Are Nirvisheshavada and Mayavada two names of the same philosophy?

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Hare Krishna Question From Subuddhi Madhav Prabhu Are Nirisheshwada and Mayavada Two names of the same philosophy? Answer Is practically speaking yes Philosophically Practically speaking means in the way normal conversation is done It refers to the same But technically there is some slight difference The philosophy Of the impersonalists Especially as propagated by Shankaracharya Is called as Advaitavada Advaitavada Essentially means that there is no difference The philosophy of non-duality That there is absolute Non-differentiated oneness This is the root Philosophy This is the root Claim of the What is called as Advaitic school of thought Now then the problem comes Then the question comes up But we see so much variety in this world We see so much difference in this world One thing is different from another And matter is different from spirit And there are differences So how to account for those differences So broadly speaking Two lines of development took place Within Advaitavada So one was called as Mayavada The other was called as Prathibimbavada Prathibimbavada means That this world is a reflection Of the The variety That we see Is a reflection Of spiritual reality And just as the reflections can become distorted So the one becomes distorted into many Within reflections Now all these are very complex technical subjects I am only giving a brief Outline over here So don’t get caught in technicalities But the point is Prathibimbavada is one way In which the Difference was tried to be accounted for The other Much more popular way In the history of Advaitavada Was what was called as Mayavada Mayavada was the idea that This world And everything within this world Is ultimately to be understood as Maya So Advaitavada Developed into Broadly two schools of thought Prathibimbavada and Mayavada Mayavada became the prominent School of thought and now subsequently Mayavada is used to Refer generically To To all schools of thought That hold the Absolute to this utterly undifferentiated One and everything that Seems to exist separate From him is an illusion So the mainstream Impersonal school of thought Which is there in India Some of them are Mayavadis Now As far as Nirvisheshavada is concerned Nirvishesh Vishesh is more of a Negative way of Speaking of the same reality So Vishesh Is a concept Which was especially developed by The Dvaita school of thought Madhvacharya and his followers And it has been adopted in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta especially by Baldevidya Bhushan And Vishesh Especially refers to the attribute Of a thing Now the whole philosophical understanding Of how an attribute Is connected to the thing whether the attribute is innate To the thing or whether it is something Which is added to the thing So The point is that Vishesh As understood within The Dvaitic school of thought That the absolute truth is one But he is one With various Vishesh With various Attributes which are innate To him So these attributes bring variety Within his existence But because these attributes Are innate to him So they do not They do not violate The principle of his oneness So it’s again quite complex And technical but suffice it to say that Vishesh Is one line of analysis By which The variety which is there Is accounted for as a Reality while at the same time The reality of the oneness of the absolute Is also Accepted So now those who say that There is no, that the absolute Truth does not have any Vishesh That means whatever variety Is seen is not Is not innate To the absolute truth but is separate from the Absolute truth and is ultimately An illusion they are called as Nirvisheshavadis So Nirvisheshavad Refers in one sense To, it’s the same as Advaitavad And This Nirvisheshavad is especially This is the, so Mayavadis They themselves, it’s a self-proclaimed It’s a self Proclaimed designation Mayavadis themselves say that We accept the doctrine of Mayavad That means we accept that everything apart from Brahman, except we proclaim That everything is Maya Nirvisheshavad is primarily Primarily used by The opponents of Mayavadis Especially those who accept the Vishesha, which is the concept Of Vishesha and Shri Prabhupada In his Pranam Mantra when he used the word Nirvishesh And other places also when he used the word Nirvisheshavad He is referring it as a generic Term to refer to those Who hold the absolute Truth as absolute non-differentiated oneness That means Nirvisheshavad can be Philosophically speaking In terms of technical accuracy It’s equivalent to Advaitavad But from a general Conversational perspective We can say Mayavad is the term that is Most popularly used Most commonly used and so from a conversational Perspective Mayavad and Nirvisheshavad Are similar They refer to more or less the same thing.