Nimbarkacharya

Last updated

Nimbarkacharya
Nimbarkacharya's holy icon at Ukhra Mahanta Asthal(West Bengal).JPG
An icon of Nimbarkacharya at Ukhra Mahanta Asthal, West Bengal.
Personal
Born
Niyamananda or Bhaskara

Nimbapura, India [1]
Religion Hinduism
Parents
  • Jagannath (father)
  • Sarasvati (mother)
Order Vedanta
Founder of Nimbarka Sampradaya
Philosophy Dvaitadvaita Vedanta
Religious career
Disciples
  • Shrinivasa [2]
HonorsJagadguru
Quotation

To the left hand side of Goloka Bihari is the daughter of King Vrishabhanu, Sri Radha, who is as beautiful as the Lord and is worshipped by thousands of handmaidens. She fulfills the wishes of all. Sri Kishori is eternally remembered as Sri Ji.

Contents

Nimbarkacharya (Sanskrit : निम्बार्काचार्य, romanized: Nimbārkāchārya) (c. 12th century [1] ), also known as Nimbarka, Nimbaditya or Niyamananda, was a Hindu philosopher, theologian and the chief proponent of the theology of Dvaitadvaita (dvaita–advaita) or dualistic–non-dualistic sometimes known as svabhavika bhedabheda. He played a major role in spreading the worship of the divine couple Radha and Krishna, and founded Nimbarka Sampradaya, one of four main traditions of Hindu sect Vaishnavism. [3] [4]

Nimbarka is believed to have lived around the 12th century, [1] but this dating has been questioned, suggesting that he lived somewhat earlier than Shankaracharya, in the 6th or 7th century CE. [5] Born in Southern India in a Telugu Brahmin family, [4] he spent most of his life in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. He is sometimes identified with another philosopher named Bhaskara, [6] but this is considered to be a misconception due to the differences between the spiritual views of the two saints. [2] [7] [8]

Etymology and epithets

The word 'Nimbārka' (निंबार्क) is derived from two Sanskrit words — nimba (निम्ब) and arka (अर्क). It is believed that Nimbarka was given the name 'Niyamananda' at his birth. According to a folk tale, Niyamananda achieve the name Nimbarka because he trapped some rays of sunlight (arka) in the leaves of Neem (nimba). He was also referred as Nimbaditya by his followers. [9] Sometimes Bhaskara is also considered his epithet because of the identification of Nimbarka with the philosopher Bhaskara. [10] The tradition which he founded is named after him.

Datings

Nimbarka's traditional followers believe that he appeared in 3096 BCE, but this dating is controversial as historians believe that he lived between 7th and 11th century CE. [9] According to Roma Bose, Nimbarka lived in the 13th century, on the presupposition that Śrī Nimbārkāchārya was the author of the work Madhvamukhamardana. [7] Bhandarkar has placed him after Ramanuja, suggesting 1162 CE as the date of his demise. [11] S. N. Dasgupta dated Nimbarka to around middle of 14th century, [12] while S. A. A. Rizvi assigns a date of c.1130–1200 CE. [13]

According to Satyanand, Bose's dating of the 13th century is an erroneous attribution. [14] Malkovsky, following Satyanand, notes that in Bhandarkar's own work it is clearly stated that his dating of Nimbarka was an approximation based on an extremely flimsy calculation; yet most scholars chose to honour his suggested date, even until modern times. [3] According to Malkovsky, Satyanand has convincingly demonstrated that Nimbarka and his immediate disciple Shrinivasa flourished well before Ramanuja (1017–1137 CE), arguing that Shrinivasa was a contemporary, or just after Sankaracarya (early 8th century). [3] According to Ramnarace, summarising the available research, Nimbarka must be dated in the 7th century CE. [15]

Biography

Little is known about Nimbarka's life. He is said to have been born into a Telugu Brahmin family [4] on the 3rd bright half of the month Vaisakha and his parents were Jagannath, a Bhagavata saint, and his wife Sarasvati, who lived in Nimbapuri, which is in present-day Bellary district, Karnataka. [11] [16] However, some other versions suggest that the name of his parents were Aruna Muni and Jayanti Devi, who lived in a place near the river Godavari, which may be in Andhra Pradesh. Nimbarka's followers believe him as the incarnation of Vishnu's weapon, Sudarshana Chakra. [9] [11]

It is believed that Nimbarka was given the name Niyamananda at his birth, but sometimes Bhaskara is considered as his birth name. [10] [17] During Nimbarka's early years, it is described that his family moved to Vrindavan, but there is no historical recorded account. [16]

Philosophy

According to Nimbarka, the ultimate reality or Brahman is Krishna, recognized by various names such as Purushottama, Hari, and Bhagavan. He is accompanied by Radha. Brahman, as described by Nimbarka, is flawless, possessing auspicious qualities and transcending the influence of karma, and with attributes such as knowledge, power, and compassion; Brahman is also both the material and efficient cause of creation, likened to a sovereign emperor engaging in playful activities without specific outcomes in mind. [18]

Nimbarka considered the jiva to possess inherent knowledge (jnana), which distinguishes it from non-sentient elements such as the body, sense organs, and mind. This inherent knowledge permeates every state of the jiva, including waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Nimbarka explains that the jiva is both knowledge and knower, likening their relationship to that of a gem and its radiance, where they are distinct yet inseparable, existing in a relationship of substrate and attribute. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krishna</span> Major deity in Hinduism

Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is widely revered among Hindu divinities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radha</span> Hindu goddess of love and chief consort of the god Krishna

Radha, also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Mūlaprakriti, the Supreme goddess, who is the feminine counterpart and internal potency of Krishna. Radha accompanies Krishna in all his incarnations. Radha's birthday is celebrated every year on the occasion of Radhashtami.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adi Shankara</span> 8th-century Indian Vedic scholar and teacher of Advaita Vedanta

Adi Shankara, also called Adi Shankaracharya, was an Indian Vedic scholar and teacher (acharya) of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty, and his true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta. He is seen as "the one who restored the Hindu dharma against the attacks of the Buddhists and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India." Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects with the introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.

Vedanta, also known as Uttara Mīmāṃsā, is one of the six orthodox (āstika) traditions of textual exegesis and Hindu philosophy. The word "Vedanta" means "conclusion of the Vedas", and encompasses the ideas that emerged from, or aligned and reinterpreted, the speculations and enumerations contained in the Upanishads, focusing on either devotion or knowledge and liberation. Vedanta developed into many traditions, all of which give their specific interpretations of a common group of texts called the Prasthānatrayī, translated as "the three sources": the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dvaita Vedanta</span> School of thought in Hinduism

Dvaita Vedanta ;, is a sub-school in the Vedanta tradition of Hindu philosophy. The term Tattvavada literally means "arguments from a realist viewpoint". The Tattvavada (Dvaita) Vedanta sub-school was founded by the 13th-century Indian philosopher-saint Madhvacharya. Madhvacharya believed in three entities: God, jiva (soul), and jada. The Dvaita Vedanta school believes that God and the individual souls (jīvātman) exist as independent realities, and these are distinct, being said that Vishnu (Narayana) is independent (svatantra), and souls are dependent (paratantra) on him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaudiya Vaishnavism</span> Hindu religious movement

Gaudiya Vaishnavism, also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu". Specifically, it is part of Krishnaism—Krishna-centric Vaishnavite traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vishishtadvaita</span> One of the most popular schools of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy

Vishishtadvaita, is a school of Hindu philosophy belonging to the Vedanta tradition. Vedanta refers to the profound interpretation of the Vedas based on Prasthanatrayi. Vishishta Advaita, meaning "non-duality with distinctions", is a non-dualistic philosophy that recognizes Brahman as the supreme reality while also acknowledging its multiplicity. This philosophy can be characterized as a form of qualified monism, attributive monism, or qualified non-dualism. It upholds the belief that all diversity ultimately stems from a fundamental underlying unity.

Mandana Mishra was a Hindu philosopher who wrote on the Mīmāṃsā and Advaita systems of thought. He was a follower of the Karma Mimamsa school of philosophy and a staunch defender of the holistic sphota doctrine of language. He was a contemporary of Adi Shankara, and while it is said that he became a disciple of Adi Sankara, he may actually have been the most prominent Advaitin of the two until the 10th century CE. He is often identified with Sureśvara, though the authenticity of this is doubtful. Still, the official Sringeri documents recognises Mandana Mishra as Sureśvara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jiva Goswami</span> Indian philosopher

Jiva Goswami was an Indian philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines. He is known as one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan and was the nephew of the two leading figures, Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaudapada</span> Medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar

Gauḍapāda, also referred as Gauḍapādācārya, was an early medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. While details of his biography are uncertain, his ideas inspired others such as Adi Shankara who called him a Paramaguru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radha Krishna</span> Divine couple in Hinduism

Radha-Krishna is the combined form of the Hindu god Krishna with his chief consort and shakti Radha. They are regarded as the feminine as well as the masculine realities of God, in several Krishnaite traditions of Vaishnavism.

<i>Ekasarana Dharma</i> Vaishnava Hindu sect

Ekasarana Dharma is a neo-Vaishnavite monolithic religion propagated by Srimanta Sankardeva in the 15th-16th century in the Indian state of Assam. It reduced focus on Vedic ritualism and focuses on devotion (bhakti) to Krishna in the form of congregational listening (shravan) and singing his name and deeds (kirtan).

Bhedābheda is more a tradition than a sub-school of Vedānta, which teaches that the individual self (jīvātman) is both different and not different from the ultimate reality known as Brahman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaishnavism</span> Major Hindu tradition that reveres Vishnu as the Supreme Being

Vaishnavism is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, Mahavishnu. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or Vaishnavas, and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krishnaism</span> Group of Hindu traditions that reveres Krishna as the Supreme Being

Krishnaism is a term used in scholarly circles to describe large group of independent Hindu traditions—sampradayas related to Vaishnavism—that center on the devotion to Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, Ishvara, Para Brahman, who is the source of all reality, not an avatar of Vishnu. This is its difference from such Vaishnavite groupings as Sri Vaishnavism, Sadh Vaishnavism, Ramaism, Radhaism, Sitaism etc. There is also a personal Krishnaism, that is devotion to Krishna outside of any tradition and community, as in the case of the saint-poet Meera Bai. Leading scholars do not define Krishnaism as a suborder or offshoot of Vaishnavism, considering it at least a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nimbarka Sampradaya</span> One of the four Vaiṣṇava Sampradāyas

The Nimbarka Sampradaya, also known as the Kumāra Sampradāya, Hamsa Sampradāya, and Sanakādi Sampradāya, is one of the four Vaiṣṇava Sampradāyas. It was founded by Nimbarka, a Telugu Brahmin yogi and philosopher. It propounds the Vaishnava Bhedabheda theology of Dvaitadvaita (dvaita-advaita) or dualistic non-dualism. Dvaitadvaita states that humans are both different and non-different from Isvara, God or Supreme Being. Specifically, this Sampradaya is a part of Krishnaism—Krishna-centric traditions.

Svayam Bhagavan is a Sanskrit concept in Hinduism, referring to the absolute representation of Bhagavan as the Supreme God in a monotheistic framework. The concept is most commonly associated with a male deity, for instance in Hindu sub-movements like Krishnaism and Gaudiya Vaishnavism, in which Krishna is regarded as Svayam Bhagavan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard De Smet</span>

Richard De Smet was a Belgian Jesuit priest, and missionary in India. As Indologist he became a renowned Sankara specialist.

Hindu denominations, sampradayas, traditions, movements, and sects are traditions and sub-traditions within Hinduism centered on one or more gods or goddesses, such as Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and so on. The term sampradaya is used for branches with a particular founder-guru with a particular philosophy.

Panchadasi or Panchadashi is a simple yet comprehensive manual of Advaita Vedanta written in the fourteenth century CE (1386-1391) by Vidyaranya, previously known as Madhavacharya.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jones & Ryan 2006, p. 312.
  2. 1 2 Dalal 2010, p. 129.
  3. 1 2 3 Malkovsky 2001, p. 118.
  4. 1 2 3 "Nimbarka | Indian philosopher | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Ramnarace 2014, p. 113.
  6. ↑ Hoiberg 2000.
  7. 1 2 Bose 1940.
  8. ↑ Raju 2013, p. 158.
  9. 1 2 3 Mukundananda 2014.
  10. 1 2 Ph.D 2016, p. 194.
  11. 1 2 3 Bhandarkar 1987.
  12. ↑ A History of Indian Philosophy (Vol. 3) by Surendranath Dasgupta, (Cambridge: 1921) page 420
  13. ↑ Saiyed A A Rizvi- A history of Sufism in India, Vol.1 (Munshi Ram Manoharlal Publishing Private Limited: 1978), page 355
  14. ↑ Satyanand, J. Nimbārka: A Pre-Śaṅkara Vedāntin and his philosophy, Varanasi, 1997
  15. ↑ Ramnarace 2014, p. 180.
  16. 1 2 Dalal 2010.
  17. ↑ Pandey 2008.
  18. ↑ Agraeal 1957, p. 110-111.
  19. ↑ Agraeal 1957, p. 100-101.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.