The Sanskrit Alphabet

Hari Sarvottama, Vayu Jivottama !

We may have heard of Sanskrit being spoken as the language of Gods. or as a Divine language.
Why is it so?

There are 52 letters in the Sanskrit Alphabet.
It is believed -in several मत - that each cluster of letters in the Sanskrit Alphabet originate from the अ, उ and म् - the constituent letters making up the Omkara शब्द - ॐ !

This has been mentioned in Shri Raghavendra Swami's small yet deep work - प्रातह्सङ्कल्प् गद्य - wherein the great rAyaru pledges - every morning - to keep his devotees on the path of Dharma.

Further - in Vaishnava मत - each letter of the Sanskrit alphabet,  is believed to be owned or ruled / represents a particular form of Vishnu. And that this form of Vishnu resides in specific body parts. . As a part of daily spiritual cleansing routine (Nyaasa or न्यास ) - these letters (अक्षर ), their owning diety (आतंरिक ) and the respective body parts (बाह्य) are meditated upon. ((There are similarities to the Patanjali Yoga school here - and there are differences))

अक्षर also means indestructible, represented by MahaLaxmi.

These and more points such as these - are a few reasons why the language is considered Divine.

Questions to reflect - what is Dharma? How do letters being divine - fit into the overall scheme of the Dvaita philosophical framework.?

The Infinity Concept

Sarvothama, Vayu Jivothama
How does the mathematical concept of Infinity relate to the Philosophical perspective of God being all pervading?

All pervading implies being in everything.
'Everything', intuitively by its numerical connotation, relates to infinity.
But, there is more.
The Dvaita philosphy states that any part of God's body  cannot not be distinguished from any other part of His body. In other words, all parts of His body are 'equal' - in capability and in size.
On the surface, this relates to the mathematical notion of infinity. Since, taking a part out of the infinite, still  keeps the Infinite infinite.

Can we draw further parallels with Infinity?
Yes - and we can. With the help of the concept of Relativity.  We will expand on this theme - in another post.

 However, the more controversial point is to the reference to "God's Body"?
Not only does it sound unintuitive to think of a physically constrained 'Body' for someone who is supposed to be AllMighty, All pervasive, all knowing etc - it also does not jell well with the Infinity concept above.

 This is an area where there are deep - almost, violent - differences between Oriental and Occidental philosophies and also amongst Oriental philosophies.
We will expand on this theme as well in a later post - to see how various philosophies view this aspect and how it may be related to the Mathematical concepts of  Infinity, Zero, One as well as  Continuity. And at a later point - to the theory of Relativity.

Purpose

The idea behind this blog is to provide a soft landing onto the vast and intricate Dvaita Aadhyaatma area - in particular, and more generally, to philosophies having originated in our subcontinent.

The approach is intended to be interactive. The blog posts is intended to host basic points on specific topics that can be picked up for discussion - offline and online.

The need for traditional Guru-Shishya parampara to correctly and adequately learn sub-continental philosophical tenets and nuances - cannot be stressed enough

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THIS BLOG IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR THAT PARAMAPARA AND THAT METHOD OF LEARNING.

 The idea is to help curious individuals get a glimpse of depth/diversity/richness/scientific rigour/integrity of our philosophical tenets. 

And provide a preparatory to take up proper learning with appropriate teachers - should they so desire.

Finally, the blog author- yours truly - is not a pro and very much a tyro in these philosophical areas. And it is quite possible that there could be flaws in the content, which hopefully gets rectified over time.