Bhaskara (the Vedantin)

Bhāskara, often called Bhāskarācārya the Vedāntin (and to be distinguished from the famous mathematician-astronomers of the same name), was an early teacher of the Bhedābheda ("difference-and-non-difference") school of Vedānta. In his commentary on the Brahma Sūtras he argued that the individual soul and the world are simultaneously different from and non-different from Brahman — a position he framed as a direct alternative to the strict non-dualism (Advaita) of Śaṅkara, whose interpretation, especially the doctrine of māyā, he criticized. He also held a path combining knowledge and ritual action (jñāna-karma-samuccaya). He is generally placed in the 8th–9th century, probably not long after Śaṅkara, though his exact dates and biography are obscure. He is an important figure in the history of Bhedābheda thought, which later teachers such as Nimbārka and the Caitanya tradition would develop.