SPIRITUALISM AND FUNDAMENTAL DUALISM

SPIRITUALISM AND FUNDAMENTAL DUALISM:

Madhva of India had glorified difference between things. He traced back his dualistic thought to the Hindu scriptures known as the ‘Upanishads’. His main works are his commentaries on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedanta-Sutras, and the Indian epic poem of Mahabharata. Five types of distinctions, or differences are central to Madhva’s system of “DVAITA” philosophy: 1. distinction between soul and God, 2. distinction between soul, and soul, 3. distinction between soul, and matter, 4. distinction between God and matter, and 5. distinction between matter, and matter. Madhva refuted the “ADVAITA”, or Non-dualistic philosophy of Shankara(A.D. 788 – A.D. 820) who believed that the individual soul and the absolute Spirit(Brahman) are totally identical in all aspects and cannot be differentiated into two separate categories. Madhva rejected the Shankara theory of “MAYA” or ‘illusion’ which taught that only spirituality is eternal and the material world is illusory and deceptive. Madhva maintained that the simple fact that things are transient and ever-changing does not mean that they are not real. Madhva while rejecting the Advaita concepts of falsity and indescribability of world, did not oppose the distinction between the human body and the individual human soul. It appears that the various Schools of Indian philosophy to a large extent agree to a view that separates the individual human soul from its human body. However, it is interesting to note that Madhva thinks that the human individual is “Free” and is dependent only upon God. Madhva shared the Hindu belief in endless transmigration of souls through cycles of birth, death, and rebirth and stated that the “Release” is obtained by devotion to God. He promoted a view, ultimately it is God’s grace that saves man and that man must receive God’s grace through worship.

SPIRITUALISM – WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR HUMAN EXISTENCE?

My view about human soul and spirit differs from the views shared by the three major Indian Schools of philosophy. In my opinion, the ground substance that is called ‘cytoplasm’ is a spiritual substance(the substance that I recognize as the substance associated with Soul/Spirit) and this corporeal substance or living matter is fundamentally distinct from non-living matter. The entire human organism is derived from the single, fertilized egg cell; therefore, the individual human soul cannot be separated from the human body it constitutes and develops to establish a human individual that lives or exists as a real, physical being that has objective identity apart from subjective living experience. To interpret the term ‘spirituality’, or ‘spiritualism’, I make a fundamental distinction between life, and non-life, between organic, and inorganic matter, between animate, and inanimate, between sentient, and insentient, between intelligent and mechanical functions, and between immanent actions, and transitive actions.

Rudra N. Rebbapragada/R. Rudra Narasimham, B.Sc., M.B.B.S.,

Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

Organization: The Spirits of Special Frontier Force.

http://www.facebook.com/Pages/The-Spirits-of-Special-Frontier-Force/362056613878227 

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