page_title: Vedanta
section_title: Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism)
hierarchical_section_title: Vedanta / Overview of the main schools of Vedanta / Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism)
caption_attribution_description: English: Ramanujacharya embracing an icon of Lord Varadaraj(Vishnu)
context_page_description: Vedanta or Uttara Mīmāṃsā is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, the speculations and philosophies contained in the Upanishads, specifically, knowledge and liberation. Vedanta contains many sub-traditions, ranging from Vishnu-oriented dualism, bhedabheda and qualified non-dualism, to non-Vaishna monistic non-dualism, all of which refer to the basis of a common textual connection called the Prasthanatrayi: the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.
  All Vedanta schools, in their deliberations, concern themselves but differ in their views regarding ontology, soteriology and epistemology. While Advaita Vedanta is the "most famous" school of Vedanta, within the Vaisna traditions four sampradays have cardinal status, The main traditions of Vedanta are:
  Bhedabheda, as early as the 7th century CE, or even the 4th century CE. Some scholars are inclined to consider it as a "tradition" rather than a school of Vedanta.
  Dvaitādvaita or Svabhavikabhedabheda, founded by Nimbarka in the 7th century CE
context_section_description: Vishishtadvaita, propounded by Ramanuja (11–12th century), asserts that Jivatman (human souls) and Brahman (as Vishnu) are different, a difference that is never transcended. With this qualification, Ramanuja also affirmed monism by saying that there is unity of all souls and that the individual soul has the potential to realize identity with the Brahman. Vishishtadvaita, like Advaita, is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta in a qualified way, and both begin by assuming that all souls can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation. On the relation between the Brahman and the world of matter (Prakriti), Vishishtadvaita states both are two different absolutes, both metaphysically true and real, neither is false or illusive, and that saguna Brahman with attributes is also real. Ramanuja states that God, like man, has both soul and body, and the world of matter is the glory of God's body. The path to Brahman (Vishnu), according to Ramanuja, is devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of the personal god (bhakti of saguna Brahman).
caption: Ramanujacharya depicted with Vaishnava Tilaka and Vishnu statue.
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