Three acharyas read the same Brahma Sutras and reached three conclusions about the self and God: identity, qualified identity, and eternal difference. Their commentaries, and the centuries of refutation between their schools, made Vedanta the argumentative heart of Hindu philosophy.
The parties
- Shankara and the Advaita line
- Ramanuja and the Vishishtadvaita line
- Madhva and the Dvaita line
What was disputed
The relation of atman and Brahman, and the means of liberation: knowledge against devotion.
Causes: doctrinal
Key documents
- Shankara's Brahma Sutra commentary
- Ramanuja's Sri Bhashya
- Madhva's Brahma Sutra commentary
What it produced
Sub-branch / Family
Advaita Vedanta
Shankara's non-dualism: Brahman alone is real, the self is Brahman, and liberation is the knowledge that dissolves the difference.
Sub-branch / Family
Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
Ramanuja's qualified non-dualism: the self is real, sustained as the body of God, and devotion to Narayana is the way of release.
Sub-branch / Family
Dvaita Vedanta
Madhva's dualism: God and self are eternally distinct, and the hierarchy of beings is real, against every monism.
Resolution attempts
- The shared commentarial curriculum in which each school still answers the others
How each side understands it
Each school reads the polemic as its own vindication; the doxographies that survey all three are themselves written from inside one of them. The record names the parties without declaring a winner.
Sources
Primary
- The three acharyas' Brahma Sutra commentaries.
Secondary
- Karl H. Potter, ed., Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, the Vedanta volumes.