prakarana
वेदार्थसंग्रह
Vedartha Sangraha
Vedārthasaṅgraha
An independent prose treatise in which Ramanuja sets out how the Upanishads, read as a whole, teach Vishishtadvaita.
Primary sourceSource not yet ingested
- Tradition
- Vishishtadvaita Vedanta · Vedanta
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Attribution
- RamanujacharyaRamanujacharya
- Period · language
- Traditionally 11th–12th century CE · Sanskrit
- Themes
- Scriptural interpretation · Brahman · Difference and non-difference
Why read this?
Shorter and more direct than the Sri Bhashya, it is a good place to see Ramanuja's central interpretive move: reconciling Upanishadic statements of difference and of non-difference through the body-soul relationship.
Questions it answers
- ?How can scripture teach both unity and difference?
- ?What is the meaning of the Upanishads as a whole?
Key teachings
Editorial overview
1
Reconciling unity and difference
Some Upanishadic passages stress difference between God and souls, others identity; Ramanuja reads both through passages that describe God as the inner self of all.
2
Critique of rival readings
He critiques Advaita and the Bhedabheda (difference-in-identity) views of earlier Vedantins.
Structure
- A single continuous prose treatise
Source not yet ingested
The text of the Vedartha Sangraha is not part of this version. What you see here is an editorial overview with passage references. No verses have been reproduced or invented. The architecture is ready for the text to be added.Concepts
Conceptब्रह्मन्BrahmanThe ultimate reality, the ground from which everything arises.ConceptजीवJiva — the individual soulThe living, embodied individual who acts, experiences and transmigrates.Conceptईश्वरIshvara — GodThe Lord — God as ruler, creator and object of worship.Conceptभक्तिBhakti — devotionLoving devotion to God, as a path and as an end in itself.ConceptमायाMayaThe power of appearance — why the world seems other than it is.
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Source type: Primary source. Overview text on this page is editorial.