Contemplations

Contemplations on Adwaita, Dwaita and Vishistadwaita

Let me clarify at the outset that this is not anything to do with the profound philosophies expounded by Sankara, Ramanuja or Madhwa, but simply the ruminations of my own mind after a day's break from work and from the internet.
It was after a talk with my Guru, Swami Akshara, that sparked off this thought. It was on being spiritual, but yet knowing the divisions of the material world. To think of only the spirit, that everything is one and there is no second - Adwaita is for the inner experience and understanding. In the day-to-day world, the duality is for real, it is for sure. Sarvam Brahmamayam is the truth. But in my interaction with another individual, depending on his or her calling, status and position in life, the "Please, the sorry's and the thank-you's," are to be said. Adwaita does not give me the license to just kick someone and say I did it to my own self. When the officer at the Visa Counter, asks for my name, it'll be a joke to trust them to grant my visa if I say, "I am Brahman!"
Similarly, being totally in the world of dualities - Dwaita - can sap me of all the energy to move about in the world. All my thought energies will get wasted in contending the other and fighting, if I do not realise the underlying oneness.
Striking a balance is Vishishta Adwaita - Living in the world of dualities, but yet being conscious of the presence of the One in all.
Well, it's all said so easily. But to implement it in practice, my God!

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