Ramanuja · Theology

One Reality, Really Many

Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita holds that Brahman is genuinely one - but one as a whole qualified by real, distinct parts: conscious souls and unconscious matter. Unity and difference are both true at once.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Ramanuja accepts non-dualism (there is one ultimate reality, Brahman) but qualifies it: Brahman is a single whole whose ‘body’ is the real multiplicity of souls and matter. Reconstruct why he calls this Vishishtadvaita - non-duality of the qualified - and how it differs from both pure moni…

Leads to Shankara.

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