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    Apples and Vedanta

    published on Wed. Jun. 4th, '08 by Sita Chaitanya

    In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Swami Muktibhodhananda, gives a unique explanation of how to think of the jiva, or individual soul, in relation to the whole, or Brahman.

    apples
    A single apple represents the whole tree from which it came. Just because you cannot see the tree when you look at the apple does not prove the tree does not exist. On the other hand, as the tree grows, the apple appears and then falls and dissolves back into the earth from whence it has sprung. We could say there was no individual existence of apple but only the tree's growth and development are real. It is like that with the coming and going of souls. Just as the potential of the tree and the apple expands and contracts, so does the entire universe of individual names, forms and beings within it. Swami Muktibodhananda

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