Vishishta - Advaita - - -

July 13, 2006

I. Advaita of Sankara says that the Lord and the human being become one and the same in the case of human incarnation. Example is Rama. In this case God pervades all over the human body.

II. Visishta Advaita of Ramanuja says that the Lord is present in the heart of human being as in the case of human incarnation, for example Hanuman, who tore His heart and showed Rama in that.

III. Dwaita of Madhvacharya says that the Lord is separate in the heaven and sends His servant to this earth as a messenger. For example, Balarama is the Adi Sesha who is the servant of Lord Vishnu in heaven and is the human incarnation.

A mother feeds her child singing that the moon will come down from the sky if the child eats the food. She is worried about the welfare of her child and does not bother about the truth. The mother grows this body, which is perished by this birth. But a teacher (Guru) grows the soul by knowledge, which is permanent in all births, and the knowledge accompanies the soul forever. The love and compassion of a Guru on his student is million times more than that of the mother. ‘Sadguru’ is the God of the mother who came down as the teacher and the love of the Sadguru is beyond description. Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva are the three incarnations of the three divine forms (viz. Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) of the same Sadguru, who is Lord Dattatreya (Datta). The commentaries of these three Gurus may look different, which are meant for the people with different mental maturity at different times. But the essence in these three commentaries is one and the same.

First, Sankaracharya came, who was the incarnation of Lord Shiva in human form. India was full of atheists who were either Buddhists or Purva mimamsakas. An atheist can never tolerate the greatness of God and so denies His existence. Sankara said, “I am Shiva” (“Sivoham…”). Can an atheist tolerate this and accept that another man is God? But, the Sadguru should also uplift the atheist. Sankara made a trick. He told that every man is God. An atheist likes his own greatness and so becomes the follower of Sankara. Atleast some atheists changed. Sankara equally distributed God, which is like a treasure to all. There is a secret in this trick. When an atheist says, “I am God” he has accepted God!

Sankara: Do you exist?

Atheist: Yes I exist.

Sankara: You are God. So God exists.

So, at that time, the goal of Sankara, was only the first step i.e., atheists should become theists. When a bull is running, you have to run along with it for sometime and then only you can stop it. Similarly, you have to follow an egoistic person for sometime and then only you can bring him gradually into your grip. The psychology of a student is well understood by a good teacher. This is the concept of incarnation (Avatara). Ava= down, Tara= coming i.e., coming down to the psychological level of the student. As we go down, the truth is to be hidden and the upliftment of the student becomes more important.

Some disciples became fully pure and got rid of jealousy and ego in course of time through constantly serving Sankara and they were eligible to grasp the truth. Sankara revealed the truth to such deserving disciples. Sankara swallowed molten lead and asked them to swallow the same if they were God.. The disciples were unable to swallow the same and fell at the feet of Sankara since they grasped the truth. But, Sankara limited this revelation of the truth to some of His close deserving disciples only, since others were not able to grasp the truth due to their egoism. Sankara left the earth at this stage.

In course of time, people got rid of their egoism and jealousy to some extent but not completely. Ramanuja came and told that every man is a spark of God. This is like ‘Socialism’ in which some wealth of a rich man is donated to the poor. After some time, when people almost got rid of their egoism and jealousy completely, Madhva came down and told that man is not at all connected to God and man is only a servant of God. This is like ‘capitalism’ in which a wealthy man remains rich and the poor people always remain poor. These three philosophies apply to different people at any time, which vary as per their mentalities. Anytime, all types of people are present in this world.

An egoistic person likes Sankara in his own case. He likes to be God. He does not like Madhva since he does not want to be a servant of God. He likes Madhva in the case of Lord Krishna who looks like a man and does not like Sankara there. He likes Krishna to be called as a servant of God and not to be called as God. This entire case is reversed in the case of a person who got rid of egoism. He likes Madhva in his case and likes Sankara in the case of Lord Krishna. He thinks that he is the servant of God and that Krishna is God. Hanuman is the best example. He believed Madhva in His own case and Sankara in the case of Lord Rama. He always thought that He was the servant of Lord Rama and that Rama was God and not a man. Hanuman is the practical Guru for every human being. Sankara gave the identification mark of God in human form stating, “Jnanadeva tu Kaivalyam”, which means that one has to unite the God (that is to join the God) by His knowledge. Veda says that knowledge

is Brahman. That means, you have to recognize the Lord in Human form by His knowledge and not by His miracles etc.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

surya

http://www.universal-spirituality.org

beirutkababa <no_reply> wrote:

, "Sankar Viswanathan"

<sankarrukku wrote:

Thanks sankarrukku ji for elaborating it further.

will you please throw some light on Vishishta-Advaita and its

relation/difference with Advaita & Dvaita?

with love

baba