[Monism and Dualism can co-exist together. The husband and wife are two in number for external purpose. But, their words, actions and minds are one only. We can see a peculiar person having two types of personalities (split personality), speaking in two ways, thinking in two ways and practically behaving in two ways. Therefore, monism and dualism can co-exist together in friendship. Śrī Śaṅkara and Śrī Madhva are real friends.]

[If you take two incarnations (both may be energetic or human or one energetic and the other human), both are one and the same (Monism) from the point of internal Parabrahman, even though they differ by external media. Even if one medium is energetic and another medium is human since matter is condensed energy, both media can be treated as one and the same. If you take an incarnation and an ordinary human being, both are different (Dualism) due to the presence of God in the incarnation and the absence of God in the ordinary human being.]

[The human body is the common medium between human incarnation and ordinary human being. By this, we cannot say that there is monism between the human body of God and the human body of an ordinary human being. The reason is that both human bodies are different because the human body of Kṛṣṇa has unimaginable power to lift a mountain, whereas the human body of an ordinary human being cannot lift even a big stone.]

[Difference is certainly seen in different souls and different inert items. Different souls are identified based on the distance covered by them in the spiritual path. This means that based on spiritual progress, the souls are different.]

[Even the inert items are different due to the difference in the number of electrons in the atoms. Thus, the inert elements are different in their properties according to modern science. Supporting the scientific explanation, the different inert elements show different properties experienced by us in our daily lives also.]

[Wherever you take any portion of this creation, you will find the correlation of the three philosophies of the three Divine Preachers there. The creator, God Datta, is reflected everywhere in the creation and He is the source of the Divine Trinity (God Brahmā, God Viṣṇu and God Śīva). The three divine preachers (Śrī Śaṅkara, Śrī Rāmānuja and Śrī Madhva) are the incarnations of the Divine Trinity.]

[Let us take an example of an elephant to understand the above said point. Let us take the tail of the elephant and the rest of the body of the elephant. If you analyze these two items, you can see monism of Śrī Śaṅkara, qualified monism of Śrī Rāmānuja and dualism of Śrī Madhva in the same example.]

[In both the body of the elephant and the tail of the elephant, the external components like nerves, blood, flesh and skin are one and the same. Even the internal awareness in both is also one and the same. This internal and external unity can be called as monism of Śrī Shankara.]

[The tail is a tiny part and the body of the elephant is the huge whole, maintaining part-whole relationship. Both are different because the quantitative aspect is very much different. Both cannot be separated since both are always joined. Similarly, the world with souls and God can be understood. This is the qualified monism because the lotus flower (Viśeṣya) and its blue colour (Viśeṣaṇa) are inseparable in the blue lotus flower (Viśiṣṭa). This is the philosophy of Śrī Rāmānuja.]

[If the tail of the elephant is cut, the elephant does not die, but undergoes some pain due to the cutting. The awareness present in the tail also exists in the body of the elephant. Hence, pain is experienced. In the dualism of Śrī Madhva, common awareness is accepted between God and the soul. In studying the difference between God and the inert world, you can examine the horn of a deer. Even if the horn is broken a little, the deer is not pained and this supports the difference between God and the inert world.]

[The pain of the elephant in the separation of its tail was explained above. The elephant and its tail are joined together without separation. This point need not be the reason for the pain. Husband and his wife are separate souls, unlike the tail and the elephant. If the husband and wife are separated from each other, the separated husband or wife is pained. Hence, pain is not the characteristic of inseparable condition as seen in the separation of a departed couple.]

[You need not worry that Śrī Rāmānuja spoke about this world as the body of God. Do not worry about this concept. God Himself told in the Gītā that the body of any soul is like the cloth that is worn by the soul (Vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni…– Gītā). Based on this, whether you tell the cloth as body or body as cloth, it is one and the same.]

[We cannot find any difference between Śrī Rāmānuja and Śrī Madhva since fundamentally, both established the same concepts. Slight differences like body and cloth can be resolved very easily between them. Even if you take Śrī Śaṅkara, He never said that the world is unreal. It is relative reality, which means that the world is as real as God at present. It only means that the world did not exist before its generation. The reality of the world is the reality of its cause i.e., God at present after the generation of the world. The reality of the pot is the reality of the mud from which the pot is prepared. Moreover, Śrī Śaṅkara also told that the body is like the worn cloth. Hence, all the three Divine Preachers are perfectly correlated.]

[We cannot call this world as the body of God Nārāyaṇa because it is told by Śrī Rāmānuja that God Nārāyaṇa has His own divine eternal body. This divine body is not like the body made of five elements because it is pervaded by Parabrahman and hence, eternal. Around this body only, the world exists like a cloth around the body. The changes taking place in this world are the changes taking place in the cloth and not in the body. If the cloth is torn, the body is not torn.]

[As per the tradition of literature, the same simile is told as a metaphor by the scholars. If you appreciate that the face is like the moon, it is a figure of speech called ‘simile’. If you appreciate that the face is the moon itself, it is another figure of speech called ‘metaphor’. Both carry the same meaning, although the expression is in a different style.]

[Like this, the worn cloth is compared to the body of a person in using the figure of speech called simile. The same figure of speech is turned to another form of figure of speech called metaphor in which a scholar says that the cloth itself is the body. This tradition is well recognised by a scholar. How can there be even a trace of difference between Śrī Rāmānuja and Śrī Madhva?]

[Some foolish scholars treat the world as the body of God and when a soul is liberated from the world, they mock the theory of Śrī Rāmānuja by saying that some part disappeared from the body of God. They do not analyze the background properly, which is that the world is not the body of God, but, is the cloth around the body.]

[If a soul is liberated from the world, a thread of the cloth that surrounds the body of God has fallen down. By this, will there be loss of any limb of God? A fool is always very much fascinated to mock others!]

[When the cloth is surrounding the body, the cloth also gets the form of the body. The divine body of God is not seen. Only the cloth surrounding the body, having the shape of the body alone, is seen by the people. Therefore, God is called as Viśvarūpa, which means that from the form of the world, the form of the body is inferred.]

[Therefore, while describing God, the parts of the world are known as the limbs of the body of God. Earth is told as feet. Sky is told as the navel pit. The moon and sun are told as the two eyes of God (Bhūḥ pādau yasya nābhir viyadasu ranilaś candra sūryau ca netre).]

[The Veda says that all this world is God (Sarvaṃ khalvidaṃ Brahma). Some people interpret the meaning of this Vedic statement to be that this world is the body of God. This is called as Tādātmya Prathamā, which means that it is such an object. Ex.: That object is a lotus flower. Here, this is another Tadadhīna Prathamā, which means that it is controlled by such and such controller. Ex: The east boundary of this field is Devadatta. This means that Devadatta’s field is the east boundary and that the field is the property controlled by Devadatta. This does not mean that Devadatta himself is the east boundary! Hence, this means that this whole world is controlled by God and this does not mean that this whole world is God.]

[Like this, Śrī Rāmānuja and Śrī Madhva are the strongest devotees of God Nārāyaṇa and cannot differ from each other even by a trace. Even in the tradition of Śrī Śaṅkara, all followers of Śrī Śaṅkara finish every spiritual work by saying at the end, “Like this, we remember God Nārāyaṇa” (Iti Nārāyaṇasmṛtiḥ).]

Iti Śrī Datta Svāmi viracita Śrī Rājīva Gītāyām Advaita dvaita Vicāra yogo Nāma Pañcamādhyāyaḥ|

[Like this, in Shri Raajiiva Gita, composed by His Holiness Shri Datta Swami, the Fifth Chapter called ‘The Association of Enquiry of the Monism and Dualism’ is completed.]