Bhedabheda

Part of a series on
Hindu philosophy
Orthodox
Samkhya Yoga Nyaya Vaisheshika Mimamsa Vedanta Advaita Vishishtadvaita Dvaita Vedanta Bhedabheda Dvaitadvaita Achintya Bheda Abheda Shuddhadvaita
Heterodox
Charvaka Ājīvika Buddhism Jainism
Other schools Vaishnava Smarta Shakta Īśvara Shaiva: Pratyabhijña Pashupata Siddhanta Tantra
Teachers (Acharyas) Nyaya Akṣapāda Gotama Jayanta Bhatta Raghunatha Siromani Mīmāṃsā Jaimini Kumārila Bhaṭṭa Prabhākara Advaita Vedanta Gaudapada Adi Shankara Vācaspati Miśra Vidyaranya Sadananda Madhusūdana Sarasvatī Vijnanabhiksu Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ramana Maharshi Siddharudha Chinmayananda Nisargadatta Vishishtadvaita Nammalvar Alvars Yamunacharya Ramanuja Vedanta Desika Pillai Lokacharya Manavala Mamunigal Dvaita Madhvacharya Jayatirtha Vyasatirtha Sripadaraja Vadirajatirtha Vijayendra Tirtha Raghavendra Swami Padmanabha Tirtha Naraharitirtha Achintya Bheda Abheda Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Jiva Goswami Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada Tantra Shakta Abhinavagupta Nigamananda Paramahansa Ramprasad Sen Bamakhepa Kamalakanta Bhattacharya Anandamayi Ma Others Samkhya Kapila Yoga Patanjali Vaisheshika Kanada, Prashastapada Dvaitadvaita Nimbarka Shuddhadvaita Vallabha Acharya
Major texts Sruti Smriti Vedas Rigveda Yajurveda Samaveda Atharvaveda Upanishads Principal Upanishads Minor Upanishads Other scriptures Bhagavat Gita Agama (Hinduism) Shastras and Sutras Brahma Sutras Samkhya Sutras Mimamsa Sutras Nyāya Sūtras Vaiśeṣika Sūtra Yoga Sutras Pramana Sutras Puranas Dharma Shastra Artha Śastra Kamasutra Tirumurai Shiva Samhita
Hinduism Other Indian philosophies

Bhedābheda Vedānta is a subschool of Vedānta, which teaches that the individual self (jīvātman) is both different and not different from the ultimate reality known as Brahman.

Etymology

Bhedābheda (Devanagari: भेदाभेद) is a Sanskrit word meaning "difference and non-difference".^[1]

Philosophy

The characteristic position of all the different Bhedābheda Vedānta schools is that the individual self (jīvātman) is both different and not different from the ultimate reality known as Brahman. Bhedābheda reconciles the positions of two other major schools of Vedānta. The Advaita (Non-dual) Vedānta that claims that the individual self is completely identical to Brahman, and the Dvaita (Dualist) Vedānta that teaches complete difference between the individual self and Brahman. Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahma Sūtra (c. 4th century CE) may also have been written from a Bhedābheda Vedāntic viewpoint.^[1]

Each thinker within the Bhedābheda Vedānta tradition has their own particular understanding of the precise meanings of the philosophical terms "difference" and "non-difference". Bhedābheda Vedāntic ideas can traced to some of the very oldest Vedāntic texts, including quite possibly Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahma Sūtra (c. 4th century CE).

Influence

Bhedābheda ideas had an enormous influence on the devotional (bhakti) schools of India’s medieval period. Among medieval Bhedābheda thinkers are:

• Ramanuja (11th century), who pioneered the Sri Vaishnava school of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
• Nimbārka (7th century), who founded the Svābhābika Dvaitādvaita school.^[2]
• Bhāskara (8th and 9th centuries), who founded the Aupādhika Bhedābheda school.^[1]
• Vallabha (1479-1531), who founded Shuddhadvaita and the Puṣṭimārga devotional sect now centered in Nathdwara, Rajasthan
• Caitanya (1485-1533), the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism based in the eastern Indian State of West Bengal , and the theological founder of Achintya Bheda Abhedavedanta^[3]

Other major names are Rāmānuja’s teacher Yādavaprakāśa,^[1] and Vijñānabhikṣu (16th century).^[1]

References

Sources

Further reading

• Nicholson, Andrew J. (2010), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press
• Complete English Translation of Sri Subodhini jee, published in Collected Works of Sri Vallabhcharya series, Sri Satguru Publications

External links

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Bhedabheda