Shankara and Ramanuja are both non-dualists. They disagree about what non-dualism allows. This short essay began as coursework with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. It asks how Ramanuja (traditionally dated c. 1017 to 1137 CE) holds an Advaitic form of Vedanta together with a devotional theology centred on a personal God.
Two readings of non-dualism
For Shankara, Brahman is without attributes (nirguna). Maya, the power that makes reality appear divided into subject and object, produces an illusion, and the individual soul (jiva) is real only for as long as it remains caught in ignorance (avidya). Liberation comes through knowing that atman and Brahman are identical (Isayeva, 2016; Kumar, 2023).
Ramanuja rejected this. He was a Sri Vaishnava and a bhakta, and a philosophy that dissolves all distinction diminishes the personal God he worshipped (Adidevananda, 2022). For him maya is real, because it is the creative power of God by which the world comes to be. He also refused to equate maya with avidya (Singh, 1991).
Non-dualism of the qualified Brahman
Ramanuja’s system is called visishtadvaita. Brahman is saguna, endowed with auspicious qualities, and soul and matter are the qualifications of Brahman (Baruah, 2017). Non-dualism is not abandoned. The qualification falls on Brahman, not on the idea of non-dualism.
The model is the relationship between soul and body. They are distinct, yet we speak of one self, and the body is ruled by the soul and subordinate to it (Sundararajan, 2007). Ramanuja calls this inseparability aprithak-siddhi and extends it to Brahman, the world (jagat) and individual souls (jiva). World and souls are modes of Brahman. They continue to exist in subtle form within the Supreme Person even when the world is not manifest (Srinivasachari, 2010).
The Supreme Person is Narayana. Souls are aspects of Brahman, wholly dependent on Narayana and not identical with him (Rodrigues, 2023).
Why devotion needs this distinction
Devotion presupposes someone who loves and someone who is loved. On Shankara’s absolute non-dualism, devotional practice belongs to a lower level of truth (Salmond, 1995). For Ramanuja, Brahman is a Supreme Person, so loving devotion is the natural path to liberation, as in the poetry of the Tamil Alvars, who were his spiritual heritage (Sydnor, 2014).
Liberation itself is a gift of grace. It comes through the mercy of the Lord, with Sri (Lakshmi) as the gracious mediator (Adidevananda, 2022). Bhakti, loving devotion, and prapatti, complete surrender, are the main means (Nayar, 1988). Ramanuja’s love of God is passionate, but it is more than a feeling. The devotee keeps a distinct identity so that union can be experienced (Bowes, 2021).
Surrender shows the point most clearly. To surrender is to stop resisting another person or an outside force (Freimann and Mayseless, 2021). If everything were Brahman without distinction, there would be no one to surrender to, and prapatti would lose its force. Later teachers such as Vedantadesika treated prapatti as an independent means to liberation. Even so, it only makes sense because of the difference between the devotee and Narayana.
Conclusion
Both thinkers hold that Brahman is the ultimate reality. Shankara’s non-dualism is absolute. Ramanuja qualifies Brahman with attributes, and that qualification preserves the distinction between God and soul that devotion requires. A full account of visishtadvaita is beyond a short essay, but the central point holds: Ramanuja’s form of non-dualism is the reason bhakti and prapatti carry such weight in his tradition.
References
Adidevananda, S., 2022. Sri Ramanuja Gita Bhasya. Sri Ramakrishna Math.
Baruah, G., 2017. The history of the Vedanta. Cinnamara College Publication, Jorhat, Assam.
Bowes, P., 2021. The Hindu religious tradition: A philosophical approach. Routledge.
Freimann, A. and Mayseless, O., 2021. Surrender to another person: The case of a spiritual master. Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
Isayeva, N., 2016. Shankara and Indian philosophy. State University of New York Press.
Kumar, M., 2023. The Advaita philosophy of Sri Sankaraacharya: A critical analysis. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Trends, 5(1), pp.21-24.
Nayar, N., 1988. The concept of prapatti in Ramanuja’s Gītābhāsya. Journal of South Asian Literature, 23(2), pp.111-132.
Rodrigues, H.P., 2023. Introducing Hinduism. Taylor & Francis.
Salmond, N., 1995. Advaita and Imagery: Sankara on Devotional Objects, and as Himself an Object of Devotion. Arc: The Journal of the School of Religious Studies, 23, pp.89-105.
Singh, B.N., 1991. Dictionary of Indian Philosophical Concepts. Asha Prakshan: Nagawa.
Srinivasachari, P.N., 2010. The Philosophy of Visistadvaita. Sri Ramakrishna Math.
Sundararajan, K.R., 2007. Self, Consciousness and Self-Consciousness in Rāmānuja’s Vedānta. Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion, 12, pp.75-89.
Sydnor, J.P., 2014. Jaimini, Shankara, and the Alvars: Ramanuja’s Enduring Synthesis. Journal of Vaishnava Studies, 22(2), pp.9-26.
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