Is Dvaita the first step towards learning Advaita (Non-Duality)?
If it is, then it is a quite large, reverse, first step! While adherents of Advaita say that by nature and everyday experience one believes in the reality of the universe, etc., and that such belief must be got rid if one is to attain complete union with the nirguna-Brahman, no serious scholar of Advaita claims that studying Tattvavaada is a first step towards learning Advaita. For one thing, it is a rule of all learning that things learned first must not contradict things learned later; for another, Tattvavaada specifically examines and denounces many Advaita concepts, and hence, one who has learned Tattvavaada first cannot possibly accept Advaita later. In fact Advaitha has not built up a credible system of analysis where the puurva paksha or the initial proposition of Tattvavaada is examined and rejected thereby establishing Advaita. The exact reverse obtains today.
