Page 18 - Hinduism
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bodies by Brahman according to their previous karma and they get new opportunities of becoming free and perfect. In the state of sthiti they live and move in the three worlds, Earth, Svarga and lower world in accordance with their karma. They have freedom to make or mar themselves, and Viṣṇu the Lord, sustains them as their very life and He guides justly. Then there comes a time when the world is steeped in wickedness and sin and the Lord Śiva destroys it for the time being. The three functions are done by the same Īśvara out of his sweet and loving will and they are aspects of the one cosmic function, namely to redeem the Jīvas from their ignorance and evil. This process goes on endlessly in a circle till all the Jīvas attain mukti.
Antaryāmin
After creating the Universe, Brahman enters into it as its inner self or antaryāmin. The universe consists of the physical world or acit or jaḍa and also the world of Jīvas, subhuman, human and celestial. Brahman pervades the whole world of acit and cit as Vāsudeva and resides in the heart of every Jīva, plant, animal, man or deva as its inner self or śarīrin. Though He is in all inanimate things and Jīvas, He is not in any way affected by their imperfections. As their inner self, He gives them life, rules them from within and they all exist for His satisfaction, But His chief purpose in dwelling in their hearts is to free them from their sinfulness and make them into His image or likeness. One chief defect pointed out by 18
