Theology and Cosmology of Šankara and Rāmānuja

Subject Areas : Christianity

A. Sādeqī Shahpar ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2014-11-24 Accepted : 2014-11-24 Published : 2007-03-21

Keywords: Brahman, Cosmos, Māyā, Vivarta, Parināma,

Abstract :

In Šankara’s opinion, Brahman possesses two significantly differentaspects: sagūna and nīrigūna. Nīrigūna is the indeterminate and beyondqualities aspect of Brahman, while sagūna (Īšvara) includes Brahman’sdetermination and specification which is manifested in this world by illusionor māyā. According to Šankara, reality of the world is merely illusory(vivarta) and it doesn't contain any reality other than Brahman.In contrast, Rāmānuja, in spite of the fact that he believes in the uniqueessence of Brahman and views the phenomenal world and selves related tohim as the body is to the soul or as a part of Brahman, but he maintains theythemselves have a reality essentially distinctable from Brahman. According tohim, appearing of the world from māyā, which is the creative force ofBrahman and his Šakti, has reality (Parināma) per se.