[Advaita-l] {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Advaita vs Visistadvaita summary by Vasudeva Abhyankar Shastri

[V Subrahmanian]

Dear Sudhanshu JI,

In the pdf attached to the first post of this thread, the VA item no.32
says  मुक्तावपि जीवब्रह्मणोर्भेदोऽस्त्येव | The jiva-Brahman difference
persists in mukti too.  So, they do not accept abheda.

In item 11 it says परमात्मैवेश्वरः । तच्छरीरभूतो जीववर्गो जडवर्गश्च ततो
भिन्न एवेति चिदचिदीश्वररूपं तत्त्वत्रयम् ।

So, the jagat is also different from Brahman.

The jiva and jagat are not atyanta bhinna from Brahman as in Dvaita but
bhinna and abhinna from diff standpoints.

warm regards
subbu

On Fri, 12 Dec, 2025, 9:38 pm Sudhanshu Shekhar, <sudhanshu.iitk at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hari Om Subbu ji.
>
> This is almost like Dvaita; they accept a svarupa deha to the Atman which
>>> manifests only in mukti.
>>>
>>
> The advaita of VishishTAdvaita is actually the advaita of
> vishishTa-Brahman. That is only one.
>
> With respect to the visheshaNa, there are infinite differences. Two
> visheshaNAs are mutually distinct. Also, there is difference between
> visheshya and visheshaNa.
>
> For dvaita people, they hold 5 sorts of differences, namely
> jIva-jIva-bheda, jIva-Ishwara-bheda, jaDa-Ishwara-bheda, jaDa-jaDa-bheda
> and jIva-jaDa-bheda (Vishnu Tattva NirNaya, page 31,
> Pancha-bheda-nirUpaNam).
>
> I feel VishishTAdvaita would admit jIva-jIva-bheda, jaDa-jaDa-bheda and
> jIva-jaDa-bheda. But they would not admit jIva-Ishwara-bheda or
> jaDa-Ishwara-bheda on account of jIva and jaDa being sahrIra of Ishwara and
> hence being Ishwara-Atmaka.
>
>
> In Dvaita too jivas are jnana-ananda svarupa. On such counts as this and
>>> chetanatva, they say there are some similarities between jiva and Ishwara
>>> too.
>>>
>>
>
> True. However, the dvaitIs would explicitly admit that jIva and Ishwara
> have bheda.
>
> VishishTAdvaita would merely state the existence of jIva-jIva-bheda but
> would term this swarUpa-bheda as वाचाम् अगोचरः।
>
>
>  Is it that because it is not possible to talk about the difference/s
>> between two jivas that they don't spell what differentiates one jiva from
>> another, in mukti too?
>>
>
> Yes. It seems so to me.
>
>
> Thanks for the clarifications.  I was reminded of the Sarva Darshana
>>>> Sangraha (of Madhavacharya) which says under Ramanuja Darshanam that this
>>>> is a bhedābheda school and takes the Vedartha sangraha of Ramanuja for
>>>> this.  The commentary there by Sri Vasudeva Shastri Abhyankar confirms
>>>> that.
>>>
>>>
> The visheshya-Brahman as per them is kUtastha-chaitanya. It is immutable.
> The visheshya-Brahman seems quite analogous to nirguNa-Brahman of advaita.
> However, a lot of concepts are invoked to make the
> kUtastha-visheshya-Brahman as with guNa. And there is no advaita of this
> visheshya-Brahman as it is distinct from chit-jIva and achit-prakriti.
>
> A kUtastha-visheshya-Brahman having a second to it cannot be infinite. And
> hence cannot be kUtastha either. So, there are a lot of contradictions and
> to me, it does not appear worth spending any time.
>
> Regards.
> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
>
>
>