|| om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya ||
Have you ever considered the numerous individuals who are NOT bound to
any body and are actively interacting with and serving BhagvAn, NOT in the body anymore, AND having transcended birth-death? And yet, these
individuals are Brahman,
but not BhagvAn. They have Atma-bhAv towards all, yet they are individuals.
A false assumption i see in your posts is individual existence (be it for selfish living or to serve Bhagvan) = ignorance ; individuality = birth-death cycle. This is not necessarily so.
Acknowledging transcendental individual existence in order to serve Bhagvan AFTER cessation of birth-death cycles is not ignorance (this is indeed seeing rope as a rope). Being trapped in the 3 modes of nature and allowing material nature to control you is ignorance (this is seeing the rope as a snake).
Even within bhAv samAdhi, a bhakta may play 'Bhagvan' or "wear a Bhagvan bhAv" This is just like a child wearing dad's shoes and walking around the house, but the jiva prakRti is there.
KRshNa does say "madbhAvam" , such and such a devotee reaches "My bhAv", "My dhAm/abode", "My prema" "My sAnidhya (association)" "Bliss similar to me" This is a bhAv. A beautiful bhAv.
"Everyone and everything is but me" is a beautiful bhAv OR a tattva by transitivity because it is all Brahman. Well, a lot happens within Brahman.
And yet Arjun remains an individual
His form may change, but not the token.
Whether you believe it or not, Arjun, Uddhav and other parshads attend a BhAgvat KathA saptAh gathering on day one. Particularly during kirtan of the Bhagvat mahatmya.
In the winter months, BadrinAth dhAm and Temple are closed, the main priests also have to leave the place and go south until next spring. It snows there. Only the Indian army stays has some presence there for security.
At that time, Uddhav performs the nitya (regular) pUja of Shriman BadrinArAyaN. Kuber and GhanTA KarNa assist Him as kshetrapALs.
Nar-NArAyaN Rshis of BadrikAraNya (Lord NArAyaN's rshi avatAr and His brother pArshad) born to mUrti, came back in dwApar as Arjun and KRshNa respectively. It was NArAyaN's kind grace that He declared : "the name of Nar will always be uttered first, and then My name." Same with Radha.
Nar-Narayan. Radha-KRshNa. in that order.
Are Arjun and Uddhav, who are Brahman, ignorant for being individuals other than BhagavAn ? If Arjun is not another person, how can he give BhagvAn the leela pleasure of being His favorite GuDAkesha ?
Those who "lose individuality" actually simply are not conscious of the associated prakRti. And there is nothing wrong with that. It is great. The individual may not know, but the Supreme Lord knows.
BG 2.12 Never was there a time when You, Me and all these kings did not exist, and never will ... cease to exist.
He does not say "Brahman does not cease to exist" but "Me, you and the kings"
If Bhagvan expects Arjun to get liberated at His hands, then by your theory Arjun as an individual must cease to exist. However, devotees know that he comes here along with Bhagvan's associates, pArshads, in the next avatAr.
The great souls, pArshads may have a simultaneous existence in the VaikuNTha state-realm and Golok state-realm and have expansions in other states-realms.
FYI, your Raman Maharshi also acknowledges the VaikuNThas, he just says to his disciples "We are not interested in all that"
----
To the argument that "This is all happenning on the vyAvahAric plane"
Well then, the sweet Supreme Lord wanted to be many, so His devotees want to participate in the manyness. This does not mean birth-death cycles and ignorance! This material world is merely a fraction of the Lord's existence. The Lord sports in the spiritual with the devotees... and guess what -
they are aaaaaalllllllll Brahman
This is why KRshNa says BG 18.67 DO NOT tell this secret to those who are not devoted, not austere, or those who do not have favorable feelings towards Me.
A request: I hope this will not trigger essay-like pages and pages of counter-posts as that does not do good to a thread like this.
_/\_
Jai Shri KRshNa
Bookmarks