Danda 1995 - Suhotra Maharaja Archives

Indologist and Sanskritist at the Uni Bonn who is fully trained up in Mayavadiphilosophy, and yet (up to a few years ago, anyway) is friendly to devotees.2) Keeping a book in a library is one thing; allowing devotees to study it isanother. Lord Caitanya said *mayavadi bhasya sunile haya sarva nash*, "hearingthe Mayavadi bhasya of Sankara brings spiritual destruction."3) This is a big question. As an answer, I'll put here a text I wrote for theISKCON Homepage on the internet World Wide Web. It briefly compares the Vedantadoctrines of the 4 Vaisnava sampradayas with Lord Caitanya's sampradaya.Personal vs. Impersonal Vedanta, and the Four Vaisnava SampradayasWhat is Vedanta?The highest degree of Vedic education, traditionally reserved for the sannyasis(renunciates), is mastery of the texts known as the Upanisads. The Upanisadsteach the philosophy of the Absolute Truth (Brahman) to those seeking liberationfrom birth and death. Study of the Upanisads is known as Vedanta, `theconclusion of the Veda.' The word *upanisad* means `that which is learned bysitting close to the teacher.' The texts of the Upanisads are extremelydifficult to fathom; they are to be understood only under the close guidance ofa spiritual master (guru). Because the Upanisads contain many apparentlycontradictory statements, the great sage Vyasadeva (also known as Vedavyasa,Badarayana and Dvaipayana) systematized the Upanisadic teachings in the Vedantasutraor Brahma-sutra. Vyasa's sutras are very terse. Without a fullerexplanation, their meaning is difficult to grasp. In India there are five mainschools of Vedanta, each established by an acarya (founder) who explained thesutras in a bhasya (commentary).Of the five schools, one, namely Adi Sankara's, is impersonalist. Sankara taughtthat Brahman has no name, form nor personál characteristics. His school isopposed by the four Vaisnava sampradayas founded by Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarkaand Visnusvami. Unlike the impersonalist school, Vaisnava Vedanta admits thevalidity of Vedic statements that establish difference (bheda) within Brahman,as well those that establish nondifference (abheda). Taking the bheda andabheda statements together, the Vaisnava Vedantists distinguish between threefeatures of the one Vastu Brahman (Divine Substance): 1) Visnu as the SupremeSoul (Para Brahman), 2) the individual self as the subordinate soul (JivaBrahman), and 3) matter as creative nature (Mahad Brahman). The philosophies ofthe four Vaisnava sampradayas dispel the sense of mundane limitation ordinarilyassociated with the word `person.' Visnu is accepted by all schools of VaisnavaVedanta as the transcendental, unlimited Purusottama (Supreme Person), while theindividual souls and matter are His conscious and unconscious energies (cidacidsakti).What is Siddhanta?Each of the Vedantist schools is known for its siddhanta or `essentialconclusion' about the relationships between God and the soul, the soul andmatter, matter and matter, matter and God, and the soul and souls. Sankara'ssiddhanta is Advaita, `nondifference' (i.e. everything is one, therefore thesefive relationships are unreal). All the other siddhantas support the reality ofthese relationships from various points of view. Ramanuja's siddhanta isVisistadvaita, `qualified nondifference.' Madhva's siddhanta is Dvaita,`difference.' Visnusvami's siddhanta is Suddhadvaita, `purified nondifference.'And Nimbarka's siddhanta is Dvaita-advaita, `difference-and-identity.'The Bengali branch of Madhva's sampradaya is known as the Brahma- Madhva-GaudiyaSampradaya, or the Caitanya Sampradaya. In the 1700's this school presentedIndian philosophers with a commentary on Vedanta-sutra written by Baladeva