Nimbārkācārya

Nimbārka’s Dvaitādvaita is very similar to the Bhedābheda of Bhāskara. However, being a firm believer in Brahman with form and attributes and the path of devotion, his philosophy is more akin to that of . Nimbārka’s main work is Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha which is his commentary on the Brahmasūtras. It is rather brief but lucid, since he avoids the dialectical methods or a flowery style.

According to him there are three equally real and co-eternal tattvas or principles: Brahman, cit and acit. While Brahman is the controller or niyantr̥, cit (the sentient being, the jīva or the soul) is the enjoyer, bhoktr̥, and acit (the insentient nature, prakr̥ti) is the enjoyed, bhogya. Acit is of three kinds: prākr̥ta or what is derived from prakr̥ti or primal matter; aprākr̥ta or what is not derived from prakr̥ti, but derived from a non-material substance of which the world of Brahman is made, and kāla or time. They are different from one another in their svarūpa or nature. But the cit and the acit are paratantra-tattvas, dependent realities.

Nimbārka adopts the view that the bheda (difference) and the abheda (non-difference) are both equally real. They co-exist but do not contradict each other. It is something like the relationship between the sea and its waves or the sun and its rays. Cit and acit, the souls and the universe, exist in Brahman from all eternity and never get separated from Him whether in the causal state or when manifested. They retain their individuality even during salvation, or dissolution of the universe.

Brahman is personal, possesses a celestial body, full of exquisite beauty and grace. Nimbārka identifies Him with Kr̥ṣṇa and posits Rādhā as His Śakti or consort even as accepts Lakṣmī as the consort of Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa. Brahman is omniscient, the cause of the origin, sustenance and dissolution of the universe. He is all-powerful and yet all-merciful. He is gracious to His devotees and helps them have a direct vision of Himself.

The jīvas are atomic and infinite in number. Each of them is a distinctive agent, a jñātr̥ (knower), kartr̥ (doer) and bhoktr̥ (enjoyer) of the karmas he does. They animate the bodies they live in, even as a small lamp kept in a room lights up the whole room. There are three destinies for the jīvas—naraka or hell for the sinners, svarga or heaven for the virtuous, and apavarga or release for the enlightened ones. Apavarga is attaining the world of Brahman from which there is no return.

Constant meditation on Brahman as the inmost self of the jīva or the individual soul is the means of attaining Brahman in Brahmaloka. There he has brahma-svarūpa-lābha, becomes similar to him in nature, except for the power of creation. The other sādhānās recommended are: scripture-ordained work, knowledge, devotion and surrender to God, as also strict obedience to the spiritual teacher.