On studying the Vedas and Vedānta, the ācāryas have come to two different conclusions. On the basis of the conclusions of Dattātreya, Aṣṭavakra, Durvāsā and other ṛsis, Śaṅkarācarya preached the philosophy of absolute monism. That is one type of conclusion. On the other hand, following in the footsteps of Nārada, Prahlāda, Dhruva, Manu and others, the Vaiṣṇavas have preached the philosophy of pure bhakti. That is the second type of conclusion reached from studying the scriptures.
There are four types of bhakti philosophy. Rāmanujācārya preached viśiṣṭādvaita; Madhvācārya preached śuddha dvaita; Nimbarkācārya preached dvaitādvaita; and Viṣṇu Svāmī preached śuddha advaita. They are all preachers of pure bhakti.
According to Rāmānujācārya, there is only one reality, the Lord (advaita), who is qualified (viśiṣṭa) by cit and acit. According to Madhvācārya, the jīva is a reality or entity distinct from the Lord (dvaita) , but has a nature of devotion to the Lord. According to Nimbarka, the jīva is simultaneously different and non-different from the Lord (dvaita advaita), but he accepts the concept of eternal difference of jīva and the Lord. According to Viṣṇu Svāmīi, though there is only one substance (advaita), there are still eternal states of difference in the form of brahman and jīva . Though there are differences amongst the philosophies, all the vaiṣṇava ācāryas have accepted the eternal nature of bhakti, bhagavān, the jīva 's eternal servitorship and the goal of prema. They are true Vaiṣṇavas. But though they are all Vaiṣṇavas, their realizations, being slightly different for each other, were partial or imperfect. When Mahāprabhu appeared, he removed incompleteness from those realizations and taugt the world the pure science, the highest truth of pure bhakti.
vyāsera sūtrete kahe pariṇāma vāda
vyāsa bhranta bali' tā'ra uthaila vivāda
pariṇāma vāde īśvara hayena vikārī
eta kahi'vivarta vāda sthāpanā ye kari
vastutaḥ pariṇāma vada sei se pramāṇa
dehe ātmābuddhi haya vivartera sthāna
avicintya śakti yukta śrī bhagavān
icchāya jagad rūpe pāya pariṇāma
tathāpi acintya śaktye haya adhikārī
prākṛta cintāmaṇi tāhe dṛṣṭānta dhari
nānā ratna rāśi haya cintāmaṇi haite
tathāpiha maṇi rahe svarūpe avikṛte
bṛhad vastu brahma kahi śrī bhagavān
ṣaḍ vidha aiśvarya pūrṇa para tattva dhāma
tāṅre nirviśeṣa kahi, cic chakti nā māni
ardha svarūpa nā mānile, pūrṇatā haya hāni
apādāna, kāraṇa, adhikarāṇa -kāraka tina
bhagavānera saviśeṣe ei tina cihna
ṣaḍ aiśvarya pūrṇānanda vigraha yāṅhāra
hena bhagavāne tumi kaha nirākāra
In his Vedānta sūtra, Srila Vyāsadeva has described that everything is but a transformation of the energy of the Lord. Saṅkarācārya, however, has misled the world by commenting that Vyāsadeva was mistaken.. Thus he has raised great opposition to theism throughout the entire world. According to Saṅkarācārya, by accepting the theory of the transformation of the energy of the Lord, one creates an illusion by indirectly accepting that the Absolute Truth is transformed.
Transformation of energy is a proven fact. It is the false bodily conception of the self that is an illusion. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is opulent in all respects. Therefore by His inconceivable energies He has transformed the material cosmic manifestation.
Using the example of a touchstone, which by its energy turns iron to gold and yet remains the same, we can understand that although the Supreme Personality of Godhead transforms His innumerable energies, He remains unchanged.
Although touchstone produces many varieties of valuable jewels, it nevertheless remains the same. It does not change its original form.
Brahman, who is greater than the greatest, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is full of six opulences, and therefore He is the reservoir of ultimate truth and absolute knowledge. When we speak of the Supreme as impersonal, we deny His spiritual potencies. Logically, if you accept half of the truth , you cannot understand the whole. (C.C. Madhya 7.121-126, 138, 140)
The personal features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are categorized in three cases-namely, ablative, instrumental and locative. (C.C. Madhya 6.144)
Are you describing as formless that Supreme Personality of Godhead whose transcendental form is complete with six transcendental opulences? (C.C.Madhya 6 152)
Veda Vyāsa in the Vedānta Sūtras has taught pariṇāma vad (transformation), not vivarta vada (illusion). But Saṅkarācārya, claiming that in pariṇāma vada the Lord becomes subject to change, changed the meaning of the sūtras and established vivartavāda. The meaning of the words 'pariṇāma' and 'vivarta' are given in the Vedāntasara written by Sadānanda Yogindra, 59 verse:
satattvato'nyathā buddhir vikāra ity udīrataḥ
atattvato'nyathā buddhir vivarta ity udāhṛtaḥ
The perception of a different object when a real object takes another form is called pariṇāma. Perception of a different object when there is actually no different object is called vivarta.
Pariṇāma is transformation of an object. The example is the formation of yogurt from milk. An example of vivarta is mistaking a rope for a snake.
Taking these definitions, the followers of Saṅkarācārya say that the jīva and the material world can never be a transformation of the Lord. If one accepts such a transformation of the Lord, it must be considered a perverted state of the Lord. As yogurt is a perverted state of milk, one must say that the world is a perverted state of the Lord. Therefore, they say, pariṇāma is not acceptable. If out of ignorance a person accepts a rope as a snake, from that mistake many difficulties arise. They claim the perception of the material world is similar to this. The world does not exist. Out of ignorance that which is perceived as world is actually an illusion, vivarta. By accepting this proposition, the Lord is not subject to change or transformation. By such reasoning, the theory of vivarta is established.
Mahāprabhu's teaching is as follows. There is no substance to the theory of vivarta vāda. Thinking the material body to be the self is comparable to the mistaking a rope for a snake. That is vivarta. However the material body is not false. And to claim that the Lord, through illusion or vivarta, becomes the material body and the material world, that the Lord falls under the illusion of thinking he is a jīva , is a detestable belief.
Pariṇāma is accepted in the Vedānta Sūtras of Vyāsa. By rejecting pariṇāma, one admits that all-knowledgeable Vyāsa is mistaken. Just as milk transforms into yogurt, the Lord's inconceivable energy, by his wish, is transformed into the jīva and the material world. There is no transformation of the Lord or Brahman. What is transformed through the influence of the Lord's variegated, inconceivable energies can never make the Lord the object of transformation.
Though a material example cannot fully represent spiritual matters, by accepting an example one can clarify a spiritual topic. Thus it is stated that touchstone, though producing piles of jewels, remains unchanged. On the spiritual level, one can think of the Lord's creations in the same way. Though creating unlimited jīvas and unlimited universes by his inconceivable energy just by his will, the Supreme Lord remains without change.
One should not think the words "without change" make the Lord impersonal, absolutely without quality. The absolute truth is endowed with the six opulences in full as Bhagavān. By claiming the Lord is absolutely without qualities, one is claiming he is without spiritual energies. However, by his inconceivable energies, the Lord is eternally endowed with qualities as well as being devoid of qualities. To claim absolute absence of qualities is acceptance of only half of the Lord's form. By this, one is destroying his completeness.
The three ways in which the Lord is the cause (ablative, instrumental, locative- from whom, by whom and in whom everything exists) is explained in the śruti:
yato va imāni bhūtāni jāyante yena jātāni jīva nti yat
prayanty abhisaṁvisanti tad vijijñāsasva tad brahma
Inquire about the brahman from who everything is born, by whom everything is sustained, and into whom everything enters. (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1)
"From whom all beings are born" describes the Lord in the ablative function. "By whom all beings continue to live" describes the Lord in his instrumental function. "Into whom they enter" describes his locative function. The supreme being is qualified by these characteristics; these are his qualities. Thus the Lord is always endowed with qualities, and can never be without form or qualities. The form of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, full of the six opulences, is the Lord's eternal spiritual form.
Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī in his Bhagavat Sandarbha has explained the Supreme Personality of Godhead as follows:
ekam eva paramaṁ tattvaṁ svābhāvikācintya śaktyā sarvadaiva svarūpa-tad-rūpa-vaibhāva-jīva-pradhāna-rūpeṇa caturdhāvatiṣṭhate sūryantara-maṇḍala-sthita-teja iva maṇḍala-tad bahirgata-tad-raśmi-tat-praticchavi rūpeṇa
There is one Supreme Being. He is naturally endowed with inconceivable energies. Through these energies he exists eternally in four states: His own form, His spiritual expansions, the jīva and pradhāna (matter). These four states may be compared to the sun's power, the sun globe, the sun's rays and the sun's effulgence. (Bhagavat Sandarbha 16)
In the above quoatation, His own form (svarūpa) means the form of eternal bliss and knowledge. His spiritual abode, names, associates and all objects assisting in pastimes are the expansions (vaibhāva). The eternally liberated and eternally conditioned souls are the jīvas. Māyā and all the gross and subtle elements of the universe are indicated by the word "pradhāna". These four manifestations are manifested from the eternal supreme being.
How can eternally contradictory objects exist within the Supreme Being? For the intelligence of the jīva , this is impossible, because the intelligence of jīva is limited. However, by the inconceivable energy of the Lord, it is not impossible. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī has called this conception acintya bhedābheda in his work Sarva Samvādinī. The philosophy of difference and non-difference called dvaitadvaita of Nimbarkācārya is not perfect (not explaining the contradiction). The Vaiṣṇava world has received the perfection of this philosophy through the teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Since the root of acintya bhedābheda lies in Madhvācārya's acceptance of the eternal form of the Lord, full of eternal bliss and knowledge, Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the Madhva sampradāya. Because the previous Vaiṣṇava ācāryas' philosophies all had a slight philosophical deficiency, they appeared as different sampradāyas with mutually differing philosophies. By the power of his own omniscience, Caitanya Mahāprabhu hascompleted what is lacking in all these philosophies.
Taking Madhva's acceptance of the eternal form of the Lord; Rāmānuja's conception of the energies (qualities) of the Lord; Viṣṇu Svāmī's concept of the Lord' oneness by complete dedication to Him; and Nimbarka's conception of the Lord's simultaneous difference and non-difference, Caitanya Mahāprabhu made them perfect, mercifully offering to the world the pure scientific philosophy of acintya bhedābheda. Very soon there will be only one sampradāya of bhakti philosophy, called Śrī Brahmā sampradāya. All other sampradāyas will reach their perfection in this brahmā sampradāya.
There is the following kārikā to summarize this:
sarvatra śruti-vākyeṣu tattvam eka viniścitam
nāvidyākalpitaṁ viśvaṁ na jīva-nirmitaṁ kila
atattvato' nyathā buddhir vivarta ity udāhṛtaḥ
satattve viśva etasmin vivarto na pravartate
acintya-śakti-yuktasya pareśasyekṣanāt kila
māyā-nāmny aparā śaktiḥ sūyate sacarācaram
bhedābhedātmākaṁ viśvaṁ satyaṁ kintu vinaśvaram
na tatra jīva-jātānāṁ nitya-sambandha eva ca
na brahma-pariṇāmo vai śakteḥ pariṇatiḥ kila
sthūla-liṅgātmākaṁ viśvaṁ bhogāyatanam ātmānah
If one examines all the statements of all the scriptures, one can understand that there is one eternal truth. The world is true, not a false object imagined through ignorance. It has arisen through the free will of the Supreme Lord, not through the jīva . Perception of a false object is called vivarta. Though the world is temporary, it is real, having arisen through the glance or will of the Lord endowed with inconceivable energies. There is no factor of illusion or vivarta here. The Supreme Lord's inferior energy is māyā. By her will, this material world of moving and non-moving entities appears. The whole universe is at once identical with and different from the Lord by his inconceivable energy. Though the world is real, it is not the ultimate real. The Kaṭhopaniṣad and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad prove this: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (I am the chief eternal and the chief of all conscious entities.)
Exclusive duality, exclusive monism, pure monism or qualified monism-these philosophies all agree with some of the statements of the scriptures, but contradict other scriptural statements. But the philosophy of acintya bhedābheda is a philosophy which agrees with all the statements of scripture. It is the natural object of the faith of the jīva and approved by all the devotees.
The jīva does not have an eternal relation with this material world, which is a transformation of the Supreme Brahman's energy, not a trans