Bhedabheda
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Bhedābheda Vedānta is a subschool of Vedānta.
Etymology
Bhedābheda (Devanagari: भेदाभेद) is a Sanskrit word meaning "difference and non-difference".[1]
Philosophy
The characteristic position of all the different Bhedābheda Vedānta schools is that the individual self (jīvātman) is both different and not different from the ultimate reality known as Brahman. Bhedābheda reconciles the positions of two other major schools of Vedānta. The Advaita (Non-dual) Vedānta that claims that the individual self is completely identical to Brahman, and the Dvaita (Dualist) Vedānta that teaches complete difference between the individual self and Brahman. Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahma Sūtra (c. 4th century CE) may also have been written from a Bhedābheda Vedāntic viewpoint.[1]
Each thinker within the Bhedābheda Vedānta tradition has their own particular understanding of the precise meanings of the philosophical terms "difference" and "non-difference". Bhedābheda Vedāntic ideas can traced to some of the very oldest Vedāntic texts, including quite possibly Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahma Sūtra (c. 4th century CE).
Influence
Bhedābheda ideas had an enormous influence on the devotional (bhakti) schools of India’s medieval period. Among medieval Bhedābheda thinkers are:
- Ramanuja (11th century), who pioneered the Sri Vaishnava school of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
- Nimbārka (13th century), who founded the Dvaitadvaita school[1]
- Vallabha (1479-1531), who founded Shuddhadvaita and the Puṣṭimārga devotional sect now centered in Nathdwara, Rajasthan
- Caitanya (1485-1533), the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism based in the eastern Indian State of West Bengal , and the theological founder of Achintya Bheda Abhedavedanta[2]
Other major names are Bhāskara (8th and 9th centuries),[1] Rāmānuja’s teacher Yādavaprakāśa,[1] and Vijñānabhikṣu (16th century).[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bhedabheda Vedanta". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
- ↑ Sivananda 1993, p. 247-253.
Sources
- Sivananda, Swami (1993), All About Hinduism, The Divine Life Society
Further reading
- Nicholson, Andrew J. (2010), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press
- Complete English Translation of Sri Subodhini jee, published in Collected Works of Sri Vallabhcharya series, Sri Satguru Publications