Nimbarka

(12th c.?) Ascetic, philosopher, devotee
(bhakta) of the god Vishnu, and attributed as the founder of the Sanaka
Sampraday, one of the four Vaishnava
ascetic orders. According to tradition,
Nimbarka was a Telegu (southern
Indian) brahmin who was born in the
city of Paithan in central India, but lived
much of his life in the northern Indian
Braj region, where the god Krishna is
supposed to have lived. Nimbarka’s
philosophical position is described as
dualism-nondualism (dvaitadvaita), a
concept in which God and human
beings are both identical and different.
While earlier Vaishnavas worshiped
Vishnu and Lakshmi as the divine
couple, Nimbarka used the same
concept, but changed the focus to
Krishna and Radha.