Vaishnava versus Mayavad (not an argument)

[Dervish]

I recently met a westerner who is interested in Hinduism, but has gotten all his information from books and representitives of Ramakrishna. He expressed some intrigue toward Vaishnavism, but asked some specific questions, like jiva tattva, etc, and I very much wanted to present our perspective but in an educated way.

 

Is there some book or essay from a Vaishnava perspective that outlines these comparisons? I heard something about a book by Srila Prabhupad's sanyas guru Srila Keshav Maharaj that dealt with these topics, but I don't even know the title or how to find it. Does anyone know a book or a website that I could refer to?

[Guest guest]

this might help

 

http://www.nitaipadakamala.com/tattva/tattva.htm

 

or

 

http://www.mandala.com.au/gaudiya-kanthahara/index.html

[Guest guest]

you can tell him that in hindusim there are two basic

different philosophies using the vedic literature.

 

the monists and the theists;

 

the monists believe

in the souls non distinction from Brahman,the absolute

reality beyond all temporary illusory manifestations,

when the soul attains moksha he is freed from the illusion

of seeing anything as other then a temporaty illusion,the world is unreal but appears to be real,

then upon leaving the body he merges into the non dual

substance of Brahman where there are no attributes,

just a single oneness of existence,without variety of interactions,so they are called monists or non dualists.

To them Maya covers a part of Brahman and that is the

illusioned jiva.

 

the theists believe that Brahman has attributes and is

a fully conscious active agent creating,maintaining,and destroying all of reality,the souls upon moksha

do not see the world as an illusion but see the world

as a shifting reality,birth,growth,decay death, ,illusory in that sense,but real ,the souls never lose distinction

from Brahman and are one with Brahman like sparks of a fire, and upon leaving the body they go to the

Spiritual or Vaikuntha worlds where they live

in bliss in the association of the Para Brahman,

Narayana,Krishna,Rama etc.

they are called qualified non dualists because

they believe in the oneness of Brahman ,but they qualify

that with the attributes and powers inherent in Brahman

that has Brahman being transcendental to Maya,Maya

is the power manifested by Brahman,Brahman is not affected

by Maya,it is in control of Maya.

The other school of the theists is the dualist school

which is similar to the qualified non dualists except

they teach that there is eternal complete distinction

between Brahman,Maya and jiva,they are never one.

[Dervish]

To guest, and Shiva prabhu, I thank profusely for this help!