In this blogpost, the author having recenttly spent some 6-8 months exploring all the ideas and concepts of Hinduism puts forward his opinion of what his philosophy of Vishista-advaita Vedanta means to him, how it is structured, and what its practical implications are.
When I talk about God Sri-Krishna-Durga as the Supreme Spiritual Entity (these are two aspects of God), it means that He/She alone exists as the Absolute Reality. He/She exists in unmanifest and manifest forms signifying the dissolution of the universe and Creation in becoming unmanifest and again becoming manifest in cycles.
I also talk about Sri-Krishna-Durga's Maya, not the other way round that advaitists allude to when then ascribe the material world of vyvaharika as an illusion of Brahman and that Brahman is all there is. For me this is putting the cart before the horse. It is Brahman that Sri Krishna-Durga's Maya as magic creates and this Brahman consists of guna-consciousness attributes of rajasic, tamasic and sattvic components of Brahma-Nature interacting to generate the changes in Reality in its impermanence that living beings need to navigate when they try to survive in relative comfort.
Sri-Krishna-Durga exist in human psyche lying dormant normally unless the Supreme Almighty God decides to emerge out of dormancy to influence changes in Brahma-Nature, as for example when there is a preponderance of evil (tamasic) in Brahma-Nature and some order of rajasic nature needs to be restored that God judges. A person living in bhakti and surrendering to the God in his psyche can interact with Him/Her through correspondence of questions and answers. But God wishes people to be independent of Him/Her to use their own free will so will go back into dormancy when He/She judges appropriate for a particular yogi/sadhaka. This He/She can do because He has got in place a mechanism that would make the person independent of Him/Her. The mechanism in place is through the mind of the sadhaka being turned into atman mental faculty (Supermind) and when atman is pristine truth, it equates to Brahman as the Entity that is the Creation consisting of Brahma-Nature in what we see as being the universe.
The means to change from living from within one's mind where God Sri-Krishna-Durga resides to moving towards the mental faculty becoming atman is to let go all one's attachments, such as beliefs, concepts, knowledge, and set dharma even when one might earlier have practiced karma in sanatan dharma in surrendering to God. One learns to act nonchalantly, spontaneously and unpremeditatedly in all ones actions and reactions with the material world, with having no aims, objectives, missions, plans, hopes, wishes, strategies, tactics, anticipations, expectations, desires and finally not an iota of ego. This is when from atman comes truth and from truth comes the appropriate dharma automatically. The actions undertaken are perfect for Self-preservation and the state of being for the person is called the Self. The Self is the same for everyone, and all living beings for atman=Brahman in advaita.
Thus synopsis includes Supreme God Sri Krishna-Durga in the vyavaharika bit not in paramarthika representing the material and spiritual dimensions of Vishista-advaita Vedanta that the philosophy is called.
A Vishista-advaittist is always seeking the reality of his destiny (bhagya, kismat, fate) and does not enforce changes in the reality of the momen let alone for the longer term by will power. This is because he knows that it will be Self-destructive in being futile causing anguish and loss of peace of mind.