Nimbarka
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Nimbarka, is known for propagating the Vaishnava Theology of Dvaitadvaita, duality in unity. He lived in the 13th Century and hailed from the present-day Andhra Pradesh.
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[edit] Philosophy
Nimbarka’s philosophical position is known as Dvaitadvaita (Bhedabheda). The categories of existence, according to him, are three, i.e., cit, acit, and Isvara. Cit and acit are different from Isvara, in the sense that they have attributes and capacities, which are different from those of Isvara. Isvara is independent and exists by Himself, while cit and acit have existence dependent upon Him. At the same time cit and acit are not different from Isvara, because they cannot exist independently of Him. Difference means a kind of existence which is separate but dependent, (para-tantra-satta-bhava) while non-difference means impossibility of independent existence (svatantra-satta-bhava).
Thus Nimbarka equally emphasises both difference and non-difference, as against Ramanuja, who makes difference subordinate to non-difference, in as much as, for him cit and acit do not exist separately from Brahman, but its body or attributes. Thus, according to Nimbarka, the relation between Brahman, on the one hand, and the souls (cit) and universe (acit) on the other, is a relation of natural difference-non-difference (svabhavika-bhedabheda), just like between snake and coil, or between sun and its rays. Just as the coil is nothing nut the snake, yet different from it, just as the different kinds of stones, though nothing but earth, are yet different from it, so the souls and the universe, though nothing but Brahman (brahmatmaka), are different from Him because of their own peculiar natures and attributes.
Thus, according to Nimbarka, there are three equally real and co-eternal realities, viz. Brahman, the cit and the acit. Brahman is the Controller (niyantr), the cit the enjoyer (bhoktr) and the acit the object enjoyed (bhogya).
Nimbarka accepts parinamavada to explain the cause of animate and inanimate world, which he says exist in a subtle form in the various capacities (saktis) which belong to Brahman in its natural conditon. Brahman is the material cause of the universe in the sense that Brahman brings the subtle rudiments into the gross form by manifesting these capacities.
For Nimbarka the highest object of worship is Krishna and his consort Radha, attended by thousands of gopis, or cowherdesses, of the celestial Vrndavana. Devotion according to Nimbarka, consists in prapatti, or self-surrender.
[edit] Four Sadhanas
Sri Nimbarka refers to 4 methods of sadhanas:
[edit] Karma
Performed conscientiously in a proper spirit, with one’s varna and asrama thereby giving rise to knowledge which is a means to salvation).
[edit] Vidya
Not as a subordinate factor of karma but as no independent means.
[edit] Upasana or dhyana
It is of three types. First is meditation on the Lord as one's self, i.e. meditation on the Lord as the Inner Controller of the sentient. Second is meditation on the Lord as the Inner Controller of the nonsentient. Final one is meditation on Lord Himself, as different from the sentient and non-sentient.
[edit] Gurupasatti
Devotion and self surrender to guru.
Sri Nimbarkacharya made the "Bhasya" of the Bramhasutra on His Dvaitadvaita Vedanta (Principle of Dualism-Nondualism) in his famous book "Vedanta Parijata Sourabha".
Now-a-days the one sect of disciples of Sri Nimvarka which is flown after Sri Swabhuram Devacharya known as Kathia Baba. [1].
