Bhedabheda

Bhedābheda is more a tradition than a sub-school of Vedānta, which teaches that the individual self (jīvātman) is both different and not different from the ultimate reality known as Brahman.^[1]

This article uses texts from within a religion or faith system without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them. (September 2018)

This article or section may have been copied and pasted from another location, possibly in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy. (May 2024)

Bhedābheda (Devanagari: भेदाभेद) is a Sanskrit word meaning "difference and non-difference".^[2]

The principal author of Bhedabheda is Bhāskara who was either Shankara's contemporary or lived shortly after Shankara.^[3][4]

Bhedabheda, is a Hindu philosophical tradition, primarily developed in the 7th Century CE, with key contributions from Bhāskara and Nimbarka. This school states that the individual soul (jiva) and the ultimate reality (Brahman) are simultaneously distinct and non-distinct.^[1]

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. 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 be traced to some of the very oldest Vedāntic texts, including quite possibly Bādarāyaṇa's Brahma Sūtra (c. 4th century CE).^[2]

Bhedābheda is distinguished from 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 (13th century) that teaches complete difference between the individual self and Brahman.^[2]

There are multiple ways that the difference and non-difference is interpreted in Bhedābheda traditions. Bhaskara and Nimbarka mark two ends on the spectrum in this tradition. Bhaskara believes that the non-difference aspect is more real because he believes that Brahman is in its natural state without difference. Nimbarka believes that Brahman's essential nature includes equally real states of difference and non-difference.^[5]

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

• Nimbārka (dates proposed by scholars range from 7th century – 15th century), who founded the Svābhābika Dvaitādvaita school.^[6]
• Bhāskara (8th and 9th centuries), who founded the Aupādhika Bhedābheda school.^[2]
• Chaitanya (1485–1533), the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism based in the eastern Indian State of West Bengal, and the theological founder of Achintya Bheda Abhedavedanta^[7]
• Guru Nanak (1439-1569), the founder of Sikhism based in north india.
• Ramanujacharya, founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and Sri Vaishnavism.

Other major names are Rāmānuja's teacher Yādavaprakāśa,^[2] and Vijñānabhikṣu (16th century).^[2]

• Dvaitadvaita
• Gaudiya Vaishnavism / Achintya Bheda Abheda