Vedanta Sub-School
विशिष्टाद्वैत वेदान्त
Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
Founder
Sri Ramanujacharya
Era
11th–12th century CE
Category
Vedanta Sub-School
Central thesis
Brahman — identified with Sriman Narayana — is the one ultimate reality, but is qualified (vishishta) by the inseparable modes of conscious selves (cit) and unconscious matter (acit), which form his body. The relation of self and world to Brahman is that of body to embodied self: distinct in attribute, inseparable in being. Liberation is not the dissolution of individuality but the eternal, blissful service of the Lord, attained through bhakti and prapatti (self-surrender).
Key texts
- Sri Bhashya of Ramanuja (on Brahma Sutras)
- Vedartha-sangraha
- Gita Bhashya of Ramanuja
- Divya-prabandham (Tamil hymns of the Alvars)
- Yatindra-mata-dipika of Srinivasa Dasa
Pramana (accepted means of valid knowledge)
- Pratyaksha (perception)
- Anumana (inference)
- Shabda (scriptural testimony)
View of liberation (moksha)
Moksha is the soul’s eternal residence in Vaikuntha in conscious, loving service of Sriman Narayana; the jiva retains its individuality and attains likeness to (not identity with) the Lord in bliss and knowledge.
Modern exponents
- Sri Rangapriya Swami
- M. R. Rajagopala Iyengar
- Patricia Mumme
- John Carman
Key concepts
- Sharira–shariri-bhava (body–embodied-self relation of world and Brahman)
- Cit, acit, Ishvara — three real ontological categories
- Bhakti as steady, loving remembrance
- Prapatti (sharanagati) — total self-surrender
- Five-fold manifestation of the Lord (para, vyuha, vibhava, antaryamin, archa)
- Acharya-abhimana (grace of the teacher)