advaita & visishtadvaita

From the Bhakti List Archives

• October 31, 2000


Dear friends
I have the following two doubts 

1)What does visishtadvaita exactly mean and what are some of the basic differences
between advaita and visishtadvaita .I have read a lot of articles on this regard form the previous bhakthi
mails but  I cannot understand what exactly is meant by the terms "duality" , "non-duality" etc.
Can anybody explian them in simpler terms 

2) I have always felt that there is only one supreme God and it is just that people of 
diffrent religions call him by diffrent names.For examle we call him Narayna,Muslims call him Allah etc.
I think even according to Hinduism there is only One Supreme Brahman andNarayana,Siva ,Brahma are only manifestations of that brahman.Then why does Vaishnavism says that only Naryana is Supreme?.Why are  we expected to worship god only in the form of Naraynanif Narayana is only a name by which we call that one Supreme being. 

Doesn't Advaita seem to be logical in saying the there is only one Supreme being without Name ,form and qualities and Naryana ,siva are merely manifestations of that Brahman and so the question of who is Supreme never comes into play.please enlighten me.Pardon my ignorance.

I request scholars in the group to help me in understanding our philosophy
and convince me ours is more correct and logical. 

Badri
 



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