DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0134
122 Vaishnavism. The Ramanuja Sect.
you say, as a sport—why should a being of unbounded joy
engage in sport? To say that God has projected an illusion
for deluding His creatures, or that, being essentially devoid
of qualities (nirguna), He becomes possessed of qualities
and active under the influence of illusion (maya), is equally
opposed to godliness. You cannot, if you believe Him to
be all truth, allow the possibility of His projecting a
deceptive spectacle. Nor can you, if you believe Him to
be all knowledge and all power, assent to the theory of
His creating anything under the influence of avidya, or
ignorance.'
Yet, notwithstanding the manifestly dualistic teaching of
Ramanuja in regard to the Supreme and human soul, he
is usually credited with a qualified acquiescence in the Ad-
vaita doctrine of Sahkara. According to some, ifi fact, he
merely propounded a new view of the Vedanta non-duality
(a-dvaita) doctrine, giving it that peculiar interpretation
which is usually called 'qualified non-duality' (visishtadvaita).
I found that no adherent of the Ramanuja system in India
was able to explain this peculiar view satisfactorily. It
is, however, supported by a passage in the Sarva-darsana-
sahgraha, where it is- stated that Ramanuja's teaching, re-
garded from different points of view, was open to the charge
of admitting the three ideas of unity, duality, and plurality.
Unity, it alleges, was admitted by him in saying that all
individual spirits and visible forms constitute the body of
the one Supreme Spirit. Duality was admitted in saying
that the spirit of God and man are distinct. Plurality was
admitted in saying that the Spirit of God, the spirit of man
which is multitudinous, and the visible world are distinct.
(Cowell and Gough's translation, pp. 73, 75.) The first of
these admissions is said to amount to qualified unity, and is
therefore styled Visishtadvaita.
Ramanuja also held that at great periodical dissolutions
of the Universe human souls and the world are re-absorbed
you say, as a sport—why should a being of unbounded joy
engage in sport? To say that God has projected an illusion
for deluding His creatures, or that, being essentially devoid
of qualities (nirguna), He becomes possessed of qualities
and active under the influence of illusion (maya), is equally
opposed to godliness. You cannot, if you believe Him to
be all truth, allow the possibility of His projecting a
deceptive spectacle. Nor can you, if you believe Him to
be all knowledge and all power, assent to the theory of
His creating anything under the influence of avidya, or
ignorance.'
Yet, notwithstanding the manifestly dualistic teaching of
Ramanuja in regard to the Supreme and human soul, he
is usually credited with a qualified acquiescence in the Ad-
vaita doctrine of Sahkara. According to some, ifi fact, he
merely propounded a new view of the Vedanta non-duality
(a-dvaita) doctrine, giving it that peculiar interpretation
which is usually called 'qualified non-duality' (visishtadvaita).
I found that no adherent of the Ramanuja system in India
was able to explain this peculiar view satisfactorily. It
is, however, supported by a passage in the Sarva-darsana-
sahgraha, where it is- stated that Ramanuja's teaching, re-
garded from different points of view, was open to the charge
of admitting the three ideas of unity, duality, and plurality.
Unity, it alleges, was admitted by him in saying that all
individual spirits and visible forms constitute the body of
the one Supreme Spirit. Duality was admitted in saying
that the spirit of God and man are distinct. Plurality was
admitted in saying that the Spirit of God, the spirit of man
which is multitudinous, and the visible world are distinct.
(Cowell and Gough's translation, pp. 73, 75.) The first of
these admissions is said to amount to qualified unity, and is
therefore styled Visishtadvaita.
Ramanuja also held that at great periodical dissolutions
of the Universe human souls and the world are re-absorbed