Ajay Kumar at 05:46, 6 September 2023

2023-09-06T05:46:15Z

New page

{{Short description|Philosophical school of Vendata}}
{{Vaishnavism}}
{{Hindu philosophy}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
'''Achintya-Bheda-Abheda''' (अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद, ''{{IAST|acintyabhedābheda}}'' in [[IAST]]) is a school of [[Vedanta]] representing the philosophy of ''inconceivable one-ness and difference''.<ref name=Gupta2007>{{cite book
| author = Gupta, Ravi M.
| year = 2007
| title = Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami's Catursutri tika
| publisher = Routledge
| isbn = 978-0-415-40548-5
}}pp. 47-52</ref> In [[Sanskrit]] ''achintya'' means 'inconceivable',<ref name=Gupta2007/> ''bheda'' translates as 'difference', and ''abheda'' translates as 'non-difference'.
[[File:Gauranga.jpg|thumb|Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534 CE), the founder of Achintya Bheda Abheda school and [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]]]]
The [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism|Gaudiya Vaishnava]] religious tradition employs the term in relation to the relationship of creation and creator ([[Krishna]], [[Svayam Bhagavan]]),<ref name=Kaviraja>{{cite book
| author = Kaviraja, K.G.
| title = Sri Caitanya-caritamrita. Bengali text, translation, and commentary by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
| publisher = [[Bhaktivedanta Book Trust]]
}}[http://vedabase.net/cc/madhya/20/108-109/en1 ''Madhya'' 20.108-109] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511153501/http://vedabase.net/cc/madhya/20/108-109/en1 |date=11 May 2008 }} "It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Krishna because he is the marginal energy of Krishna and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire."</ref><ref>{{IAST|Kṛṣṇa Upaniṣad}} 1.25: ''{{IAST|...na bhinnam. nā bhinnamābhirbhinno na vai vibhuḥ}}''</ref> between God and his energies.<ref name=Prabhupada1972>{{cite book
| author = Prabhupada, A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami
| year = 1972
| title = Bhagavad-gita as it is
| url = https://archive.org/details/bhagavadgitaasit00acbh
| url-access = registration
| publisher = Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Los Angeles, Calif
| isbn = 9780912776804
}}[http://vedabase.net/bg/7/8/en1 7.8] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719230711/http://vedabase.net/bg/7/8/en1 |date=19 July 2013 }}</ref> It is believed that this philosophy was taught by the movement's theological founder [[Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]]<ref name="Caitanya Mahaprabhu">{{Cite web|url=http://www.krishna.com/who-lord-chaitanya |title=Additional information |access-date=April 16, 2008 |publisher=Krishna.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020607045307/http://www.krishna.com/printarticles/Lord_Chaitanya.html |archive-date=7 June 2002 }} "Lord Chaitanya taught that as spirit souls we are part of God and thus we are not different with Him in quality, and yet at the same time we are also different from Him in quantity. This is called acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva, inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and difference."</ref> (1486–1534) and differentiates the Gaudiya tradition from the other [[Vaishnavism#Four sampradayas and other sects|Vaishnava Sampradayas]]. It can be understood as an integration of the strict dualist (''[[dvaita]]'') theology of [[Madhvacharya]] and the qualified monism (''[[vishishtadvaita]]'') of [[Ramanuja]].<ref name = SDG>
{{Cite book
| first = dasa Goswami
| last = Satsvarupa
| author-link = Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
| title =Readings in Vedit Literature: The Tradition Speaks for Itself
| year = 1976| pages = 240 pages | isbn = 0-912776-88-9
}}</ref>

==Historical perspective==
Historically within [[Hinduism]] there are two conflicting philosophies regarding the relationship between living beings ([[jiva]] or [[Atman (Hinduism)|atma]]) and God ([[Ishvara]], [[Brahman]] or [[Bhagavan]]). [[Advaita]] schools assert the monistic view that ''the individual soul and God are one and the same'',<ref name="The True Way of Advaita">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tatfoundation.org/forum2006-07.htm |title=Additional information|access-date=April 16, 2008|publisher=Tatfoundation| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080512020519/http://www.tatfoundation.org/forum2006-07.htm| archive-date= 12 May 2008 | url-status= live}} "This interpretation of the Upanishads, that the individual soul and God are absolutely non-different, is what distinguishes advaita from other forms of Vedanta."</ref> whereas [[Dvaita]] schools give the dualistic argument that ''the individual soul and God are eternally separate''.<ref name="Dvaita views">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dvaita.org/overview.shtml|title=Additional information|access-date=April 16, 2008|publisher=dvaita.org| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080412042950/http://www.dvaita.org/overview.shtml| archive-date= 12 April 2008 | url-status= live}} "Dvaita,... asserts that the difference between the individual soul or Jiva, and the Creator, or Ishvara, is eternal and real"</ref> The philosophy of Achintya-bheda-abheda includes elements of both viewpoints. The living soul is intrinsically linked with the Supreme Lord, and yet at the same time is not the same as God - the exact nature of this relationship being inconceivable to the human mind. The Soul is considered to be part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Same in quality but not in quantity. God having all opulence in fullness, the spirit soul however, having only a partial expression of His divine opulence. God in this context is compared to a fire and the souls as sparks coming off of the flame.

==Philosophy==
The theological view of ''achintya-bheda-abheda tattva'' asserts that God is simultaneously "one with and different from His creation". God's separate existence in His own personal form is not denied, even as, creation (or what is termed in Vaishnava theology as the 'cosmic manifestation') is never separate from God. God always exercises supreme control over his creation. Sometimes this control is directly exercised, but most of the time it is indirect, through his different potencies or energies ([[Prakrti]]). In ''[[Mundaka Upanishad]]'' verse 1.1.7, examples are given of a spider and its web; earth and plants that come forth and hair on the body of human being.<ref>''yathorṇa-nābhiḥ sṛjate gṛhṇate ca yathā pṛthivyām oṣadhayaḥ sambhavanti yathā sataḥ puruṣāt keśa-lomāni tathākṣarāt sambhavatīha viśvam'' - Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.7</ref>

"One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction. Therefore Lord Caitanya established His sublime doctrine: acintya bheda-and-abheda-tattva -- simultaneous oneness and difference." ([[A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]])<ref name = Prabhupada1972/> An analogy often used as an explanation in this context in the relationship between the Sun and the Sunshine.<ref name=Prabhupada1988>{{cite book
| author = Prabhupada, A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami
| year = 1988
| title = Srimad Bhagavatam
| publisher = Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
}} [https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/4/31/16/ SB. 4.31.16] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235125/http://srimadbhagavatam.com/4/31/16/en1 |date=26 September 2007 }} "One may be in the sunshine, but he is not on the sun itself."</ref> For example, both the [[sun]] and [[sunshine]] are part of the same reality, but there is a great difference between having a beam of sunshine in your room, and being in close proximity to the sun itself. Qualitatively the Sun and the Sunshine are not different, but as quantities they are very different. This analogy is applied to the living beings and [[God]] - the Jiva is qualitatively similar to the Supreme being, but does not share God's qualities to an [[Infinity|infinite]] extent, as would the Personality of Godhead himself.<ref name = Kaviraja2>{{cite book
| author = Kaviraja, K.G.
| title = Sri Caitanya-caritamrita. Bengali text, translation, and commentary by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
| publisher = [[Bhaktivedanta Book Trust]]
}} [http://www.vedabase.net/cc/madhya/6/163/en1 ''Madhya'' 6.163] "Qualitatively the living entity and the Supreme Lord are one, but in quantity they are different"</ref> Thus there is a difference between the souls and the Supreme Lord.

The essence of Achintya Bheda Abheda are summarized as ten root principles called dasa mula.<ref>Thakura, B. (1993). Jaiva dharma: The universal religion (K. Das, Trans.). Los Angeles, CA: Krishna Institute.</ref>

# The statements of ''amnaya'' (scripture) are the chief proof. By these statements the following nine topics are taught.
# Krishna is the Supreme Absolute Truth.
# Krishna is endowed with all energies.
# Krishna is the source of all [[rasa (theology)|rasa]]- flavor, quality, or spiritual rapture/emotions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Relationships with Krishna, see also Rasas {{!}} Krishna.com |url=http://www.krishna.com/topic-term/relationships-krishna-see-also-rasas |website=www.krishna.com |access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref>
# The [[jiva]]s (individual souls) are all separated parts of the Lord.
# In the bound state (non-liberated) the ''jivas'' are under the influence of matter, due to their [[tatastha]] (marginal) nature.
# In the liberated state the ''jivas'' are free from the influence of matter.
# The ''jivas'' and the material world are both different from and identical to the Lord.
# Pure devotion is the only way to attain liberation.<ref>{{cite web |title="The Only Way To Understand God" BY SRILA PRABHUPADA . |url=https://iskcondesiretree.com/groups/India/forum/the-only-way-to-understand-god-2 |website=ISKCON Desire Tree {{!}} IDT |access-date=5 November 2020 |date=11 April 2011}}</ref>
# Pure love of Krishna is the ultimate goal.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ultimate Goal of Life {{!}} Krishna.com |url=http://www.krishna.com/taxonomy/term/104 |website=www.krishna.com |access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref>

==Difference in concept to Advaita Vedanta==
It is clearly distinguished from the concept of ''anirvacaniya'' (inexpressible) of [[Advaita Vedanta]]. There is a clear difference between the two concepts as the two ideas arise for different reasons. [[Advaita]] concept is related to the ontological status of the world, whereas both [[Svayam bhagavan|Svayam Bhagavan]] and his [[shakti]]s (in Lord himself and his powers) are empirically real, and they are different from each other, but at the same time they are the same. Yet, this does not negate the reality of both.<ref name=Gupta2007/><ref name = "IST">{{cite book
|editor = S. Devadas Pillai
|title=Indian Sociology Through Ghurye: A Dictionary
|publisher=South Asia Books
|location=Columbia, Mo
|year=1997
|isbn=81-7154-807-5
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3uD22Ghqs4C&pg=PA283
|page=403
}}</ref>

==Exceptions==
While it applied to relations between [[Purusha]] (the Lord) and [[Prakriti]] (be it material, marginal, or spiritual powers), in the theology of the concept there are areas of exceptions. [[Jiva Goswami]] also accepts that any object and its energy are non-different, such as fire and power of burning. While some maintain that its only a secondary extension of the principle that it is primarily applied to [[Svayam bhagavan]] and His energies. It does not, however, apply to differences between [[Avatar]]s of [[Svayam bhagavan]] and Lord Himself.

==Miscellaneous==
The phrase is used as the chorus line in [[Kula Shaker]]'s 1996 hit song [[Tattva (song)|Tattva]]. "Achintya-bheda-abheda-tattva".

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Dvaita]]
* [[Dvaitadvaita]]
* [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]]
* [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness]]
* [[Panentheism]]
* [[Paramatma]]
* [[Shuddhadvaita]]
* [[Svayam Bhagavan]]
* [[Turiya]]
* [[Vishishtadvaita]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.stephen-knapp.com/god_is_both_%20personal_(Bhagavan)_and_impersonal_(Brahman).htm God Is Both Personal and Impersonal] (stephen-knapp.com)

{{Indian Philosophy}}
{{VaisnavaSampradayas}}

[[Category:Vaishnavism]]
[[Category:Vedanta]]
[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Bhakti movement]]

Achintya Bheda Abheda - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 05:46, 6 September 2023