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Bondage and the four sampradayas
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To: alt-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Bondage and the four sampradayas
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From: nparker@crl.com (Nathan Parker)
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Date: 4 Apr 1995 21:56:41 -0700
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From nparker@crl.com Wed Apr 5 00: 47:41 1995
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [Login: guest]
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Four Sampradayas and their Theories of Bondage
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Nimbarka:
The jiva has his true form distorted and obscured owing to his
contact with karma resulting from ignorance, which is beginningless, but
which can come to an end, by the grace of God, when its true nature is
fully manifested.
Vallabha:
According to Vallabha, the jivas association with avidya, as
well as his bondage and freedom, are brought about by the free will of
Brahman for the purpose of sport.
Ramanuja:
Beginningless Karma is considered to be the cause of bondage of
the jivas in samsara. Because of this the souls are caught up in a
continuous cycle of births and deaths.
Samsara is due to avidya which is of the nature of karma,
accumulated by the jiva in its previous births. In this condition jnana
and ananda are obscured but fully manifest in the state of liberation.
Madhva:
The sense of misery, which is bondage, is external to their
essence and is brought about by a "real" though "misplaced sense of
independence of initiative and conduct"
Bondage is of the nature of ignorance.
Madhva calls his theory of bondage by the name of svabhava ajnana
vada. Even though the jiva is a self luminous being, still, it is not
inconceivable that he should become subject to ignorance of his own true
nature and of the nature of God and of his true relationship with Him, as
he is a dependent being, and part.
According to Madhva the Lord actuates the latent power of prakrti
known as maya and avidya and then the bondage begins. Though the jivas are
dependent on God, (the theory of svabhava ajnanavada accepts that) the
kartrtva (freewill) and bhoktrtva (enjoyer -mood) allows the avidya to act
upon them. These faculties as well as the resultant false ego,
intelligence, mind, the senses and the senses are all God-given. In
ignorance, the jiva thinks that they are all under his control and his
possessions. The fact is that they are our possessions subject to the will
of the Lord. Due to contact with such material existence and the
permeation of the consciousness through all these and the resultant
attachment to them, the jiva regards the dualities as his own and su
bjects himself to continuous material existence in various levels. This is
known as samsara.
acintya-bhedAbheda-tattva of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
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1. Being part and parcel of Krsna, jivas have minute independence. (Lord
Caitanya)
2. Jivas have infinitesimal lording tendency.
3. Some jivas lord the independence to become lord, independent of Krsna.
(Krsna, the Supreme Independent by His will allows them.) (Madhva)
(It is the pastime of the Lord to provide for the desires of the
living entities.) (Vallabha)
4. Due to misuse of independence they fall.
5. Forgetfulness of constitutional relationship results in ignorance.
(Nimbarka)
6. They place their consciousness in material nature.
7. Material nature carries on activities for the lording tendency of
jivas.
8. Jivas' consciousness gets more and more polluted, beginningless karma.
(Ramanuja)
9. Jivas are in samsara.
