Press, 2005); K. Ishwaran, Speaking of Basava: Lingayat
Religion and Culture in South Asia (Boulder, Colo.: West-
view, 1992); A. K. Ramanujan, trans., Speaking of Siva
(New York: Penguin Books, 1973).
Vishishtadvaita
The term Vishishtadvaita is very commonly misin-
terpreted as “qualified” (or “modified”) (vishishta)
non-dualism (ADVAITA). A more accurate (though
still imprecise) translation is “non-duality with
differentiation.” This reflects Vishishtadvaita’s
understanding of the three reals: Ishvara (God),
cit (consciousness) and acit (unconsciousness).
The conscious and unconscious existence are real
aspects or attributes of God, non-dual or non-dif-
ferent from God from the point of view of God,
but they are also eternally distinct (differentiated),
in that they are attributes only.
God or BRAHMAN and the world are seen to
have the relation of soul and body. The manifest
universe is the body of God, but in his plentitude
he is also an unchangeable infinity beyond the
world, untouched in any way by the negatives or
impurities of the world of manifestation.
Vishishhadvaita tradition begins with the 12
ALVARS, the mystic poet-singers of Tamil Nadu
who date from the eighth to the 10th centuries.
The songs of these Alvars inspired and shape
the tradition of Vishishtadvaita. The philosophy
expressed in these songs was first systematically
explored by the teacher Nathamuni, probably in
the ninth century C.E. Nathamuni is said to have
received the verses of NAMMALVAR, which he put to
music in Vedic style. These verses are still sung in
the temples of Tamil Nadu, in addition to verses
in SANSKRIT, and are part of the Vaishnavite VEDA
in Tamil.
Nathamuni is credited with composing three
Sanskrit texts that still inform the tradition. He
had 11 disciples, the most important of whom were
Pundarikaksha, Karukanatha, and Shrikrishna Lak-
shminatha. Pundarikaksha’s student Rama Mishra
became the guru of the famed Yamunacharya, who
was also the grandson of Nathamuni. Yamunacha-
rya was probably born in the early 10th century.
He was a king who renounced everything to go to
SRIRANGAM, one of the most important shrines for
the Sri Vaishnavite tradition, which supports the
philosophy of Vishishtadvaita.
Yamunacharya had many disciples, of whom
21 became prominent. RAMANUJA (born at the
end of the 11th century), the greatest ACHARYA of
the lineage, was born to the elder sister of one
of Yamunacharya’s disciples, Mahapurna. Yamu-
nacharya composed six important Sanskrit works
developing the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita. As
with other great acharyas of the Vishishtadvaita
tradition he was a great devotee, as well as a great
scholar; one of the six works he composed was a
praise poem to Lord KRISHNA.
Yamunacharya apparently lived to a ripe
age but died before he could meet Ramanuja.
Ramanuja’s own guru understood that his stu-
dent would one day outshine him and tried to
have him killed, but Ramanuja was miraculously
saved from this attempt. Eventually, Ramanuja
took Mahapurna, his uncle, to be his guru and
followed him to Srirangam. He arrived just after
Yamunacharya died.
From seeing three of Yamuna’s fingers twisted,
after death, he learned that he should do three
things: (1) convert the people to the Vaishnavite
doctrine of surrender, (2) write a commentary to
the VEDANTA SUTRA, and (3) write extensively on
Sri Vaishnavism. All these things he did. Not long
afterward, he renounced the householder life and
went to Srirangam to head the order and devote
himself to the divinity of that shrine. Ramanuja is
famed for his Sri Bhashya, his commentary on the
Vedanta Sutra, but he also wrote a commentary
on the BHAGAVAD GITA and several other major
Vedantic works.
All Ramanuja’s works were written in Sanskrit.
Two important philosophers followed Ramanuja,
Parashara Bhattar, who wrote a Sanskrit com-
mentary on the Sanskrit Thousand Divine Names
of Vishnu, and Pillan or Kurukesha, who wrote aK 490 Vishishtadvaita