Originally Posted by
Lakshmi USA
Though I am an vaishnava my parents never taught me these philosophies. Neither more religious relatives of mine did talk about it.
Will someone be kind enough to give me a short description of all the three.
I just learnt in a nutshell that Dvaita says Krishna is the only one and there is no other.
There are three terms that are mainly involved:
Isvara or Brahman - God
jeeva - individual soul, which is the locus of "I" within you.
jagat - The world or the universe
The difference between different systems of philosophy are the ways they consider the relationship between these three entities. There differences also spring from their definitions of Isvara, the causalty of jagat etc.
In advaita, both jeeva and jagat, are unreal, and Isvara is the only reality. Some advatins have a different view, but all advatins are uniform in their views that the jeeva and jagat have no eternal existance.(real or unreal).
In advaita, Isvara is superceded by the concept of Nirguna Brahman, which is nivisesha or devoid of all attributes. Advaitins consider Brahman as both material and instrumental cause of the jagat.
In Vishsitadvaita, Isvara and jeeva are different, Isvara and jagat are different, jagat and jeeva are different. Jagat and jeeva are connected to Isvara in the form of attributes. That is to say - both jagat and jeeva form an inseperable part of Isvara eternally. Vishistadvatins consider Brahman as saguna or as a personal diety with an innumerable number of auspicious attributes. They also consider Brahman as the material cause of the world.
In dvaita, Isvara, jeeva and jagat are all different eternally. Dvaita accepts a five fold eternal difference of all these entities. In Dvaita, Isvara is only the instrumental cause of the world. Dvaita concieves of Brahman as similar to Vishsitadvaita, as a personal grace filled diety with infnite wisdom and powers.
There are other philosophies like
bedha-abedha
dvaita-adviata
shuddhadvaita
achintya bedha-abedha
etc, which have philosophical positions somewhere in the middle of what have been explained before.
For eg, suddhadvaita is a form of advaita which accepts the reality of both jeeva and jagat, yet they are considered identical to Isvara. These are advaitins who think that Brahman is both Nirguna and Saguna simultaneously.
dvaita-advaita ,bedha-abedha and achinta bedha-abedha are close to Vishshistadvaita but have their differences from it.
Advaita is unqiue in that, it is the only system of vedanta that denies the reality of jeeva and jagat, unlike any other pantheistic or monistic traditions.
Dvaita is unique in that, it is the only school of vedanta that does not accept Brahman being the material cause of the world. It is also the only school that states that jeeva is completely different from Brahman.
Considering that all these schools base their truth on the same scripture texts, it makes you wonder what the true purport of vedanta is.
Last edited by Sudarshan; 20 March 2006 at 03:41 AM.
Guard your Dharma, Burn the Myth, Promote the Truth, Crush the superstition.
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