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Line 232: − + − ===Vaishnavism=== − {{Main|Vaishnavism}} − − All Vaishnava schools are panentheistic and perceive the Advaita concept of identification of Atman with the impersonal Brahman as an intermediate step of self-realization, but not Mukti, or final liberation of complete God-realization through Bhakti Yoga.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} − − Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a form of Achintya Bheda Abheda philosophy, also concludes that Brahman is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to them, Brahman is Lord Vishnu/Krishna; the universe and all other manifestations of the Supreme are extensions of Him.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} − ===Bhakti movement=== − {{main|Bhakti movement}} − − The Bhakti movement of Hinduism built its theosophy around two concepts of Brahman – ''Nirguna'' and ''Saguna''. ''Nirguna'' Brahman was the concept of the Ultimate Reality as formless, without attributes or quality. ''Saguna'' Brahman, in contrast, was envisioned and developed as with form, attributes and quality. The two had parallels in the ancient panthestic unmanifest and theistic manifest traditions, respectively, and traceable to Arjuna-Krishna dialogue in the Bhagavad Gita. It is the same Brahman, but viewed from two perspectives, one from ''Nirguni'' knowledge-focus and other from ''Saguni'' love-focus, united as Krishna in the Gita. ''Nirguna'' bhakta's poetry were ''Jnana-shrayi'', or had roots in knowledge. In Bhakti, the emphasis is reciprocal love and devotion, where the devotee loves God, and God loves the devotee. − − Jeaneane Fowler states that Two 12th-century influential treatises on bhakti were ''Sandilya Bhakti Sutra'' – a treatise resonating with Nirguna-bhakti, and ''Narada Bhakti Sutra'' – a treatise that leans towards Saguna-bhakti.<ref>Jessica Frazier and Gavin Flood (2011), The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies, Bloomsbury Academic, ISBN 978-0826499660, pages 113-115</ref> − − ''Nirguna'' and ''Saguna'' Brahman concepts of the Bhakti movement has been a baffling one to scholars, particularly the ''Nirguni'' tradition because it offers, states David Lorenzen, "heart-felt devotion to a God without attributes, without even any definable personality".<ref name="davidlorenzenns">David Lorenzen (1996), Praises to a Formless God: Nirguni Texts from North India, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791428054, page 2</ref> Yet given the "mountains of ''Nirguni'' bhakti literature", adds Lorenzen, bhakti for ''Nirguna Brahman'' has been a part of the reality of the Hindu tradition along with the bhakti for ''Saguna Brahman''.<ref name="davidlorenzenns" /> These were two alternate ways of imagining God during the bhakti movement.<ref name="karen21">Karen Pechilis Prentiss (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195351903, page 21</ref> − ==Comparison of Brahma, Brahman, Brahmin and Brahmanas== − Brahman is a metaphysical concept of Hinduism referring to the ultimate unchanging reality,<ref name="BondKunin2003p231">{{cite book|author1=Helen K. Bond |author2=Seth D. Kunin|author3=Francesca Murphy |title=Religious Studies and Theology: An Introduction |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HokZ5UW5fZsC&pg=PA231 |year=2003|publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9914-7 |pages=231 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=William Sweet |title=Approaches to Metaphysics |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=cyCme74cZ1IC |year=2006|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-2182-4|pages=145–147 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=H. James Birx |title=Encyclopedia of Anthropology |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8m_vBQAAQBAJ |year=2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6536-0 |pages=1279 }}</ref> that, states Doniger, is uncreated, eternal, infinite, transcendent, the cause, the foundation, the source and the goal of all existence.<ref name="Doniger1999p437">{{cite book|author=Wendy Denier|title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC |year=1999|publisher=Merriam-Webster |isbn=978-0-87779-044-0 |pages=437 }}</ref> It is envisioned as either the cause or that which transforms itself into everything that exists in the universe as well as all beings, that which existed before the present universe and time, which exists as current universe and time, and that which will absorb and exist after the present universe and time ends.<ref name="Doniger1999p437" /> It is a gender neutral abstract concept.<ref name="Doniger1999p437" /><ref>{{cite book|author=J. L. Brockington|title=The Sanskrit Epics|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C |year=1998|publisher=BRILL Academic |isbn=90-04-10260-4 |pages=256 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Denise Cush |author2=Catherine Robinson |author3=Michael York |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=kzPgCgAAQBAJ |year=2012|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-18979-2 |pages=114–115 }}</ref> The abstract Brahman concept is predominant in the Vedic texts, particularly the Upanishads;<ref>{{cite book|author=Edward Craig|title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Brahman to Derrida|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lS2cSqwMtf8C |year=1998|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-18707-7 |pages=1–4 }}</ref> while the deity Brahma finds minor mention in the Vedas and the Upanishads.<ref>{{cite book|author=Julius Lipner |title=Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HDMLYkIOoWYC |year=1994|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-05181-1 |pages=43–44 }}</ref> In the Puranic and the Epics literature, deity Brahma appears more often, but inconsistently. Some texts suggest that god Vishnu created Brahma (Vaishnavism),<ref>{{cite book|author=S. M. Srinivasa Chari |title=Vaiṣṇavism: Its Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Discipline|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=evmiLInyxBMC |year=1994|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1098-3 |pages=147 }}</ref> others suggest god Shiva created Brahma (Shaivism),<ref>{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty |title=Siva: The Erotic Ascetic |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dnfZ_MBErlQC |year=1981|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972793-3 |pages=125 }}</ref> yet others suggest goddess Devi created Brahma (Shaktism),<ref name="kinsley137">{{cite book|author=David Kinsley |title=Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HzldwMHeS6IC |year=1988|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-90883-3 |pages=137 }}</ref> and these texts then go on to state that Brahma is a secondary creator of the world working respectively on their behalf.<ref name="kinsley137" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Stella Kramrisch|title=The Presence of Siva|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=O5BanndcIgUC&pg=PA205|year=1992|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-01930-4 |pages=205-206 }}</ref> Further, the medieval era texts of these major theistic traditions of Hinduism assert that the ''saguna''{{refn|group=note|representation with face and attributes)<ref>{{cite book|author=Arvind Sharma|title=Classical Hindu Thought: An Introduction|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gDmUToaeMJ0C |year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-564441-8|page=4}}</ref>}} Brahman is Vishnu,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Mark Juergensmeyer |author2=Wade Clark Roof |title=Encyclopedia of Global Religion |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=WwJzAwAAQBAJ |year=2011|publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-1-4522-6656-5 |page=1335}}</ref> is Shiva,<ref>{{cite book|author=Stella Kramrisch |title=The Presence of Siva |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=O5BanndcIgUC |year=1992|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-01930-4 |pages=171 }}</ref> or is Devi<ref>{{cite book|author=David Kinsley |title=Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HzldwMHeS6IC |year=1988|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-90883-3 |pages=136 }}</ref> respectively, they are different names or aspects of the Brahman, and that the Atman (soul, self) within every living being is same or part of this ultimate, eternal Brahman.<ref>{{cite book|author=William K. Mahony |title=The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=B1KR_kE5ZYoC |year=1998|publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-3579-3 |pages=13–14, 187 }}</ref>
→Comparison of Brahma, Brahman, Brahmin and Brahmanas: removed the segment
#Mitha-jada-bheda — difference between any two insentients
#Mitha-jada-bheda — difference between any two insentients
====Achintya Bheda Abheda====
====Achintya Bheda Abheda====
The Acintya Bheda Abheda philosophy is similar to [[Dvaitadvaita]] (differential [[monism]]). In this philosophy, Brahman is not just impersonal, but also personal.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} That Brahman is Supreme Personality of Godhead, though on first stage of realization (by process called jnana) of Absolute Truth, He is realized as impersonal Brahman, then as personal Brahman having eternal Vaikuntha abode (also known as Brahmalokah sanatana), then as Paramatma (by process of [[yoga]]-[[meditation]] on Supersoul, Vishnu-God in heart) – Vishnu ([[Narayana]], also in everyone's heart) who has many abodes known as Vishnulokas (Vaikunthalokas), and finally (Absolute Truth is realized by [[bhakti]]) as [[Bhagavan]], Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is source of both Paramatma and Brahman (personal, impersonal, or both).{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}
The Acintya Bheda Abheda philosophy is similar to Dvaitadvaita (differential monism). In this philosophy, Brahman is not just impersonal, but also personal.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} That Brahman is Supreme Personality of Godhead, though on first stage of realization (by process called jnana) of Absolute Truth, He is realized as impersonal Brahman, then as personal Brahman having eternal Vaikuntha abode (also known as Brahmalokah sanatana), then as Paramatma (by process of yoga-meditation on Supersoul, Vishnu-God in heart) – Vishnu (Narayana, also in everyone's heart) who has many abodes known as Vishnulokas (Vaikunthalokas), and finally (Absolute Truth is realized by bhakti) as Bhagavan, Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is source of both Paramatma and Brahman (personal, impersonal, or both).
==References==
==References==
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