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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondualism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralism_(philosophy)
I have always been curious with regards to metaphysics, epistemology,
cosmology, etc.
On a side note, there's Vedanta. Info is availabe on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta
Three Nondualisms
Two Both
One Dualism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishishtadvaita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanuja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuddhadvaita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallabha_Acharya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvaitadvaita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbarka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achintya_Bheda_Abheda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Mahaprabhu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvaita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhvacharya
Special note to Mark Foster, your website has a page that disccuesses four of
the six types of Vedanta. You can find info on Shuddha Advaita (Pure Non
Dualism) and Dvaita (Dualism) to update your info.
Here's also Ramanuja's Seven Objections to Advaita (Shankara):
Ramanuja picks out what he sees as seven fundamental flaws in the Advaita
philosophy to revise them. He argues:
I. The nature of Avidya. Avidya must be either real or unreal; there is no
other possibility. But neither of these is possible. If Avidya is real,
non-dualism collapses into dualism. If it is unreal, we are driven to
self-contradiction or infinite regress.
II. The incomprehensibility of Avidya. Advaitins claim that Avidya is neither
real nor unreal but incomprehensible, {anirvachaniya.} All cognition is either
of the real or the unreal: the Advaitin claim flies in the face of experience,
and accepting it would call into question all cognition and render it unsafe.
III. The grounds of knowledge of Avidya. No pramana can establish Avidya in the
sense the Advaitin requires. Advaita philosophy presents Avidya not as a mere
lack of knowledge, as something purely negative, but as an obscuring layer
which covers Brahman and is removed by true Brahma-vidya. Avidya is positive
nescience not mere ignorance. Ramanuja argues that positive nescience is
established neither by perception, nor by inference, nor by scriptural
testimony. On the contrary, Ramanuja argues, all cognition is of the real.
IV. The locus of Avidya. Where is the Avidya that gives rise to the (false)
impression of the reality of the perceived world? There are two possibilities;
it could be Brahman's Avidya or the individual soul's {jiva.} Neither is
possible. Brahman is knowledge; Avidya cannot co-exist as an attribute with a
nature utterly incompatible with it. Nor can the individual soul be the locus
of Avidya: the existence of the individual soul is due to Avidya; this would
lead to a vicious circle.
V. Avidya's obscuration of the nature of Brahman. Sankara would have us believe
that the true nature of Brahman is somehow covered-over or obscured by Avidya.
Ramanuja regards this as an absurdity: given that Advaita claims that Brahman
is pure self-luminous consciousness, obscuration must mean either preventing
the origination of this (impossible since Brahman is eternal) or the
destruction of it - equally absurd.
VI. The removal of Avidya by Brahma-vidya. Advaita claims that Avidya has no
beginning, but it is terminated and removed by Brahma-vidya, the intuition of
the reality of Brahman as pure, undifferentiated consciousness. But Ramanuja
denies the existence of undifferentiated {nirguna} Brahman, arguing that
whatever exists has attributes: Brahman has infinite auspicious attributes.
Liberation is a matter of Divine Grace: no amount of learning or wisdom will
deliver us.
VII. The removal of Avidya. For the Advaitin, the bondage in which we dwell
before the attainment of Moksa is caused by Maya and Avidya; knowledge of
reality (Brahma-vidya) releases us. Ramanuja, however, asserts that bondage is
real. No kind of knowledge can remove what is real. On the contrary, knowledge
discloses the real; it does not destroy it. And what exactly is the saving
knowledge that delivers us from bondage to Maya? If it is real then non-duality
collapses into duality; if it is unreal, then we face an utter absurdity.
Bhagavad Ramanuja taught his followers to highly respect all Sri Vaishnavas
irrespective of caste.
Cited from Sri Ramanuja, His Life, Religion, and Philosophy, published by Sri
Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India.
An interesting Wikipedia quote:
"Baha'i do not believe in pantheism. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, rather states in 'Some
Answered Questions', that God is independent of his creation. In relation to
patheism in which God is the whole, Baha'is believe that the whole is in God.
Although the Bahá'í teachings have a strong emphasis on social and ethical
issues, there exist a number of foundational texts that have been described as
mystical.[15] The Seven Valleys is considered Bahá'u'lláh's "greatest mystical
composition." It was written to a follower of Sufism, in the style of `Attar, a
Muslim poet,[16][17] and sets forth the stages of the soul's journey towards
God. It was first translated into English in 1906, becoming one of the earliest
available books of Bahá'u'lláh to the West. The Hidden Words is another book
written by Bahá'u'lláh during the same period, containing 153 short passages in
which Bahá'u'lláh claims to have taken the basic essence of certain spiritual
truths and written them in brief form.[18]"
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