Abheda
Abheda · a-bheda, “non-difference, oneness”
Grammar: masculine noun; a (not) with bheda (difference, division), from the root bhid (to split): “the absence of difference”.
Meaning: non-difference, oneness; the state in which two are not separate.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa uses the word for the gopīs’ oneness with Śrī Kṛshṇa and for the oneness of Brahman and the ātmā.
When Śrī Kṛshṇa suddenly withdrew from sight in the rāsa, the gopīs, whose hearts had been drawn by his walk, his love, his gentle smile, his playful glances and his charming talk, meditated on their abheda with him, their minds in him alone, and began to act out each of his līlās. In his walk, smile, glances and words they reached oneness with their beloved; the same marks appeared even in their bodies, and each declared, “Here! I am Kṛshṇa!” Śuka tells Parīkshit that the one they sought is the complete Para-Brahman, inside and outside all beings like ākāśa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 30).
Teaching Uddhava, Śrī Kṛshṇa says that the supreme intent (parama-tātparya) of the karma-kāṇḍa, the devatā or upāsanā kāṇḍa and the jñāna kāṇḍa of the Veda is the abheda of Brahman and the ātmā. The maharshis who see the mantras speak of it in a veiled way, “and to speak so is dear to me too” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 21).
Related terms: Bheda · Advaita · Brahman · Ātmā · Ekatva
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 30; Skandha 11, Chapter 21