Sajatiyabheda

By Swami Harshananda

Sajatiyabheda literally means ‘homogeneous distinction’.

According to Advaita Vedānta, Brahman-the Absolute, is entirely homogeneous and is the only Reality. The Viśiṣtādvaita Vedānta, however, though it accepts Brahman as the Absolute and independent Reality, also accepts the cit^[1] and the acit^[2] as the secondary or dependent realities included in itself.

To prove the possibility of such internal distinctions, the protagonists of this school declare that bheda or distinction can be of three different kinds:

Vijātīya bheda - heterogeneous distinction as that of a cow from a horse
Sajātīyabheda - homogeneous distinction as that of one cow from another cow
Svagatabheda - internal distinction as between the head and the tail of the same cow.

Though Brahman does not have the first two bhedas because it is the only and independent Reality, it does have the third.^[3]

References[edit]

↑ Cit is the conscious entities, the jivas or the individual souls.
↑ Acit is the insentient prakṛti or nature comprising the three guṇas.
↑ It is called as svagatabheda.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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[1] Cit is the conscious entities, the jivas or the individual souls.

[2] Acit is the insentient prakṛti or nature comprising the three guṇas.

[3] It is called as svagatabheda.

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