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Dr. Charlotte Krause : Her Life & Literature
In contradistinction to Sankara, all the four latter systems teach the Universe to be real, and individual Soul to have its own independent existence.
According to Rāmānuja, whose doctrine is, from the practical stand-point, the most important of all, Brahma consists of three parts, viz., God, Prakrti and Soul, which are so closely interlinked with one another as are the kernel, the pulp, and the skin of a mango-fruit.
The Universe is produced, in the way known from Yoga, by the Sankalpa of God, who is omniscient, omnipotent, and, though all-pervading, still able to incarnate in definite shapes.
The soul is atom-sized, and equipped with all-pervading knowledge, as a lamp is with light. As the light of a lamp, if covered, gets confined to the smallest space, or freely spreads, it left unchecked, so the innate knowledge of the soul is covered by Karma, and therefore inefficient. On the other hand, it can fully display its power, as soon as the Karma is removed, in the state of Moksa. Mokșa can be attained by combined Tattvajñāna and fulfilment of the Vedic prescriptions. As in Yoga, the Soul acquires God in this state, and remains in eternal happiness and omniscience. Like in Jainism, the liberated souls stay in a definite place, which is situated at the top of the Universe. For, according to Rāmānuja, Prakrti, though unbound in all the other dimensions, is imagined to be limited in zenith. The name of this paradise is Vaikuntha.
Whereas God is not only the efficient, but also the material cause of the Universe in Rāmānuja's system, Madhva declares Him to be only the efficient cause.
Vallabhācārya, on the other hand, maintains that the Universe is the product of evolution of God alone, because nothing but God really exists. Besides this pantheistic dogmatic, he taught his pupils a non-ascetical discipline, under the motivation that selfmortification would dishonour the body, which, as everything else, contained a portion of God. This doctrine is known as the Puşti
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