“Therefore get up and prepare to fight. After conquering your enemies you will enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasachin, can be but an instrument in the fight.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.33)

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तस्मात् त्वम् उत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व
जित्वा शत्रून् भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम्
मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वम् एव
निमित्त-मात्रं भव सव्य-साचिन्

tasmāt tvam uttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva
jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva
nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin

Vedanta is the final conclusion. This is the direct translation to the Sanskrit word, and the meaning applies to the life experience. Existence persists. There is never cessation. Never was there a time that the individual did not exist. Neither will there be a time in the future when the life force will cease to be.

न त्व् एवाहं जातु नासं
न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः
न चैव न भविष्यामः
सर्वे वयम् अतः परम्

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ
na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ
sarve vayam ataḥ param

“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.12)

There are periods of manifestation. There are times when the life force appears dormant. This period of supposed inactivity could be eight hours during the nighttime, when the individual takes shelter of the subtle body, or it could be thousands of years, during the time in between kalpas, after the full one hundred years of Lord Brahma.

अव्यक्ताद्‍ व्यक्तय: सर्वा: प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे ।
रात्र्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसंज्ञके ॥

avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ
prabhavanty ahar-āgame
rātry-āgame pralīyante
tatraivāvyakta-saṁjñake

“When Brahma’s day is manifest, this multitude of living entities comes into being, and at the arrival of Brahma’s night they are all annihilated.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.18)

Vedanta is for reaching the end of the temporary conditions, of sleeping and awake, of dead and alive, of taking birth and dying, of being depressed and experiencing elation, of having hopelessness and feeling surcharged with enthusiasm, and so forth.

Vedanta, which more commonly goes by the erroneous tag of “Hinduism”, is for going beyond dogmatic insistence. When you are ready to open your mind, when you are confident in the ability to ask questions, when you are prepared to reach the depths of thinking power so kindly gifted by nature, there is Vedanta.

Within the Vedic tradition, the schools of thought tend to divide into two camps. There is monism, which follows a conclusion of oneness. There is dualism, which is the opposite. Within the complete understanding there is acceptance of both sides, and we see this nicely symbolized in the historical incident of the Bhagavad-gita transfer that took place on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

1. Advaita

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains advaita as the concept of a part of the body attached to the larger machine. My finger, for instance. It is part of my body. When I give the signal to act in a certain way, it proceeds.

Everything works properly when there is a state of connection. The finger is part of the complete whole. In that sense, there is a lack of duality. This is advaita. Translating to spiritual life, this concept is critical to attaining a proper understanding.

We are actually one with the complete energy. The various sparks of life are spirit, which are equal to one another in potency. These sparks are known as Brahman. The entire collective is also Brahman, since nothing really changes when everything is together.

श्री-भगवान् उवाच
अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं
स्वभावो ऽध्यात्मम् उच्यते
भूत-भावोद्भव-करो
विसर्गः कर्म-संज्ञितः

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
akṣaraṁ brahma paramaṁ
svabhāvo ‘dhyātmam ucyate
bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo
visargaḥ karma-saṁjñitaḥ

“The Supreme Lord said, The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and his eternal nature is called the self. Action pertaining to the development of these material bodies is called karma, or fruitive activities.” (Bhagavad-gita, 8.3)

I am a spirit soul, part and parcel of Brahman. That which separates my relationship to Brahman, where the finger has a false conception of identity separate from the body, is maya. This is illusion. Spiritual life can be defined as the way to remove the illusion of maya, to facilitate merging into oneness.

Like the finger working with the body, we see in Bhagavad-gita the union of disciple and teacher. Arjuna is the one temporarily set in illusion. He is unsure of what to do. The pretense is doubt in commencing military hostilities, with soldiers from both sides gathered, but the questions quickly delve into the living experience itself.

There is advaita in the picture of Arjuna and Krishna on the chariot because the living being, Brahman, is merging with the entire collective. They are getting guidance from the superior force, which is Parabrahman. Like a train returning to its tracks, Arjuna is again set in the proper way. He is working within an engagement, dharma, that is eternal, sanatana. Hence a clearer definition of religion, as we know it, is sanatana-dharma.

2. Dvaita

Dvaita is the opposite of advaita. Since the short “a” sound is applied to advaita, dvaita is the basis for advaita. Advaita is merely the negation of dvaita. Dvaita is duality. This is another truth to the spiritual science.

If there is a living being that requires help, if there is an institutional process known as sanatana-dharma, if there is a picture of a student, then there must be a corresponding superior force. Krishna is different from Arjuna. Parabrahman is not the same as Brahman. I am part of Brahman, but I can fall into illusion. This is a vulnerability I carry.

Parabrahman is never in illusion. Parabrahman always stands above. Hence the duality. There is dvaita in the very same picture of the two figures, Arjuna and Krishna. Despite the passing of transcendental knowledge and the subsequent acceptance by the disciple, Arjuna never turns into Krishna. Arjuna neither becomes the virat-rupa nor claims to be the origin of the creation.

इहैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरम् ।
मम देहे गुडाकेश यच्च‍ान्यद्‍द्रष्टुमिच्छसि ॥

ihaika-sthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ
paśyādya sa-carācaram
mama dehe guḍākeśa
yac cānyad draṣṭum icchasi

“Whatever you wish to see can be seen all at once in this body. This universal form can show you all that you now desire, as well as whatever you may desire in the future. Everything is here completely.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.7)

Which side is it, then? Dvaita or advaita? How can both truths be valid? We see that Arjuna chooses to work in Krishna’s interests. This is advaita. Arjuna merges with the larger mechanism, like the finger with the living body.

At the same time, Arjuna maintains his identity. He is always separate from Krishna as an individual. This is dvaita. Since he works in consciousness full of the Supreme Lord, Arjuna carries the proper understanding. He works as but an instrument for the Divine will. Like a true mahatma, Arjuna is under the protection of the Divine energy.

महात्मानस् तु मां पार्थ
दैवीं प्रकृतिम् आश्रिताः
भजन्त्य् अनन्य-मनसो
ज्ञात्वा भूतादिम् अव्ययम्

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

“O son of Pritha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.13)

Arjuna is so kind as to ask about future troubles, for others. If they should run into doubt, if they are confused by apparently competing concepts in advaita and dvaita, what should they do? Should they follow the path of impersonalism, to realize their true identity as Brahman, or should they worship in duality, remembering the personal form of the Almighty?

क्लेशो ऽधिकतरस् तेषाम्
अव्यक्तासक्त-चेतसाम्
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर् दुःखं
देहवद्भिर् अवाप्यते

kleśo ‘dhikataras teṣām
avyaktāsakta-cetasām
avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ
dehavadbhir avāpyate

“For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.5)

Krishna provides the answer. Focusing only on advaita might not lead to the proper conclusion, due to the difficulty with embodied living. It is difficult to remove the negation in front of the term, whereas dvaita is the basis upon which everything operates. It is easier to reach a proper understanding through worshiping Krishna directly, in the manner that Arjuna made his approach.

In Closing:

Intellectual muscles to flex,
With Vedanta deep and complex.

Such as dvaita and advaita found,
To duality or oneness bound?

Krishna and Arjuna on chariot set,
Picture in both settings to get.

Principles simultaneously true,
Better in worship separation to.

Categories: the two

Tags: advaita, dvaita, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, vedanta