
DVAITADVAITA OF NIMBARKA


INTRODUCTION:

Nimbarka's philosophical position is known as `Dvaita-advaita' or
`Bhedabheda.' The categories of existence, according to him, are three, i.e.,
`Cit,' `Acit,' and `Isvara.' Cit and Acit are different from Isvara, in
the sense that they have attributes and capacities, which are different from
those of Isvara. Isvara is independent and exists by Himself, while Cit and
Acit have existence dependent upon Him. At the same time Cit and Acit are not
different from Isvara, because they cannot exist independently of Him.
Difference means a kind of existence which is separate but dependent
(`para-tantra-satta-bhava'), while non-difference means impossibility of
independent existence (`svatantra-satta-bhava'). Thus Nimbarka equally
emphasises both difference and non-difference (as against Ramanuja, who makes
difference subordinate to non-difference), inasmuch as for him Cit and
Acit do not exist separately from Brahman, but its body or attributes. Thus
according to Nimbarka, the relation between Brahman, on the one hand, and
the souls (`cit') and universe (`acit') on the other, is a relation of natural
difference-non-difference (`Svabhavika-bhedabheda'), just like between snake
and coil, or between sun and its rays. Just as the coil is nothing but
the snake, yet different from it, just as the different kinds of stones,
though nothing but earth, are yet different from it, so the souls and
the universe, though nothing but Brahman (`brahmatmaka'), are different from
Him because of their own peculiar natures and attributes.

Thus, according to Nimbarka, there are three equally real and co-eternal
realities, viz. Brahman, the cit and the acit. Brahman is the Controller
(`Niyantr'), the `cit' the enjoyer (`bhoktr') and the `acit' the object
enjoyed (`bhogya').

Nimbarka accepts `parinamavada' to explain the cause of animate and inanimate
world, which he says exist in a subtle form in the various capacities
(`saktis') which belong to Brahman in its natural condition. Brahman is
the material cause of the universe in the sense that Brahman brings
the subtle rudiments into the gross form by manifesting these capacities.

For Nimbarka the highest object of worship is Krsna and his consort Radha,
attended by thousands of Gopis, or cowherdesses, of the celestial Vrndavana.
Devotion according to Nimbarka, consists in `prapatti,' or self-surrender.


DEFINITIONS:


1.BRAHMAN:

The Highest Reality, according to Nimbarka, is Brahman, Krsna or Hari,
a personal God. There is nothing that is equal to Him, nothing that is
superior. He is the Lord of all, and Controller of all. He is called
`Brahman' because of the unsurpassed greatness of His nature and qualities,
because He is beyond any limit of any kind of space, time or thing.

Brahman is the sole cause of creation, maintenance and destruction of
the Universe. All beings arise from Him and nothing is superior to Him.
The Lord alone is the First cause, the manifestor of all names and forms,
and none else.

This Brahman is both the `Upadana' (material cause) and the `Nimitta'
(efficient cause). It is the material cause in the sense that it enables its
natural `Saktis,' viz. the cit and the acit in their subtle forms, to be
manifested in gross forms; and it is the efficient cause in the sense that it
unites the individual souls with their respective fruits of actions and means
of enjoyments.

Nimbarka discusses two aspects of Brahman. On one hand, Brahman is eternal
and great, the greatest of the great, the Highest of the high, the Creator,
etc. of the Universe, high above the individual soul, of which He is the Lord
and the Ruler. But, on the other aspect He is the abode of infinite beauty,
bliss and tenderness, and in intimate connection with the soul. He is
the abode of supreme peace, supreme grace, and the ocean of all sweetness and
charms.

Thus, Brahman possessed of attributes and adorable by all, has four forms or
`vyuhas' (ie., Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha) and appears
under various incarnation as Matsya, Kurma etc.


2. JIVA (CIT):

The cit or individual soul is of the nature of knowledge (`Jnana-svarupa); it
is able to know without the help of the sense-organs and it is in this sense
that words like `Prajnana-ghanah,' `Svayamjyotih,' `Jnanamayah' etc. as
applied to Jiva are to be understood. The Jiva is the knower also; and he can
be both knowledge and the possessor of knowledge at the same time, just as
the sun is both light and the source of light. Thus the soul, who is
knowledge, and his attribute, knowledge, though they are both identical as
knowledge, can be at the same time different and related as the qualified
(`dharmin') and the quality (`dharma'), just as the sun and his light, though
identical as light (`taijasa'), are still different from each other. Thus
there is both a difference and a non-differnce between the `dharmin' and
`dharma'; and the extreme similarity between them implies, not necessarily
their absolute identity, but only a non-perception of their difference.

The Jiva is also Ego (`ahamarthah'). This Ego continues to persist not only
in the state of deep sleep (because our consciousness immediately after
getting up from sleep has the form `I slept happily' or `I knew nothing') but
also in the state of liberation. It even belongs to the Parabrahman. Hence it
is that Krsna refers to Himself so frequently in the first person in the Gita,
of which the chief object is thus Purusottama, who is omniscient and at
the same time non-different from the Ego or `Asmadartha.'

The Jiva is also essentially active (`kartr'). This quality belongs to it in
all its conditions, even after release. But the `kartrtva' is not independent.
The Jiva is also enjoyer (`bhoktr') essentially in all its conditions.

For his knowledge and activity, however, the Jiva depends on Hari; thus,
though resembling Him in being intelligent and knower, he is at the same time
distinguished from Him by his dependence. This quality of dependence or of
being controlled (`Niyamyatva') is the very nature of Jiva even in the state
of release, just as `Niyamyatva' or the quality of being the controller,
forms the eternal nature of Isvara.

The Jiva is atomic in size; at the same time his attribute, knowledge, is
omnipresent, which makes it possible that he can experience pleasure and pain
in any part of the body, just as, for instance, the light of a lamp can
spread far and wide and illumine objects away from the lamp. The Jivas are
different and in different bodies, and so are infinite in number.


3. ACIT: THE JAGAT:

The `acit' is of three different kinds: viz. `prakrta,' `aprakrta,' and
`kala.' Prakrta, or what is derived from Prakrti, the primal matter, Aprakrta
is defined negatively as that which is not the product of Prakrti, but its
real nature is not clearly brought out. These three categories in their
subtle forms are as eternal as the `cit' or the individual souls.
Nimbarka does not explain what exactly the `aprakrta' is, nor does he define
`kala' more precisely, beyond noticing, as pointed out above, that the
`aprakrta' and the `kala' are species of the `acit.' But Purusottamacarya of
the Nimbarka school has in his Vedantaratna-manjusa described `acit aprakrta'
as the material cause of the `dham' (celestial abode) of Brahman and
the bodies and ornaments etc. of Brahman and his associates.

Prakrti, or the primal matter, the stuff of the entire universe, is real and
eternal like the individual souls, and like them, though eternal and unborn,
has yet Brahman for its cause. It consists of the three qualities of sattva,
rajas and tamas, such as prakrit, mahat, ahamkara etc. (just similar to 24
principles of the Samkhyas).


4. BONDAGE:

The Jiva has his true form distorted and obscured owing to his contact with
`karma' resulting from ignorance, which is beginningless, but which can come
to an end, by the grace of God, when its true nature is fully manifested.


5. MUKTI:

To attain deliverance, the Jiva has to commence with a complete submission to
the Paramatman, or `prapatti,' whose six constituents are:

a) a resolution to yield (`anukulasya samkalpah')
b) the avoidance of opposition (`pratikulasya varjanam')
c) faith that God will protect (`raksisyati ity visvasah')
d) acceptance of Him as saviour (`goptrtva-varanam')
e) throwing one's whole soul upon him (`atmaniksepah') and
f) a sense of helplessness (`karpanya').

God's grace extends itself to those who are possessed of these 6 constituents
of `prapatti,' i.e., who are `prapanna;' and by that grace is generated
`bhakti' consisting of special life for him, which ultimately ends in
the realisation (`saksatkara') of the Paramatman. For a devotee knowledge of
the following 5 things is quite necessary:

a) the nature of the supreme soul, [note: nama, rupa, guna, lila]
b) the nature of the individual soul,
c) the fruit of God's grace or Moksa (which is an uninterrupted realization
   of the nature and attributes of Brahman, following from the absolute
   destruction of all action and the consequent extinction of all nescience),
d) the feeling of enjoyment consequent on Bhakti and
e) the nature of the obstacles in the way of the attainment of 
   God, such as:

   - regarding the body and the mind as the soul
   - depending on someone who is neither God nor the preceptor, 
   - neglecting their commands, and
   - considering God as nothing more than an ordinary being.
   
Sri Nimbarka also refers to 4 other methods of Sadhanas: viz.

(1) `karma' (performed conscientiously in a proper spirit, with one's varna
     and ashrama thereby giving rise to knowledge which is a means to
     salvation),
(2) `vidya' or knowledge (not as a subordinate factor of karma but as an
     independent means),
(3) `upasana' or `dhyana' (3 kinds):
     (a) meditation on the Lord as one's self, i.e. meditation on the Lord
         as the Inner Controller of the sentient,
     (b) meditation on the Lord as the Inner Controller of the non-sentient
     (c) meditation on Lord Himself, as different from the sentient and
         non-sentient.
(4) `gurupasatti' (devotion and self surrender to Guru).

        
