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Dvaita
For the school of Vedanta founded by Madhwacharya,see
Tatva-vada.
Dvaita (Sanskrit: ) (also known as Bheda-vda,Tattva-vda and
Bimba-pratibimba-vda) is a school ofVedanta founded by Shri
Madhvacharya (c. 1238-1317CE) who was also known as Purna Prajna
and AnandaTirtha. Dvaita stresses a strict distinction between
Godthe Supreme-Soul (paramtm ())and the in-dividual souls (jiivatma
()). According to Mad-hvacharya, the individual souls of beings are
not 'created'by God but do, nonetheless, depend on Him for their
ex-istence.
1 Philosophy
Dvaita Vedanta (dualistic conclusions of the Vedas) es-pouses
dualism by theorizing the existence of two sep-arate realities. The
rst and the more important realityis that of Vishnu or Brahman.
Vishnu is the supremeSelf, God, the absolute truth of the universe,
the inde-pendent reality. The second reality is that of
dependentbut equally real universe that exists with its own
separateessence. Everything that is composed of the second
real-ity, such as individual soul (Jiva), matter, etc. exist
withtheir own separate reality. The distinguishing factor ofthis
philosophy as opposed to Advaita Vedanta (monisticconclusion of
Vedas) is that God takes on a personal roleand is seen as a real
eternal entity that governs and con-trols the universe.[1]
Like Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya also embracedVaishnava
theology which understood God as beingpersonal and endowed with
attributes. ToMadhvacharya,Brahman of the Vedanta was same as
Vishnu. He stated"brahmashabdashcha vishhnaveva" or that Brahman
canonly refer to Vishnu. To him, Vishnu was not justany other
deity, but rather the singularly all-importantSupreme One. Vishnu
was the primary object of wor-ship, while the demigods were
regarded as subordinateto Him. The demigods and other sentient
beings weregraded, with Vayu, the god of life, being the highest,
andVishnu being eternally above them.Dvaita Vedanta is not similar
to Western dualism whichposits the existence of two independent
realities or prin-ciples. Madhvas Dualism also acknowledges two
prin-ciples, however, it holds one of them (the sentient) asbeing
rigorously and eternally dependent on the other
(Vishnu/Brahman). Because the existence of individualsis
grounded in the divine, they are depicted as reections,images or
even shadows of the divine, but never in anyway identical with the
divine. Liberation therefore is de-scribed as the realization that
all nite reality is essentiallydependent on the Supreme.[2]
Five fundamental, eternal and real dierences are de-scribed in
this system
Between the individual soul (or jvatma) and God(Brahmatma shvara
or Vishnu).
Between matter (inanimate, insentient) and God. Among individual
souls (jvatma) Between matter and jva. Among various types of
matter.
These ve dierences are said to make up the universe.The universe
is aptly called "prapancha" for this reason.Madhva diered
signicantly from traditional Hindu be-liefs, owing to his concept
of eternal damnation. Forexample, he divides souls into three
classes. One classof souls, which qualify for liberation
(Mukti-yogyas), an-other subject to eternal rebirth or eternal
transmigration(Nitya-samsarins) and a third class that is
eventually con-demned to eternal hell or andhatamas
(Tamo-yogyas).[3]No other Hindu philosopher or school of Hinduism
holdssuch beliefs. In contrast, most Hindus believe in
universalsalvation; that all souls will eventually obtain
moksha,even if after millions of rebirths.Vyasatirtha (one of
systems eminent disciples) is said tohave succinctly captured the
basic tenets (nine prameyas)of Madhvas system in a pithy prameya
sloka - "Sri-manMadhvamate Harih paratarah...", that is, Sri Hari
issupreme, a grasp of which may be deemed a fair and ac-curate
understanding of the fundamental position of thissystem.[4]
2 Tharathamya or hierarchyamong gods
Vishnu is the Supreme Lord and Lakshmi is His eternalconsort.
Brahma and Vayu occupy the same next level.Their wives (Saraswati
and Bharathi respectively) occupythe next level.
Garuda-Sesha-Shiva, Indra-Kamadeva,
1
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2 6 OTHER SOURCES
Surya-Chandra, Varuna, Agni, Ganesha-Kubera and oth-ers
successively occupy the lower rungs in this hierarchy.Madhva
propounds that life in the world can be dividedinto two groups,
kshara and akshara. Kshara refers tolife with destructible bodies,
while akshara refers to in-destructible bodies. Laxmi is akshara,
while others fromBrahma and lower are ksharas or jvas. Vishnu is
exemptfrom this classication, as his body is transcendental.
3 Impact of Dvaita movement Madhvas Dualistic view, along with
Shankaras
Advaita (Nondualism) and RamanujasVishishtadvaita (Attributive
Nondualism), formsome of the core Indian beliefs on the nature
ofreality.
Madhva is considered one of the inuential the-ologians in Hindu
history. He revitalized a Hindumonotheism despite attacks,
theological and phys-ical, by outsiders. Great leaders of the
VaishnavaBhakti movement in Karnataka, Purandara Dasaand Kanaka
Dasa for example, were strong propo-nents of the Dvaita tradition.
The famous Hindusaint, Raghavendra Swami, was a leading gure inthe
Dvaita tradition.
Madhvas theology heavily inuenced those of laterscholars such as
Nimbarka, Vallabha and ChaitanyaMahaprabhu. B.N.K. Sharma notes
that Nimbarkastheology is a loose rchau of Madhvas in its
mostessential aspects. Vallabha even borrowed
withoutacknowledgement a verse from Madhvas
sarva-shstrrtha-sangraha. The followers of Caitanyaclaim a link to
Madhva.
Madhvas singular contribution was to oer anew insight and
analysis of the classical Vedan-tic texts, the Vedas, Upanishads,
Brahma Sutra,Mahabharata, Pancharatra and Puranas, and
placeuncompromising Dvaita thought, which had beenravaged by
attacks from Advaita, on a rm footing.Before Madhva, nondualism was
rejected by others,such as the Mimamsa tradition of Vedic
exegesis,and by the Nyaya tradition of classical logic. How-ever,
it was only he who built a cogent, alternativesystem of Vedantic
interpretation that could take onAdvaita in full measure.
Shiva is understood to be a demigod (deva) by followersof
Dvaita. This understanding reveals a strong monothe-istic
understanding that God is personal, unlike Advaita,for which the
identity of God does not matter as it isNirguna or without
attributes.Historically, Dvaita scholars have been involved in
vig-orous debates against other schools of thought, espe-cially
Advaita. Whereas Advaita preaches that Atman
and Brahman are one and the same, which is not evi-dent to the
atman till it comes out of a so-called illusion,Madhvacharya puts
forth that Brahman (Vishnu/God)and Atman (soul) are eternally
dierent, with God al-ways the Superior one. It is the same point
that Mad-hvacharya reinforces in one of his doctrines, "Yadi
Nama-paro Na bhavet Shri Hari, khathamasya vashet Jagatedab-hoot.
Yadi Namanatasya Vashe Sakalam, Khathamevathnitya sukham Na
BhavethIf you feel there is no God, how do you explain as to whyyou
cannot free yourself from the limitations on Earth? Ifyou feel YOU
are the one in control of everything (as Ad-vaita preaches that
Soul and God are one and the same),then how come you don't enjoy
happiness always and arealso subject to sorrow and pain (as God is
supposed to bean eternity of happiness)? "
4 See also Achintya Bheda Abheda Advaita Dvaitadvaita Hindu
philosophy Shivalli Shuddhadvaita Vishishtadvaita
5 References[1] Etter, Christopher. A Study ofQualitative
Non-Pluralism.
iUniverse Inc. P. 59-60. ISBN 0-595-39312-8.
[2] Fowler, Jeaneane D. Perspectives of Reality: An
Intro-duction to the Philosophy of Hinduism. Sussex AcademicPress.
P. 340-344. ISBN 1-898723-93-1.
[3] Tapasyananda, Swami. Bhakti Schools of Vedanta pg.177.
[4] Dvaita Resources. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
6 Other sources Deepak Sarma, An Introduction to Madhva
Vedanta, Ashgate, 2003.
B.N.K. Sharma, `The History of the Dvaita Schoolof Vedanta and
Its Literature', 3rd ed., Motilal Ba-narsidass, 2000.
B.N.K. Sharma, `The Philosophy ofMadhvacharya',Motilal
Banarsidass, 1986.
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3 B.N.K. Sharma, `The Brahma Sutras and TheirPrincipal
Commentaries, 3 vols., MunshiramManoharlal, 1986.
7 External links http://www.dvaita.net Bhakti Schools of
Vedanta, by Swami
Tapasyananda, available at Sri RamakrishnaMath, Chennai.
available at India web site:http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org and
US site:http://www.vedanta.com and
http://www.sanskrit.org/Madhva/madhvateachings.html .
Dvaita.org Tatvavada Madhvas dierences with Sankara and
Ramanuja. vyasapeetham.com A dedicated website on Mad-
hwa Philosophy, Articles, books and detailed dis-courses
onDvaita Philosophy by Sri VishnudasaNa-gendracharya
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