In this world we can identify two great paradigms of spirituality.One is that of Buddhism-Advaita and the other is the philosophy laid out in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita.The first one is static.It lays great emphasis on rest.The summum bonnum of this kind of spirituality is to come to the final rest after a long journey in the search for truth.The final realization is that all movement and flux was a mere illusion , a play of Maya , and at best only relatively real.This is a kind of transcending spirituality , where the emphasis is on transcendence.The person goes beyond this world to a resting place.He either reaches and rests in the Great Void , Maha Shunyata , or dissolves his identity in the Brahmic Consciousness.There is infact no recognition of the existence of the Individual Soul or Self-Concious Entity , Chetana , which is the Sakshi or witness to the world events.The sense of identity is itself an illusion , the result of Maya or Ignorance whose origins in both Buddism and Advaita are not explained , but dismissed as unnecessary or incomprehensible.Thus there is no subject in the first place , only the illusion of the subject , and getting rid of this illusion is part and parcel of attaining Nirvana or Moksha.As far as the object is concerned , it never existed and will never exist.In buddhism its the stream of Karma-Samskaras which are constantly in motion which are perceived as the objective universe , by the "Individual" and in Advaita it is the principle of Maya , which , by enveloping the Universal Soul causes the appearance of this world , with its multivarious forms , and also imparts a divided sense of individuality to the Universal Soul causing a divison between soul and super-soul and soul and other souls.Salvation lies in revesing the entire process.
The philosophy of this system influences the world view of these systems as well.
The world view of this kind of spirituality is entirely one of rejection and negation of this world.The world is painted as a place of suffering "All life is suffering" being a famous buddist observation.The world is rejected for its imperfection and an attempt is made to escape it and come to rest in the higher planes of existence , in the Void or Suchness (tathata) or brahmic consciousness.Thus the Buddhas are also known as Thataghatas , the Ones who have gone Beyond the Suchness , and hence from there they issue forth to take back more human beings to the higher realms.Rest is preffered to action.Ascetism and Monastism are marked in these philosphies and if Buddha and his followers set up monasteries all over India , Shankara established the Four Mutts in the four corners of India.The monk is the mascot of these systems and he is representative of the highest possible.In Buddhism it is the monk and in Advaita it is the male brahmin sanyasin.Ascetism is greater in Advaita than in Buddhism.They dominate the spiritual system.
They hold Karma as the source of bondage.Thus getting rid of the accumulated karma of the ages is the prime concern and not to mention avoidance of accumulating fresh karmas.Getting out of the cycle of birth and re-birth and getting out of the Samsaric wheel implies breaking the bonds of karma , the chain of karma.
Karma is held responsible for rebirth and ending karma is the way to get out of Samsara.Hence the emphasis on Sanyasa or Ascetism and the elevation of the Monk as the ideal.As a result there is a great anti-pathy towards action.
They also encourage a great deal of fatalism.The emphasis on Karma is due entirely to buddhism and they lay a lot of emphasis on past deeds.Thus all that happens is a result of ones past deeds and nothing can be changed at all.Shankara borrowed this system into hindusim and created the fatalistic mindsets of the hindu population.
On the other is the dynamic spirituality espoused in the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita.Here there is the Self-Existent soul which is constantly in search of the Divine and revels in the experience of the divine.The Soul is real and is a Self-Conscious Entity that existed from beginningless time and will continue to exist forever.Its nature is that of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
The Universal Soul , God or Divine is the Super Soul which activates and energises the other souls.The Divine is Omiscient , Omnipresent and the Greatest.It has a relationship with the other souls which are all mirror-images of the Divine Soul which is Sat-Chit-Ananda , Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
The Divine Soul is a Person.He has a Cosmic Consciousness (which is the impersonal absolute worshipped by the Advaitin) which permeates all of creation. The Divine descends in every Age , whenever there is a decline in spirituality to decimate the Asuric Forces , protect the upholders of the Divine Way and re-establish spirituality as the basis of life on earth.In the past He descended as Rama , Krishna and in the future He will descend as Kalki.
These Descents are known as Avatars , which is the Sanskrit word for Descent.The Divine Person does not take on a material body but has the body of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.He deludes the Forces of Ignorance by appearing like an ordinary human and reveals his true nature to His seekers.
Dynamism and activity are the chief characteristics of this philosophy. Salavtion does not imply coming to a rest , but rather continuance of action in a divine consciousness.Even in Vaikuntha or Goloka Vrindavana , the souls are ever active in the company of Vishnu or revel in the association with Krishna.The souls may even continue to perform Yagnas , which is the worship of Vishnu as prescribed in the scriptures if they so wish.Others glorify Vishnu according to their inclination.There is even the possibility of coimg down to earth to give direction to the souls.
Ignorance is held as the chief cause of bondage.The soul forgetting its inherent divine nature , wallows in this world attempting to quench its thirst for bliss through sense-enjoyments.Since the soul's very nature is that of bliss , it seeks happines , naturally , but wrongly in sense enjoyments , which are of temporary nature.Out of this forgetfulness of its true nature it binds itself to this world through its desires for worldly enjoyments.It then experiences a combination of bliss and suffering depending on circumstances.
Thus the means of ending bondage is not the rejection of action , but ending of ignorance and discovering ones divine spark hidden within oneself.Action continues , but it continues in a divine consciousness , out of the awareness that all this is due to the Lord and dedication of all actions to the divine and also the realisation its the three prakritic gunas , of transparent , turbid and dark , which act and not the soul , and the Lord is the master of Prakriti who directs her and makes her act.Submission to the divine will is the summum bonnum of spirituality and to do the Divine's Work in this world is the highest spirituality.
Out of this standing comes the emphasis on tyaga or inner sacrifice or inner renunciation rather than outward sanyasa or ascetism.The true sanyasin is not one who renounces action but one who renounces the fruits of action.Renunciation in action is called for and not renunciation of action.
Active service to the society is called for in this philosophy.Madhva regarded service to the society as the tax one pays to God , and without which one may not enter the Kingdom of God.
Military action to curb injustice is advocated rather passive behaviour.
The emphasis is in worshipping God and inviting his grace rather than Karma.By God's grace one overcomes Ignorance and in the enlightened state one acts as a servant of God.
There is also a poitive view of the world.Only once in the entire Bhagavad Gita does Sri Krishna say , "anityam asukam lokam" , temporary and miserable world , and "dukhalayam asasvatam" , place of sorrow whichis temporary.And even here the solution offered is :
Anityam asukam lokam imam prapya bhajasva maam
Having come to this temporary and miserable world , worship me.
Sri Krishna does not advocate running from this world but rather "Worship Me".To my devotee , I am the boat which delivers him from the ocean of misery.
Elsewhere he says , "tasmat sarveshu kaleshu maam anusmara yuddhya ca" ."Always remember Me and fight".Here it is worthwhile to note that he says remember Me and fight.He does not simply ask the peson to worship him but to also actually take part in worldy affairs and do justice.
This does not mean that the paradigm of buddhism and advaita are entirely wrong.He approves that paradigm when he says
"Not by abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from karma, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection"
The elaborate description of Yoga in Chapter 7 also shows he does not hold the attraction othe-worldly spirituality as entirely wrong.For those few souls which due to their past birth rememberances , take to the practice of Yoga , it is well and good.But for the vast majority of human beings still on the path towards realisation of the divine , it may not be the best of paths.
As a result of the inherent dynamism of this philosophy the choice of worship is Sri Krishna , a Personal God who took active interest in the political fortunes of the cousins rather than the static Impersonal Absolute which the advaitins perfer to worship.
The Gita upholds a vibrant , positive , world affirming philosphy in which an individual's will to work for the divine and the divine grace guarantees salvation for the individual and the world.
This is in direct contrast to the static , pessimistic , world-negating buddhist-advaitin philosophy which lay emphasis on karma and past deeds and imbue a fatalistic mentality on the seeker , apart from creating an anti-pathy for action.