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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Religions & Faiths > Hinduism

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  #1  
Old 28-03-2018, 05:01 PM
Eelco
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Vishishtadvaita

A short while ago I came across the term Qualified Monism.Here..

A quick search revealed another term I hadn't come across. Vishishtadvaita.
From what i gathered from the very sparse amount of explanation of this term it stands for a place in-between duality and non duality. a near non-duality if you will.

In my mind it has become the goto word for explaining that point of view which consists of a feeling of seperation between a self and the divine.

That place is where worship dwells. Where devotion lives.

It is different from ordinary duality where there is a me and a you. Or non duality where all boundaries are dissolved.

Now i Realize i am probably way off the mark where it comes to explaining the term, so I hope those who are more knowledgeable when it comes to the veda's can enlighten me in this regard.

With Love
Eelco

Last edited by Lynn : 29-03-2018 at 02:40 PM.
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  #2  
Old 03-04-2018, 03:27 AM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eelco
A short while ago I came across the term Qualified Monism.Here..

A quick search revealed another term I hadn't come across. Vishishtadvaita.
From what i gathered from the very sparse amount of explanation of this term it stands for a place in-between duality and non duality. a near non-duality if you will.

In my mind it has become the goto word for explaining that point of view which consists of a feeling of seperation between a self and the divine.

That place is where worship dwells. Where devotion lives.

It is different from ordinary duality where there is a me and a you. Or non duality where all boundaries are dissolved.

Now i Realize i am probably way off the mark where it comes to explaining the term, so I hope those who are more knowledgeable when it comes to the veda's can enlighten me in this regard.

With Love
Eelco
Namaste.

Thank you for referencing me and for also giving me the opportunity to discuss and explain this whole philosophical system.

Vishishtadvaita came about during the 10th and 11th century AD (in Christian era) on the back of the Advaita Vedanta (Absolute Monism) philosophy of Adi Shankaracharya. The concept was first introduced by Sri Ramanuja and later refined by Madhavacharya:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanuja

It is based upon the whole 'inconceivable indifference of difference' or the Achintya Bheda-Abheda Tattwa:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achintya_Bheda_Abheda

Adi Shankaracharya expounded the Absolute Monistic View during the first millennia, about 800 AD, but the whole realisation of Self in reference to the Mahavakyas (great sayings) of Vedanta viz: Thou art That and Brahman Alone Exists didn't sit very well with all the Vaishnavas (Vishnu worshippers) of that time (and for a few hundred years after) according to all their holy books - the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata, the Srimad Bhagavatam etc which made reference to a Divine Being called Krishna or Vishnu who at once existed both as being separate from the Individual Soul (Paramatman - Oversoul) AND incorporated within the Individual Soul AS itself (Jivatman - Individual Soul)...and so, the Self became 'part and parcel' of the Supreme Being, but not the Supreme Being in its entirety (as the Advaita Vedantins would have everybody believe and understand, as per the Upanishads).

Even in the Vedas, mention is made of a God (and/or Gods), however, if we all ARE God, why mention it beyond saying 'That Thou Art'? why say 'That Thou Art' and then launch into how great God is because He created the universe? it made absolutely no sense...just like how Adi Shankaracharya makes absolutely no sense. On the one hand, Adi Shankaracharya expounds a beautiful piece of work called Atma/Nirvana Shatakam which is a treatise on Absolute Monism, full stop:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atma_Shatkam

On the other hand, Adi Shankaracharya was a great Shiva Bhakta (devotee) and said this:
https://ramanan50.files.wordpress.co...-728.jpg?w=695

On the one hand, Adi Shankaracharya is saying "I am Shiva" in Atma Shatakam...on the other hand, he is asking for the forgiveness, love and grace of Shiva in the Shiva Aparada Kshamapana Stotram...so, how do we worship and love what is essentially us, but fooling the ego into not believing it to be so? Qualified Monism is how.

So, instead of the drop merging into the ocean which it already is, the ocean still remains the ocean and the drop still remains the drop even after the merging and this is Vishishtadvaita. Qualified Monism says "I am THAT...but so is everything else...yet, I am not everything else, even though I am THAT" viz: "I am God, but God is still God" or turning it totally around and saying "Brahman incorporates what I am in it's fullness (poorna), but I am not Brahman or even separate from it". This is Vishishtadvaita.

This was further elaborated upon by Gaudapada in his Karika (commentary) of the Mandukya Upanishad:
http://www.swamij.com/upanishad-mandukya-karika.htm

अद्वैतं परमार्थो हि द्वैतं तद्भेद उच्यते ।
तेषाम् उभयथा द्वैतं तेनायं न विरुद्ध्यते ॥ १८ ॥


advaitaṃ paramārtho hi dvaitaṃ tadbheda ucyate |
teṣām ubhayathā dvaitaṃ tenāyaṃ na viruddhyate || 18 ||

"As non-duality is the ultimate Reality, therefore duality is said to be its effect (Kārya or Bheda). The dualists perceive duality either way (i.e., both in the Absolute and in the phenomena). Therefore the non-dual position does not conflict with the dualist’s position". - Gaudapada


Qualified Monism is pretty much limited to the Vaishnava Schools of philosophy, as the whole doctrine of Bhakti Yoga is also pretty much limited to the worship of Krishna, Vishnu, Rama, Hanuman etc within Hinduism and there are not many Shiva Bhaktas or traditions of devotional worship of Lord Shiva as a being apart from Shiva as represented by a formless aspect of Consciousness...or a mark of energy (the Shiva Lingam) or something beyond having form, because limiting Shiva to form is seen as a sacrilege by most...but not all. Even though Vishishtadvaita is a totally foreign concept to the Shaivite schools of philosophical thought, some still incorporate it...like the Shaiva Siddhantas, the Lingayats and Tamil Nayanars of South India as well as the Pashupati Sect who tends to worship the Puranic form of Lord Shiva and not the 'form-less' as mentioned by Sruti which says 'neti neti' or 'not this and not that'.

In essence, Absolute Monism focuses on the Nirguna (formless) aspect of Brahman, which is one without second...which is Purusha (inert will) without Prakriti or Shakti (creative emanation). It is Shakti which allows the expression of Shiva and it is Shakti which gives form and function (Saguna) to Shiva outside of being a total vacuum of Void in which nothing, not even Bindu (the smallest dot of anu) exists...and the human mind cannot go there...nothing can really 'go/arrive' there because it's like being sucked into a black hole...not even consciousness can escape it...and so, to love/worship/realise/understand/experience a 'God' or something which perception can actually perceive, the image needs to reflect itself to actually see itself and this is called Spanda Vimarsha...the reflection of vibration into a form. This is when the creative or generative force of Shakti becomes involved, and Shiva is revealed as opposed to being concealed and this then becomes Vishishtadvaita or Qualified Monism.

There's a bit more to it, but I'll type more in a few days, when I can put more credit on my modem and I'm not sitting inside a booth at the local library and my fingers always want to touch two adjacent keys simultaneously when I type, which is getting rather annoying and I'm over it. lol

Aum Namah Shivaya
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  #3  
Old 03-04-2018, 11:35 AM
Eelco
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Thank you Shivani Devi,

Reading this confirms my intuitive response to the little I could learn.
Without going into the intricacies of Brahman and it's various forms.(mailny because I know to little about it.
Vishisadvaida seems to explain why devotional practices can be beneficial and why they feel so good.

With Love
Eelco
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