1001Philosophers

Adi Shankara vs Ramanuja

Adi Shankara and Ramanuja are the two most influential interpreters of the Vedanta tradition of Hindu philosophy. Their disagreement over the relation of the self to Brahman is the central debate within Vedanta and the deepest disagreement within classical Indian philosophy.

At a glance

Adi ShankaraRamanuja
Dates788 – 8201017 – 1137
NationalityIndianIndian
EraMedievalMedieval
Movements Vedanta, Indian Philosophy Vedanta, Indian Philosophy
Profile Adi Shankara → Ramanuja →

Where they agree

Both held that the Upanishadic texts are the highest source of philosophical authority, both held that liberation (moksha) consists in the right understanding of the relation between the self (atman) and the ultimate (Brahman), and both worked within the broader Vedanta tradition. Both produced systematic commentaries on the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.

Where they disagree

Shankara's Advaita Vedanta holds that Brahman alone is real, that the self is identical with Brahman, and that the apparent multiplicity of individual selves and the world is the product of cosmic illusion (maya). Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita Vedanta holds that the self is qualifiedly non-dual with Brahman: the world and individual selves are real and form the body of Brahman as their inner soul, but they are not identical with Brahman in Shankara's strict sense. Where Shankara's liberation is the dissolution of personal identity in non-dual consciousness, Ramanuja's is the eternal devotional relation of the individual self to a personal God.

Representative quotes

Adi Shankara

  • “Knowledge of the Self is the only means to liberation.”

    p. 4: Quote nr. 2.

  • “Brahma satyam jagat mithyam, jivo brahmaiva naparah”

    Brahman (the existential substratum) is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self.

  • “Brahman (the existential substratum) is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self.”

    Brahma satyam jagat mithyam, jivo brahmaiva naparah

Ramanuja

  • “When the food is pure the Sattva element gets purified, the memory becomes unwavering.”

    Ramanuja quotes from the Chandogya Upanishad ; Quoted in: Vivekananda (1913) Vedanta Philosophy: Lectures on Raja Yoga . p. 293.

  • “Ramanuja quotes from the Chandogya Upanishad ; Quoted in: Vivekananda (1913) Vedanta Philosophy: Lectures on Raja Yoga . p. 293.”

    When the food is pure the Sattva element gets purified, the memory becomes unwavering.

  • “What an individual pursues as a desirable end depends upon what he conceives himself to be.”

    Attributed to Ramanuja in: Swami Vivekananda (1979) Awakened India. Vol. 84, p. 206.

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