What the exact position of Râmânuja was, and of what nature were the
reforms that rendered him so prominent as to give his name to a new
sect, is not exactly known at present; at the same time it is generally
acknowledged that the Râmânujas are closely connected with the so-called
Bhâgavatas or Pâ/ñk/arâtras, who are known to have existed already at a
very early time. This latter point is proved by evidence of various
kinds; for our present purpose it suffices to point to the fact that,
according to the interpretation of the most authoritative commentators,
the last Sûtras of the second pâda of the second adhyâya
(Vedânta-sûtras) refer to a distinctive tenet of the Bhâgavatas--which
tenet forms part of the Râmânuja system also--viz. that the highest
being manifests itself in a fourfold form (vyûha) as Vâsudeva,
Sa@nkarsha/n/a, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, those four forms being identical
with the highest Self, the individual soul, the internal organ (manas),
and the principle of egoity (aha@nkâra). Whether those Sûtras embody an
approval of the tenet referred to, as Râmânuja maintains, or are meant
to impugn it, as /S/a@nkara thinks; so much is certain that in the
opinion of the best commentators the Bhâgavatas, the direct forerunners
of the Râmânujas, are mentioned in the Sûtras themselves, and hence must
not only have existed, but even reached a considerable degree of
importance at the time when the Sûtras were composed. And considering
the general agreement of the systems of the earlier Bhâgavatas and the
later Râmânujas, we have a full right to suppose that the two sects were
at one also in their mode of interpreting the Vedânta-sûtras.

The preceding considerations suffice, I am inclined to think, to show
that it will by no means be wasted labour to enquire how Râmânuja
interprets the Sûtras, and wherein he differs from /S/a@nkara. This in
fact seems clearly to be the first step we have to take, if we wish to
make an attempt at least of advancing beyond the interpretations of