taking the master as an embodiment of Sri Krishna (or any other deity whom the aspirant loved), in which case the guide himself becomes the goal. In this way Nigamananda convincingly reconciled the two apparently contradictory creeds of Shankaracharya and Gauranga who advocated the principle and practice of apparent duality between the devotee and God. After all, Nigamananda pointed out that in the path of devotion and love the aspirant has to subdue or tame his ego adequately and hence he attains to the same stage as that of the monastic aspirant whose ego loses its identity on attaining to his goal. In the former case, the devotee's individuality is reduced to a trifle, overpowered by personal god-consciousness, whereas in the latter the aspirant loses his self-consciousness in the ocean of impersonal universal consciousness. Jnanachakra Nigamananda pointed out that although the doctrine of monastic vedanta philosophy treats the supreme reality in terms of oneness of individual and universal consciousness, it does not systematically explain the structure of the material creation that is addressed by Samkhya philosophy. This latter does not treat the supreme reality as well. Similarly, whereas Christianity emphasizes service and surrender as means to God realization, the Indian philosophy of Poorva Mimamsa prescribes various rituals for the attainment of personal and collective happiness despite cycles of birth and death. By means of a Jnanachakra (ज्ञानचक्र) chart (the spheres of spiritual cosmology) which he presented in a pictorial form, Nigamananda identified different layers of consciousness inter-woven in the microcosm (body) and the macrocosm (the universe) and pointed out the levels that aspirants ultimately attain. In this chart he placed Sri Krishna and Sri Radha (or the Guru-गुरु and Yogamaya-योगमाया) in the transition between the non qualified (Nirguna) Brahman (निर्गुण ब्रह्म) and qualified (Saguna) Brahman (सगुण ब्रह्म), which he called Nitya or Bhavaloka (भाव लोक). (Yogamaya is a form of divine power, which incessantly attracts earth-bound souls and helps them realise their true blissful nature and participate in divine play). Other key teachings Other key teachings of Nigamananda as stated by Chetnananda Saraswati are: Spiritual liberation requires the help of a liberated person (a Master Sadguru or simply Guru). In the Hindu scriptures that person is known as Guru. Without his grace or favor none can make progress. He who has attained the ultimate reality (Paramatman or Brahman) as one and the same as himself (the Atman) is the Guru.