Vishishtadvaita

Vishishtadvaita is a Vedanta school that understands Brahman as one reality qualified by dependent souls and matter. It identifies Brahman with Vishnu and teaches that liberation preserves the soul’s distinct identity.

Brahman: The ultimate reality in Indian philosophical traditions, understood differently across schools. Vishishtadvaita treats Brahman as the whole qualified by souls and matter.
Sharira–Shariri-bhava: The relation in which a body exists for, is controlled by, and depends on its indwelling self. Ramanuja uses this analogy to explain how souls and matter belong to Brahman.
Alvars: Tamil poet-saints whose devotional hymns praise Vishnu and his forms. Their Tamil devotional tradition helped shape the religious setting of Vishishtadvaita.
Vaishnavism: A major Hindu tradition centered on devotion to Vishnu and his incarnations. Vishishtadvaita is a philosophical tradition within the wider Vaishnava world.
Atman: The self or enduring principle of individual existence in Indian philosophical traditions. Individual selves remain distinct yet wholly dependent on Brahman.
Aprithak-siddhi: A relation of inseparable existence in which two realities are distinct but cannot exist separately. It expresses the inseparability of Brahman from its attributes without erasing their distinction.
Nathamuni: A Vaishnava teacher traditionally credited with collecting and transmitting the Alvars’ hymns. He stands early in the Sri Vaishnava lineage associated with Vishishtadvaita.
Vishnu: A major Hindu deity regarded by Vaishnavas as the supreme being and preserver of the cosmos. Ramanuja identifies the personal, supreme Brahman with Vishnu.
Prakriti: Primordial material nature, the source of the changing material world in several Indian philosophical systems. Matter is real, dependent on Brahman, and part of the universe that qualifies Brahman.
Bhakti yoga: A discipline of loving devotion to a personal deity as a path to liberation. Vishishtadvaita presents sustained devotion to Vishnu as a central path to liberation.

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