ABSTRACT
Nimbarka lays stress upon both knowledge and devotion as means of attaining freedom. There are four chief schools of Vaisnavism: Sri, of which Ramanuja is the principal exponent; Sanaka founded by Nimbarka in the eleventh century; Brahma, founded by Madhwa in the twelfth century; and Rudra, founded by Vallabha in the sixteenth century. Infinite is God and infinite are the ways to apprehend and comprehend him—and such was the opinion of Nimbarka also as he approached the fundamental problems of God, the universe, and the human soul. According to Nimbarka’s philosophy of Bhedābheda, or dualism in nondualism, Brahman has two aspects, the absolute and the relative, or, in other words, the impersonal and the personal. Knowledge reveals the true nature of Brahman, and devotion culminates in all-absorbing love for him and in complete surrender of the finite will to the infinite will, although in both the love and the surrender the individual self remains.
