Gaudiya's brahmAnanda vs viShishtAdvaita's kaivalya - are they analogous concepts?
Namaste,
I would like to open a discussion on this topic and invite members of both Gaudiya and Sri Vaishnava traditions, as well as anyone who is well-read in their respective literatures, to contribute.
I was recently re-reading Bhagavad-gita this time with commentary of Sri Ramanuja. There is a concept in his commentary of "kaivalya" which he equates to the less ideal "akShara" worship in chapter 12. As I understand it, he defines kaivalya as attaining knowledge of oneself, meaning that one understands that he is the jIvAtma and stops falsely identifying himself with the body. Since the jIvAtmas are the body of paramAtma, Sri Ramanuja is of the opinion that these great souls will go on to get moksha and attain paramam padam. Yet, he considers this kaivalya/self-realization stage as a kind of penultimate stage.
Now, from what I understand of the Chaitanya school, they believe that there is an entity known as "Brahman" which is distinct from Bhagavaan and refers to the effulgence or light emanating from His body. They also have a concept of "merging in impersonal Brahman" which they take to mean a sort of incomplete liberation, not yet reaching Vaikuntha but still getting free from the bodily conception of life. There are shlokas in the Bhaagavata Puraana speaking of the inferiority of "brahmAnanda" to Krishna-bhakti which seem to support this point of view.
Now first, my question is, is the "merging in brahmajyoti" thing seen as a literal merger and loss of identity according to the Gaudiya school, or does it merely refer to self-realization (understanding that one is not the body)? If it is merely the latter, then would it be fair to say that this is the same or similar concept as Ramanuja's kaivalya? Also, in Ramanuja's system, what is the fate of one who dies having attained kaivalya only, but not yet having gotten sharanaagati? Does he get elevated to some sort of "in-between" liberation as the Gaudiyas claim, or is it just rebirth in deva-lokas?
Comments and clarifications are most welcome.
Philosoraptor
"Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something." - Plato
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