Bheda or difference is the central concept of the Dvaita Vedanta of Madhvacharya. There are five kinds of bheda or difference. There are three realities, God, soul and matter which are postulated by him. Differences are the those between God and soul, between God and matter, between soul and soul, between soul and matter and between one matter and another matter. These differences are real and eternal.
Difference or Bheda is not mere maya matra (appearance).
Maya or Prakriti is the will or knowledge of God. And God is omniscient,
without an equal or a superior. Madhvacharya does not support the view that perception
cannot apprehend difference. The relations, the differences and the individualities
are all known in one and the same act of perception. The Sakshin apprehends it
directly. So, the difference is real. It is the foundation of pluralistic
universe of Madhavacharya.
God and soul cannot be identical. The major texts of Upanishads
convey only that the soul has similarity in essence with God. With the grace of
God, the soul can attain liberation through the knowledge of its difference
from and inferiority to God. And God, with His inconceivable power, harmonizes the
five-fold absolute differences with one another in an integral whole.
Madhvacharya introduces the special concept of Vishesha
(particularity) which holds together differences within an undivided being.
There is a difference of degree in the possession of knowledge and in the
enjoyment of bliss among the liberated souls – a doctrine found in no other
system of Hindu philosophy.