EXCELLENT EXCERPT, EXPLAINING "SHARIRA-SHARIRI" AND "PRAKARA" SIDDHANTAS OF SHREE RAMANUJA-SAMPRADAYA. FROM "THE MYSTICISM OF POYGAI ALVAR" BY R. BALASUBRAMANIAN [VEDANTA PUBLICATIONS, 1976]:
"Everything - the jiva as well as the physical universe - belongs to
Bhagavan Shree Narayana, The Supreme Self; and everything exists for the sake of God, being inseparably related to Him, as His Body (शरीर - sharira), as His Mode (प्रकार - prakara), as a part (शेष - shesha) of His Being.
Bhagavan Shree Narayana, The Supreme Self; and everything exists for the sake of God, being inseparably related to Him, as His Body (शरीर - sharira), as His Mode (प्रकार - prakara), as a part (शेष - shesha) of His Being.
Owing to ignorance (Avidya), a person thinks that he exists independently of God and that he is the owner of things, while the truth is that he is dependent on God who is The Owner of the entire universe.
The 1st Mantra of "Shree Ishavasya Upanishad" says:
“All this, whatever moves in this moving world, is enveloped by Lord Shree Vishnu. So find your enjoyment in renunciation; do not covet what belongs to others.”
Not knowing the nature of the 3 entities (tattva-traya), that is Narayana, jiva, and the world, a person develops the sense of individuality, becomes egoistic, and claims ownership of things that do not belong to him.
His sense of individuality disappears when he knows the truth through mystic experience. In more than one hymn, Poygai Alvar refers to the case of Mahabali who was full of egoism and who was punished by the Lord in the appropriate way.
Mahabali serves as a warning to those who are egoistic.
Poygai Alvar asks: "Is it not for removing the sense of “I” and “mine” of the individual souls that you, by begging and lowering your hands, accepted 3 measures of ground from Mahabali who claimed the world as his own even though it did not belong to him?" ["Mudal Tiruvantadi" by Poygai Alvar, Verse 36]
Cited from
"THE MYSTICISM OF POYGAI ALVAR"
#by R. BalaSubramanian#
[Vedanta Publications] ~1976~
