The characteristic position of all the different Bhedābheda Vedānta schools is that the individual self (jīvātman) is both different and not different from the ultimate reality known as Brahman. Each thinker within the Bhedābheda Vedānta tradition has their own particular understanding of the precise meanings of the philosophical terms "difference" and "non-difference". Bhedābheda Vedāntic ideas can traced to some of the very oldest Vedāntic texts, including quite possibly Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahma Sūtra (c. 4th century CE).
Bhedābheda predates the positions of two other major schools of Vedānta. The Advaita (Non-dual) Vedānta that claims that the individual self is completely identical to Brahman, and the Dvaita (Dualist) Vedānta (13th century) that teaches complete difference between the individual self and Brahman.
The doctrine of Bhedābheda expounded by Nimbarka was developed into a sound system of philosophy by the most brilliant of his successors, Kesavakasmiribhatta. His chief contribution to the intellectual foundation of the system is preserved in the text of Vedanta-kaustubha-prabha, an elaborate commentary on Brahma-sutra 0f Badarayana.
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