Bhakti List Archives

re Mr Roberto's query

From the Bhakti List Archives

A.Bharat • Wed Oct 27 1999 - 01:50:01 PDT 


The simplest answer to your query is that ,whatever
Sri Radhakrishnan may say,it is not possible to
reconcile the views of Advaita and Vishishtadvaita,for
the following basic reason:

Vishishtadvaita posits three entities,Brahman,Jiva and
Prakriti,all three real,and present one within the
other comprising a single body,whose soul is the
innermost entity,Brahman.

Advaita says,on the other hand,that out of 
 these,only Brahman exists,and the other two are fictitious-

It however posits a fourth entity MAyA which neither
exists nor does not exist- but only "appears to exist"
Since this is a transitive construction,one has
to say "to whom?" it appears.Certainly not to the
JIva which itself is a creature of MAyA; it can't
be to Brahman who is pure knowledge and hence can't
be accused of "seeing things".so it seems to hang
in the air.

Vishishtadvaita can't fit it into its well-defined
system either.So one doesn't see any kind of
reconciliation as you mention.

EmberumAnAr TiruvaDigaLE SaraNam!
BHARAT