My thoughts with Dwaitam and Adwaitam

Being a Brahmin boy, you are bound to come across these terms. There is a high probability that you’ll get confused or entangled with different thoughts. 

I know that I’m nobody to tell you which path to follow but I do want to share my thoughts (I hope they’ll be helpful).

Dvaita or Dwaitam	Advaita or Adwaitam
It is a thought where you think, you and God are different entities	It is where one thinks that God and himself are one entity.
You can be like Anamaya, Ramdas or Meera bai or Prahlad who had utmost trust and were lost in the love of God.	You see God in everyone and everything– yourself, your friends, the chair you are comfortably sitting on, a dog on street, flower in your garden, anything and everything.

Common Ground: Unity in Devotion

Advaita says you and God are the same. Though the great devotees like Prahlad or Meera Bai attained moksha on the path of dvaita, they also saw God in everything.

Remember, when Hiranyakashipu asked Prahlad if his Narayana was in the pillar, and he said yes. Narsimha Swamy did come out of the pillar. 

Meera Bai drank the poisonous potion because she loved Krishna so much that she had utmost trust that nothing wrong would happen to her. 

This trust is like when a baby is flung up in the air by his mother; he doesn’t cry, instead laughs because he knows his mom would catch him and is just playing.

Personal Reflections

There are different incidents from various stories with which I connect. I cannot say that I idolize only one devotee. I’ll talk only of recent people so that my thoughts don’t sound too superficial for you.

One day, Swami Vivekananda went frustrated to Ramakrishna and asked if he has seen God or to let go of his nonsense. To his surprise, Ramakrishna said ‘yes he has seen God’ and Vivekananda can also see if he wants. That was his first experience with Kali Devi.

I want to tell you more stories, but it’s better to read these books – “They Live with God” and “God Lives with Them.” These two books should clear most of your thoughts.

Swami Vivekananda says, “May I be born again and again and suffer thousands of miseries, so I may worship the God and be of service to the needy.” 

He also says, what’s the use of a life that does not live for others? It doesn’t matter if you were too absorbed in yourself to attain moksha.

When people visited his guru Ramakrishna, he always made them first visit the Kali temple and then talk about other things. It was the same case with Ramana Maharshi who always asked people to first do the pradakshina of the Arunachalam hill. 

These gurus were great teachers in Advaita but also practiced Dvaita because only then could they perform various worship rituals for their beloved God and get transfixed by the God’s vision in front of them.

Practical Application: Balancing Philosophy with Action

If you saw somebody hurt or in need, would you be able to think this is all maya, he is actually not hurt and just move on? Or just move away thinking, he is like this because of his past actions from previous birth, what can I do about it?

In the quest of attaining a higher self, I can’t ignore what I can see and feel. I relate more with Bhakti Yoga. I love Ramayana, Ramdas, Hanuman, Swami Vivekananda, Ahalya, Tulsidas, and many more where the story or the incident is not just about attaining moksha.

Conclusion

Dvaitam and Advaitam are two sides of the same coin. Both can give you moksha provided you don’t let the fire of experiencing God die within you.

Key Points to Remember:

Every action has a consequence. Good action, bad action doesn’t make any difference to Karma. It will always give you what you earned at the right time (not the time which you think is right).

Don’t waste your time in learning rules or punishments mentioned in different puranas, especially Garuda Purana. There is a high probability of getting scared of the different rules and punishments; fear can overwhelm all other thoughts.

Everything in life happens for a reason. (99.9% of the times, we do not know the reason; we can only trust that whatever happens, it’s for good.)

Just serving your family cannot be called ‘living for others.’ Had you been very poor and struggling for even two proper meals a day, living only for the family makes sense. Like Sharukh Khan says in 'Chakde' movie - first play for the country, then state, then team and then if you still have life left, you can play for yourself.

Swami Vivekananda says, “Take care of your body because that is the only tool you have which will help you do the right thing at the right time.” ‘Take care’ doesn’t mean sitting for hours in barber shops. No harm in looking good but don’t overdo. Don’t keep thinking of your hair or clothes.

Must Watch - Take care of the faculties first

(problem is that we get lost in taking care of the faculties and make it our primary target)

** this letter is not last on this topic, i hope my thoughts remain logical and practical.