DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0132
120 Vaishnavism. The Ramanuja Sect.
This doctrine was clearly antagonistic to that of the great
Brahmanical revivalist Sankara, who lived three or four cen-
turies before (see p. 55). According to Sankara, as we have
seen, the separate existence of the spirit of man, as distinct
from the one Universal Spirit, was only illusory. Illusion
(Maya), too—existing from all eternity—was the only mate-
rial or substantial cause (upadana-karana) of the external
world, though this eternally creative Illusion was powerless
to create the world except in union with the one Spirit.
Ramanuja, on the other hand, contended that the souls or
spirits of men are truly, essentially, and eternally distinct and
different from the one Universal Spirit. With regard to the
external world his views appear to have been less dualistic
than those of the Sahkhya, and even than those of the
Vedanta, for in the former we have Prakriti and in the latter
Maya, as the material cause (upadana) out of which the
Universe was created; whereas Ramanuja held that God is
himself both the creator (Karta) of the world and the
substantial cause or material out of which it is formed. He
appears, too, to have asserted that the world and God stand
towards each other in the relation of body and soul, and
that body and soul are virtually one. It will be found, in
fact, that the doctrine 'ex nihilo nihil fit' in some form or
other holds good in every religious system which India has
produced independently of Christian influences.
In support of the doctrine that the spirits of men are
really and eternally distinct from the one Universal Spirit
he appealed to a passage in the Mundaka Upanishad, which
rests on a well-known text of the Rig-veda (I. 164-20):
'Two birds—the Supreme and Individual Souls—always
united, of the same name, occupy the same tree (abide in
the same body). One of therrr (the Individual Soul) enjoys
the fruit of the fig (or consequence of acts), the other looks
on as a witness.'
Nevertheless Ramanuja admitted the dependence of the
This doctrine was clearly antagonistic to that of the great
Brahmanical revivalist Sankara, who lived three or four cen-
turies before (see p. 55). According to Sankara, as we have
seen, the separate existence of the spirit of man, as distinct
from the one Universal Spirit, was only illusory. Illusion
(Maya), too—existing from all eternity—was the only mate-
rial or substantial cause (upadana-karana) of the external
world, though this eternally creative Illusion was powerless
to create the world except in union with the one Spirit.
Ramanuja, on the other hand, contended that the souls or
spirits of men are truly, essentially, and eternally distinct and
different from the one Universal Spirit. With regard to the
external world his views appear to have been less dualistic
than those of the Sahkhya, and even than those of the
Vedanta, for in the former we have Prakriti and in the latter
Maya, as the material cause (upadana) out of which the
Universe was created; whereas Ramanuja held that God is
himself both the creator (Karta) of the world and the
substantial cause or material out of which it is formed. He
appears, too, to have asserted that the world and God stand
towards each other in the relation of body and soul, and
that body and soul are virtually one. It will be found, in
fact, that the doctrine 'ex nihilo nihil fit' in some form or
other holds good in every religious system which India has
produced independently of Christian influences.
In support of the doctrine that the spirits of men are
really and eternally distinct from the one Universal Spirit
he appealed to a passage in the Mundaka Upanishad, which
rests on a well-known text of the Rig-veda (I. 164-20):
'Two birds—the Supreme and Individual Souls—always
united, of the same name, occupy the same tree (abide in
the same body). One of therrr (the Individual Soul) enjoys
the fruit of the fig (or consequence of acts), the other looks
on as a witness.'
Nevertheless Ramanuja admitted the dependence of the