Two of the
highly intriguing Indian Philosophies in recent times (I am talking in a wide
time frame) is the Advaita philosophy propagated by Šankara and the Dvaita
philosophy of Madhva - both from Southern India, both being staunch supporters
of ancient Vedic ideologies.
Strangely,
the philosophies advocated by these two great masters were diametrically
opposite! – Or at least they appeared to be so, on the face of it.
Very
briefly, Šankara’s view was that the multiplicity seen in the world is just an
illusion. There are not infinitely many things in this world! In ‘reality’
there is only a single entity in the world namely, the indefinable Brahma or
Ätma.
While his
counterpart, namely Madhva, held the view that multiplicity is the reality and
there is not one, but three categories of things in this world, and each of
them is real. None of these is identical, nor are they even comparable.
The
interesting point to note is that both these scholars claim the Upanishads to
be the basis of their assertions. Each has his own reasoning and logic to prove
his point. Each has written volumes of commentaries to support his views and
each has wide following.
How can the
same source (Upanishads) give out such seemingly contradictory views? Strange
isn’t it?
To sort out
this seeming contradiction, probably we need to look at the source i.e. the Upanishads
themselves. That is what I am going to do next.
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