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CHAPTER XIV
VEDANTA (continued)
B. VIŠIŞTĀDVAITA This is the system which is associated with the name of Rāmānuja. Its most striking feature is the attempt which it makes to unite personal theism with the philosophy of the Absolute. Two lines of thought, both of which can be traced far back into antiquity, meet here and in this lies the explanation of a great part of its appeal to the cultured as well as the common people. It resembles in this respect the teaching of the Gītā, though it naturally shows greater systematization both on the religious and on the philosophical side. Historically speaking, the elements of thought combined here are distinct. The first of them, viz. theism is of the Bhāgavata.type, inculcating belief in a personal and transcendent God who saves, out of mercy, such as are wholeheartedly devoted to him and are for that reason described as ekāntins (single-minded'). The second element in the teaching is still older, being based upon the Upanişads. Of the two Upanişadic views to which we have alluded (p. 62), neither in its entirety proved acceptable to Rāmānuja, but his teaching is more like what is described as Brahmapariņāma-vada! than Brahma-vivarta-vāda. The ideas of the unity of ultimate reality and of its immanence in the universe, as also the doctrine that jñāna is the means of salvation, are derived from this source. As to the success with which the two teachings are synthesized here, we shall say a few words later, for the present, it will suffice to mention that the synthesis was not initiated by Ramanuja, though that should not be understood as minimizing the value of his contribution to the final shaping of the doctrine. The attempt to bring together theism and the philosophy of the Absolute is very old and may be traced even in parts of Vedic literature
See e.g. SB. I. iv. 27. * This, as we shall see, is termed bhakti by Ramanuja.
