dwaita-adwaita

May 22, 2003

How to choose between advaita, vishishtadvaita, dvaita, achintyachintya, abhedabheda etc? What is the actual difference? Kindly inform me.

May 23, 2003

if you rmental makeup is such that you really believe god has no form and is impersonal, is not a person,

then you chooe advaita. if you think you are god but have forgotten it, then you choose advaita.

else choose dvaita. in there god is a person, and has a specific form. you are not god but you the soul are qualitatively similar as god. there is eternal loving relation between you and god. KC revives that love.

what faith you have currently?

jai sri prabhupada!

May 23, 2003

Visistadvaita - Srivaishnavism :

Vedas are starting point of all Indian philosophies. Ramanuja has also based " Srivaishnavism" on vedic principles. Srivaishnavism is as old as veda itself.

Alwars, devotees of Lord Vishnu, are foremost amongst the Srivaishnava teachers. They were overwhelmed by the desire for incessant communion with the Lord. They remain immersed in singing the divine glories of the Lord. Their compositions are known as "Divya Prabhandam ". There are in all 4000 songs all in Tamil. These songs bring out " Saranagathi " (or surrender) approach to God realization. These songs bring out the essence of Vedas and hence are also referred to as "Tamil Vedas". There were 12 Alwars who spread Bhakti and surrender to Vishnu. Ramanuja gave a scientific explanation of Srivaishnavism and hence has become synonymous with Vishishtadvaita.

God is the absolute reality, endowed with all auspicious and excellent attributes which are unsurpassable.He is the inner ruler of matter (a non-sensuous thing or Achit ) as well as Souls or Atman ( a sensuous thing or Chit).

In the state of cosmic dissolution (Pralaya) which occurs at the end of a kalpa (cycles of four yugas), the matter and soul exist in a subtle state in Him possessing none of the qualities which make them objects of experience or cognizing subjects.From this subtle state, creation evolves by the will of God. Subtle matter ( Achit) develop into gross form and will be of 24 types such as "Prakriti", etc.

Mixture of the various types of Achit is our world and body of living things.Souls (Chit) expand their consciousness, entering into connection with bodies appropriate to their past Karmas (Actions) and continue the cycle of births and deaths , known as "Sansara". Out of compassion for the souls , God also teaches vedas - a treatise discussing nature of souls, prakriti or nature, God or Paramatman, causes of samsara and ways to get out of samsara etc- through Brahma and a lineage of sages Srivaishnavism explains saranagathi approach to cross samsara.

Three realities :

Srivaishnavism recognizes 3 realities - Chit (Sensuous objects), Achit (Non Sensuous objects) and Eshwara( God). This is referred to as "Tatwa Thraya". Achit is of 24 types, such as Prakriti, etc. Achit has no capacity to show itself .It is dependent on Chit for this purpose. Both Chit and Achit are subordinate to Eshwara. Saranagathi is the main process for "Moksha "- that is redeeming of Samsara.

Thus, according to Srivaishnavism, every individual in this world is an inseparable combination of Soul (Chit), Prakriti ( Achit) and Eshwara ( Antaryami ). Every soul gets a body ( evolved out of prakriti ) in accordance with his Karmas. the soul and body are inseparable and interdependent in an individual. Eshwara (Antaryami) resides in the body but does not take part in the worldly activities of the body. However, His help is available for the soul to cross the Samsara

SOURCE : http://server2037.virtualave.net/sabha/srivaishnavism.htm

SDdasa · May 23, 2003

In the Indian spiritual tradition there are officially only 3 schools of Vedanta (Advaita, Visistadvaita, Dvaita), all of these accept the prasthana trayam as their authority (BG chapter IX text 15, for reference to these 3 schools).

There are inconceivably many neo-vedanta schools in the market posing as bonafide traditions. When choosing a system, one has to exercise extreme caution and rely on the Grace of God, so as not to be misled into false doctrines.

Advaita (non dualism) emphasises the oneness of the ultimate Reality. The fundamental problem of Advaita monism is to account for the world of plurality and the infinite number of souls. According to absolute monism, propounded by Sankara, the universe is not ultimately real but a phenomenal appearance of Reality. The ultimate Reality is absolutely one in a sense that it does not admit any kind of differentiation either internal or external

According to Visistadvaita the ultimate Reality, though one is not the Absolute without any differentiation since such a transcendental undifferentiated Being is inconceivable and also logically untenable.

The distinctive feature of Visistadvaita, compared to Advaita and Dvaita is its conception of Reality, which while affirming the ultimate unity of the Absolute allows differentiation through its mode (prakaras) without implying any fundamental difference in the Reality itself. Visistadvaita acknowledges 3 fundamental real entities - matter (acit), soul (cit) and God (Isvara) - and on the basis of the principle of organic relation, upholds that ultimate Reality is one in unity.

Isvara, the creator of the universe in the immanent ground of existence and the inner self of all things in the universe, and as such He sustains and controls cit and acit. Cit and Acit are dependent on Isvara for their existence and are organically related to Isvara in the way the physical body is related to the soul. The oneness of Reality is to be understood not in the sense of absolute identity but as an organic unity.

Visistadvaita fundamental position is that the Supreme Reality is the Highest Personal God (Sriman Narayana), possessing innumerable auspicious qualities and devoid of any inauspicious qualities. The individual soul is a spark of God and is similar to God in respect of cosmic function; God, the Creator of the Universe and the souls always remain separate and subservient to Him and completely dependent upon His existence.

SDdasa