Souls And Matter Depend On God For Their Very Existence

Souls And Matter Depend On God For Their Very Existence : 

There is organic unity between God on the one hand and individual soul and matter on the other. However, the two retain their identities. They are interrelated and interconnected like pearls in a necklace or seeds in a pomegranate. The necklace represents Brahmn and pearls represent the individual souls or matter. The pearls strung on a thread have unity; collectively they form an organic whole, yet each individual pearl has its own unique qualities. Likewise, spirit, matter, and God may be seen as one organic whole, still each of them has its unique qualities. There can be no identity without individuation. Any talk of unity makes no sense unless we recognise difference. Like Hegel, Ramanuja upholds that ‘identity is always qualified by difference. Unity is always in, through and because of diversity. Pure being is pure nothing’. Pure identity and pure difference are unreal. Our knowledge involves distinctions and there is no undifferentiated pure consciousness. The universe is, therefore, not identical with Brahmn but is pervaded by Brahmn. “From Brahmn the universe comes, by Brahmn it is sustained, and into Brahmn it ultimately enters, just as a fish is born in water, lives in water, and is ultimately dissolved in water. Still a fish is not water, but a separate entity entirely. In the same way the universe, although existing within Brahmn is different than Brahmn. Just as a fish can never be water, so the universe can never be Brahmn’. Liberation is the outcome of God’s grace obtained by prapatti – absolute self-surrender. The identity-in-difference is maintained even in the state of moksha. According to Ramanuja, moksha means permanent, undisturbed, personal bliss in God’s presence. The liberated soul attains the nature of God; it never becomes identical with Him but lives in fellowship, either serving Him or meditating on Him without losing its individuality.

Om Namah Shivay.