Prameya-Ratnārṇava of Bālakṛṣṇa Bhaṭṭa

The Vedāntic tradition associated with Vallabha (1478–1530) remains relatively understudied in academic circles. According to its reading of scriptural texts such as the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad-gītā, and the Bhāgavata-purāṇa, there is a pure (śuddha) non-dualism (advaita) between the finite world and the supremely personal divine reality, Lord Kṛṣṇa. The sole divine reality (brahman) is Kṛṣṇa and, as the intrinsically “pure” reality, Kṛṣṇa is devoid of any connection with the illusory principle of māyā. So, according to Vallabha, only non-difference between the human self and Kṛṣṇa is real. This claim is strikingly similar to the fundamental thesis of Śaṃkara’s Advaita Vedānta which too propounds a not-twoness (advaita) between the world and brahman. However, while both Śaṃkara and Vallabha view the world as non-different from brahman, they understand the notion of advaita in two distinct senses. Śaṃkara’s exegeses present brahman as advaita with a world which is metaphysically unreal, while for Vallabha the Lord Kṛṣṇa is advaita with a world which is metaphysically real.