise 2: Desire is a necessary condition of action.

Hello all,

Let us discuss the following.

Premise 1: Krishna advises Arjuna to act without desire.

Premise 2: Desire is a necessary condition of action.

Conclusion: Therefore, Krishna's...

Technically, our state of mind is a part of the "sukshma sarira" that persists through various incarnations.



If "completely forgetting" our past is what you would "technically" call an end,...