Parimalam - an Internet magazine dedicated for Dvaita Philosophy

Q) You told us that the knowledge is obtained through the sense organs of individuals. Why should we say like that? Is it possible to say that the cells in the body of father has been transformed to become a child and the child obtained the complete knowledge of father?

A) It's not possible. Knowledge cannot be obtained through the cells or blood (rasa,rakta etc.) The knowledge "this is the form" (idam roopam) has to obtained from our own eyes. The knowledge "this is the sound" has to be obtained from our own ears. Similarly the knowledge "mother's milk will give happiness to me" has to be obtained from our own knowledge organs (jyana karna or logic or anumana). The knowledge of father does not get transformed into the childs knowledge. If that is not the case the blind child should have the knowledge of vision if the father is having the vision. [If the father is deaf then the child should also be deaf. But that need not be the fact. The child can have hearing capabilities. Is it not so? Therefore the child created out of father's veerya need not have father's knowledge.]

Q. by Subrahmanya Aiyar) There is no need of sense organs to obtain the knowledge. It's like a mirror. Like rasa,rakta etc it has been obtained from father. Not only that. Body itself is knowledge and knowledge itself is body. The doubt of whether the knowledge has been obtained from the father or not will arise only if the body and knowledge are different.

While the body of child has been created the knowledge which is not different from body has not been created simultaneously - Sarvam jyanamayam and also only by inference, chetana which is different than body cannot obtain the knowledge which is different than body. Kant says that just when you see smoke, you infer that there is fire in the mountain: when we see many things in the world, we can infer one idea from the other. He also says that the knowledge required to fulfil the desire of the child in the womb which cannot be experienced by perception cannot be establihed through inference.

In the service of Sri Hari
G Rajesh

Life and History of Sri Madhwacharya - Part 3

By Late M Rama Rao, Kumbakonam

Once the parent attended with Vasudeva a marriage function of their relative in a village. A midst the noisy festivities and the mutual felicitations of the kith and kin, Vasudeva slipped away to Vishnu temple in the woods and bowed to the Lord From there, he proceeded to a Shiva Temple in Talekude and bowed to his antaryamin. Therefrom he reached Udupi, bowed to the Lord in the eastern temple and was proceeding towards the western temple.

In the meantime, the parents found their boy missing and carried out a vigorous search. On the clue supplied by a passerby, they spotted him out in the western temple prostrating to God. Asked about his guide in that lonely and dangerous journey, the boy replied in all innocence that the gods in the temples, worshipped by him, were his guide from one place to another.

On a auspicious day,the father began to teach him the alphabet. Next day when the letters were repeated, the precocious boy questioned his father why the letters written the previous day were re-written. Once, he went along with his mother to a village, Neyampalli, to attend the wedding of her relative. There, a Puranik was giving a discourse to a huge audience. The boy too listened and without fear or favour interrupted in the middle saying' 'O Puranik!. Your interpretation is quite contrary to that of Sri Vyasa. Sri Shuka and other great seers. The eyes of the audience turned to the small boy and they asked him to give out the correct interpretation. That he did and won the approbation of the entire audience (and the Puranik too?). On returning home, he narrated the whole incident to his father and asked him if he or the Puranik was right. Felicitating his boy on his right import, he thanked God for His blessings on his son.

Vasudeva did not spare even his father, who was the first foremost among the Puraniks. His father passed on without giving the meaning of the word Likuca in the list of trees. The attentive boy pointed the omission, gave its meaning, which seemed to be not known to his father even,and was praised to the skies by all.

At the proper age, Vasudeva's upanayana was celebrated. By performing the duties of a Brahmacharin regularly, he set an example to others. Once an asura in the form of a serpent approached to kill him but was crushed under his terrible toe.

During his Gurukulavasa he exhibited not only his scholarship but his athleticism. To him repetition was not the mother of studies but a veritable boredom.To the utter surprise of his Guru, he chanted even the portions yet to be taught with their proper accents and intonations. He excelled his classmates in all sorts of sports and games. Once in a lonely wood, his gusu's son was attacked by a severe spasmodic headache. He blew a puff of air into his and easily effected a permanent cure of that disease.

On the completion of his vedic studies, he gave his guru dakshina in the form of Gods Bhakthi developed the esoteric meaning of the Aitareya Upanisad and thus showed the seeds for his ultimate moksha.

In the service of Sri Hari
M Rama Rao

(Source: Dharmaprakash Journal, Chennai)