An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c9.41

c9.41

§ 145. It is of interest to realize that three of the distinct theories of the relation of the individual soul to Brahman which were afterwards embodied in commentaries on these sūtras had already received expression by Vedāntic scholars before the time of Bādarāyaṇa. According to Āśmarathya, the soul is neither absolutely different from God nor absolutely without difference; i. e. he held the theory called Bhedābheda; according to Auḍulomi the soul is altogether different from Brahman up to the time when, obtaining release, it is merged in it; i. e. he held the Satyabheda, or Dvaita, theory; while according to Kāśakṛtsna the soul is absolutely non-different from Brahman, i. e. he held the Advaita theory.⁵