one hand and diverge on the other may be shortly stated as
follows.--Both systems teach advaita, i.e. non-duality or monism. There
exist not several fundamentally distinct principles, such as the
prak/r/iti and the purushas of the Sâ@nkhyas, but there exists only one
all-embracing being. While, however, the advaita taught by /S/a@nkara is
a rigorous, absolute one, Râmânuja's doctrine has to be characterised as
visish/t/a advaita, i.e. qualified non-duality, non-duality with a
difference. According to Sankara, whatever is, is Brahman, and Brahman
itself is absolutely homogeneous, so that all difference and plurality
must be illusory. According to Râmânuja also, whatever is, is Brahman;
but Brahman is not of a homogeneous nature, but contains within itself
elements of plurality owing to which it truly manifests itself in a
diversified world. The world with its variety of material forms of
existence and individual souls is not unreal Mâyâ, but a real part of
Brahman's nature, the body investing the universal Self. The Brahman of
/S/a@nkara is in itself impersonal, a homogeneous mass of objectless
thought, transcending all attributes; a personal God it becomes only
through its association with the unreal principle of Mâyâ, so
that--strictly speaking--/S/a@nkara's personal God, his Î/s/vara, is
himself something unreal. Râmânuja's Brahman, on the other hand, is
essentially a personal God, the all-powerful and all-wise ruler of a
real world permeated and animated by his spirit. There is thus no room
for the distinction between a param nirgu/n/am and an apara/m/ sagu/n/am
brahma, between Brahman and Î/s/vara.--/S/a@nkara's individual soul is
Brahman in so far as limited by the unreal upâdhis due to Mâyâ. The
individual soul of Râmânuja, on the other hand, is really individual; it
has indeed sprung from Brahman and is never outside Brahman, but
nevertheless it enjoys a separate personal existence and will remain a
personality for ever--The release from sa/m/sâra means, according to
/S/a@nkara, the absolute merging of the individual soul in Brahman, due