Dvaita, Vishistadvaita and Advaita

[Guest guest]

Dear List

 

Let me attempt to respond to one of the questions sent to our list.

 

Dvaita and Vishistadvaita

====================

 

The central problem all philosophies of religions face is how to explain the

relationship between God, Man and Universe.

 

The initial response in religions suggest that God Man and the Universe

are three eternal but different entities co-existing. God is both the

material

and efficient cause of the other two. This is the 'Dvaita' approach. Almost

all Hindus think along these lines. Idea of God as the creator and sustainer

of everything is central in this philosophy. The weakness of this philosophy

is:

If God is responsible for mankind and the universe than the 'relative

nature'

of these two reflects poorly on an 'absolute' God. How can something so

perfect be the cause for the world that we experience as far from perfect?

The devout 'dvaita' will respond by saying it is the 'sweet will' of God to

create as he sees fit. But still the relationship between these three

remains 'arbitrary'

 

 

The philosophy brought into prominence by Adi Shankara and recently by Swami

Vivekananda is 'Advaita.' The philosophic jump required in this approach

says:

Man God and Universe are actually 'one' (or to be technically correct -

Advaita as 'non-dual').

Question arises: Then why do we see these three as different?

The answer is 'they only " appear " as different'

The greatest problem with Advaita is: We do not feel like God so

how can we make such assertions? This does not help us

make spiritual progress. One of the resolution comes in 'Vishistadvaita'

Or qualified Non-Dualism. Here the 'Atman' is considered to be

a 'spark of the Paramatman' Or man is like a spark and God is

like the 'fire' not 'essentially different from the fire'

as would be suggested in Dvaita'.

 

Swami Vivekananda explained this by saying:

Parmatman is seen as the 'soul of the souls' Thus the relationship

between God and Man is now brought closer to the Advaita thinking but

is still not 'Advaita' as the spark is not equated to the fire.

 

My personal comments are drawn from the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna.

As long as one is aware of one's mind and body it is best to adopt

a humble attitude of being a 'devotee' of God. As one progresses along

this path one automatically begins to see the close relationship

between Man and God and that oneness is something not to

debate about but to experience it first hand. So 'Advaita' is the

destination. While Dvaita and Vishistadvaita are the pathways

one chooses depending on ones personal liking.

 

regards

jay

[Guest guest]

Dear JAY

Thank you for responding with an excellant explanation.I wanted to know if the

Dvaita considers the Atman to be not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively

different from that of the super soul.If I were not wrong I understood this from

your explanation.

regards,

Srikanth.