MEDIEVAL HISTORY
14.Philosophy: Skankaracharya and Vedanta,
Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita, Madhva and Brahma
Mimansa
Philosophy: Skankaracharya and Vedanta, Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita, Madhva and Brahma
Mimansa
Skankaracharya and Vedanta
,
, Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita
Ramanuja was born to Tamil parents in the village of Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. His followers in the Vaishnava
tradition wrote hagiographies, some of which were composed in centuries after his death, and which the
tradition believes to be true.
Ramanuja married, moved to Kānchipuram, studied in an Advaita Vedānta monastery with Yādava Prakāśa as
his guru. Ramanuja and his guru frequently disagreed in interpreting Vedic texts, particularly
the Upanishads.Ramanuja and Yādava Prakāśa separated, and thereafter Ramanuja continued his studies on
his own.
There were multiple attempts on Ramanuja's life. When he was a student under Yadava Prakasa, the latter grew
jealous of Ramanuja's rise to fame. So Yadava Prakasa tried to get rid of Ramanuja during a tour to the Ganges
in north India. Govinda, Ramanuja's cousin (son of his mother's sister)[22], came to know of this sinister plot and
warned Ramanuja who then left the group and escaped to Kanchi with the help of an elderly hunter couple.
Later Yadava Prakasa realised his folly and became a disciple under Ramanuja
Ramanuja's philosophical foundation was qualified monism, and is called Vishishtadvaita in the Hindu
tradition. His ideas are one of three subschools in Vedānta, the other two are known as Ādi Shankara's Advaita
(absolute monism) and Madhvāchārya's Dvaita (dualism).
Ramanuja accepted that the Vedas are a reliable source of knowledge, then critiqued other schools of
Hindu philosophy, including Advaita Vedānta, as having failed in interpreting all of the Vedic texts
He asserted, in his Sri Bhāshya, that purvapaksin(previous schools) selectively interpret those
Upanishadic passages that support their monistic interpretation, and ignore those passages that support
the pluralism interpretation.[56] There is no reason, stated Ramanuja, to prefer one part of a scripture and
not other, the whole of the scripture must be considered on par
One cannot, according to Ramanuja, attempt to give interpretations of isolated portions of any scripture.
Rather, the scripture must be considered one integrated corpus, expressing a consistent doctrine.[56] The
Vedic literature, asserted Ramanuja, mention both plurality and oneness, therefore the truth must
incorporate pluralism and monism, or qualified monism
COMPETTITION WITH OTHER SCHOOL
Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita shares the theistic devotionalism ideas with Madhvāchārya's Dvaita.[63] Both
14.Philosophy: Skankaracharya and Vedanta,
Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita, Madhva and Brahma
Mimansa
Philosophy: Skankaracharya and Vedanta, Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita, Madhva and Brahma
Mimansa
Skankaracharya and Vedanta
,
, Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita
Ramanuja was born to Tamil parents in the village of Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. His followers in the Vaishnava
tradition wrote hagiographies, some of which were composed in centuries after his death, and which the
tradition believes to be true.
Ramanuja married, moved to Kānchipuram, studied in an Advaita Vedānta monastery with Yādava Prakāśa as
his guru. Ramanuja and his guru frequently disagreed in interpreting Vedic texts, particularly
the Upanishads.Ramanuja and Yādava Prakāśa separated, and thereafter Ramanuja continued his studies on
his own.
There were multiple attempts on Ramanuja's life. When he was a student under Yadava Prakasa, the latter grew
jealous of Ramanuja's rise to fame. So Yadava Prakasa tried to get rid of Ramanuja during a tour to the Ganges
in north India. Govinda, Ramanuja's cousin (son of his mother's sister)[22], came to know of this sinister plot and
warned Ramanuja who then left the group and escaped to Kanchi with the help of an elderly hunter couple.
Later Yadava Prakasa realised his folly and became a disciple under Ramanuja
Ramanuja's philosophical foundation was qualified monism, and is called Vishishtadvaita in the Hindu
tradition. His ideas are one of three subschools in Vedānta, the other two are known as Ādi Shankara's Advaita
(absolute monism) and Madhvāchārya's Dvaita (dualism).
Ramanuja accepted that the Vedas are a reliable source of knowledge, then critiqued other schools of
Hindu philosophy, including Advaita Vedānta, as having failed in interpreting all of the Vedic texts
He asserted, in his Sri Bhāshya, that purvapaksin(previous schools) selectively interpret those
Upanishadic passages that support their monistic interpretation, and ignore those passages that support
the pluralism interpretation.[56] There is no reason, stated Ramanuja, to prefer one part of a scripture and
not other, the whole of the scripture must be considered on par
One cannot, according to Ramanuja, attempt to give interpretations of isolated portions of any scripture.
Rather, the scripture must be considered one integrated corpus, expressing a consistent doctrine.[56] The
Vedic literature, asserted Ramanuja, mention both plurality and oneness, therefore the truth must
incorporate pluralism and monism, or qualified monism
COMPETTITION WITH OTHER SCHOOL
Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita shares the theistic devotionalism ideas with Madhvāchārya's Dvaita.[63] Both
