Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/22

Knowing, feeling and willing, therefore, complete the full content of our personality. And we realise it by a process of differen- tiation and integration. In the first stage, consciousness is quickened by a recognition of the differentiation between the knower and the known. But knowledge is com- pleted, however, by the identification of the knower with the known either partially, when the object of knowledge is something particular, or wholly, when this object is something that covers and coincides with the totality of our whole being. This differentiation inside the unity of conscious- ness constitutes the essence of all our rational, emotional or volitional activities and experiences. In the theology of Bengal Vaishnavism, the Absolute is, therefore, nei- ther entirely different from the cosmic or the human world, nor is the Absolute absolutely identified with these. Absolute duality leaves no room for relations, nor does absolute identity. Relation implies differentiation in unity. The theology of Bengal Vaishnavism is built upon this universal experience. It is not monistic like the Samkara-Vedanta school nor dual- istic like Christianity, as popularly inter-