Internal lineage · sampradāya
Viśiṣṭādvaita (Śrī Vaiṣṇava)
विशिष्टाद्वैतViśiṣṭādvaitaFounder / origin — Rāmānujācārya (1017–1137 CE)
Qualified non-dualism — Brahman is Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa with the world and selves as His inseparable body.
Rāmānuja's Viśiṣṭādvaita rejects a featureless Brahman: reality is one Brahman qualified by the eternal reality of selves (cit) and matter (acit). Liberation is loving surrender (prapatti) to Śrīman Nārāyaṇa. The tradition draws equally on the Sanskrit śruti and the Tamil Divya Prabandham of the Āḻvārs — an ubhaya-Vedānta at the heart of Śrī Vaiṣṇava life.
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