In Advaita Vedanta, Nirguna Brahman is seen to be devoid of all qualities and hence, impersonal/formless. Is Nirguna Brahman in Vishishtadvaita impersonal/formless?
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Nirguna Brahman of Advaita does not exist according to Vishishtadvaita.
The Advaitins may say that, when they say that consciousness is eternal, they do not refer to consciousness limited by objects like pot etc but to pure Consciousness unlimited by objects. Such pure Consciousness devoid of all objects does not exist, for it is not experienced.
Brahma Sutra Sri Bhasya of Sri Ramanuja 1.1.1 The Great Siddhanta Advaita Position Refuted translated by Swami Vireshwarananda and Swami Adidevananda
Pradip Gangopadhyay
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1So basically Nirguna Brahman in Vishishtadvaita is Shriman Narayana without negative qualities? – Feb 12 '18 at 12:35
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1ramanujan is totally wrong of course - nirvialpa samadhi is exactly what he says doesn't exist. – S K Feb 12 '18 at 12:37
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1According to him, I think......what he means by the "State" of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, might be the purest form of Narayana, since NV state is also validated by Adi Shankara as Sat-chid-ananda. Maybe what Ramanuja meant is that such a state doesn't exist where there is only drab and dull consciousness, without Bliss, which is Narayana. That's what I've read, and in a way imagined logically. – Feb 12 '18 at 13:35
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1When Nirvikalpa means the impersonal Brahman experience to Adi Shankara, it means the experience of oneness with Narayana, to Ramanuja - hence Qualified Monism. – Feb 12 '18 at 13:36
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@SK Ramanuja isn't wrong. Ramakrishna Himself said it. – Feb 12 '18 at 13:40
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@SK "Again I cannot utter a word unless I come down at least two steps from the plane of Samadhi. Sankara's Non-dualistic explanation of Vedanta is true, and so is the Qualified Non-dualistic interpretation of Ramanuja.'' - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa – Feb 12 '18 at 13:42
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I think Ramakrishna meant the following: There are two kinds of experiences. A person who experiences Brahman with a purified ego experiences what Ramanuja is saying. When a person goes beyond the purified ego then he experiences the Nirguna Brahman of Advaita Vedanta. Thus Ramanuja's Vedanta is for persons with purified ego while Shankara's AV is describing the experience of persons who have gone beyond their purified ego. – Pradip Gangopadhyay Feb 12 '18 at 14:56
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the vaishnavites are stuck at the level of Christians. they say supreme reality is free of defilements and has auspicious qualities. these ideas don't apply at the highest level. You could say ruination is a defilement - but many ruins are highly visited tourist sites. – S K Feb 12 '18 at 14:59