www.dakurajsingh.com
*****
The "advaita" (non-duality) of Samkara (holy belief) insists on the transcendent nature of non-dual "Brahman" (Cosmic Consciousness) and the duality of the world including "Isvara" (Earthly God) who presides over it.
Reality is "Brahman" or Atman (Soul).
No predication is possible of "Brahman" as predication involves duality and "Brahman" is free from all duality.
The world of duality is empirical or phenomenal.
The saving truth which redeems the individual from the stream of births and deaths is the recognition of his own identity with the Supreme.
"That thou art" is the fundamental fact of all existence.
The multiplicity of the universe, the unending stream of life, is real, but only as a phenomenon.
Ramanuja (an ancient Indian philosopher) qualifies the non-dual philosophy so as to make the personal God supreme.
While "Brahman", souls and the world are all different and eternal, they are at the same time inseperable.
Inseperability is not identity.
"Brahman" is related to the two others as soul to body.
They are sustained by Him and subject to His control.
Ramanuja says that while God exists for Himself, matter and souls exist for His sake and subserve His purposes.
The three together form an organic whole.
"Brahman" is the inspiring principle of the souls and the world.
The souls are different from, but not independent of, God.
They are said to be one only in the sense that they all belong to the same class.
The ideal is the enjoyment of freedom and bliss in the world of Narayana (God), and the means to it is either "prapatti" (self-surrender) or "bhakti" (devotion).
The individual souls, even when they are freed through the influence of their devotion and the grace of God, retain their seperate individuality.
For him and Madhva, God, the author of all grace, saves those who give to Him the worship of love and faith.
For Madhva there are five eternal distinctions between (1) God and the individual soul, (2) God and matter, (3) souls and matter, (4) one soul and another, (5) one particle of matter and another.
The supreme being endowed with all auspicious qualities is called Visnu, and Laksmi is His power dependent on Him.
Moksa is the release from rebirth and residence in the abode of Narayana.
Human souls are innumerabale, and each of them is seperate and eternal.
The divine souls are destines for salvation.
Those who are neither very good nor very bad are subject to samsara (the earthly world), and the bad go to hell.
Right knowledge of God and devotion to Him are the means to salvation.
Without divine grace there can be no salvation.
Baladeva adopts the view of "acintya-bhedabheda" (unprocessable-dualpolarites).
Difference and non-difference are positive facts of experience and yet cannot be reconciled.
It is an incomprehensible synthesis of opposites.
Ramanuja, Bhaskara, Nimbarka and Baladeva (ancient Indian philosophers) believe that there is change in "Brahman", but not of "Brahman".
COURTESY:
The Principal Upanisads - S. Radhakrishnan.
*****