The whole is real, the part comes and goes

M: As in a city of lights, when one bulb burns out, it does not affect the network, so the death of a body does not affect the whole
Q: The particular may not matter to the whole, but it does matter to the particular. The whole is an abstraction, the particular, the concrete, is real.
M: That is what you say. To me it may be the other way -- the whole is real, the part comes and goes. The particular is born and reborn, changing name and shape, the jnani is the Changeless Reality, which makes the changeful possible.