Vedanta - An Introduction - Continued - Ministry - http://maxpages.com/globalnetwork/Vedanta2

THE SEVEN IMPOSSIBLE TENETS
Ramanuja picks out what he sees as seven fundamental flaws in the Advaita philosophy for special attack: he sees them as so fundamental to the Advaita position that if he is right in identifying them as involving doctrinal contradictions, then Shankara's entire system collapses. He argues:
I. The nature of Avidya. Avidya must be either real or unreal; there is no other possibility. But neither of these is possible. If Avidya is real, non-dualism collapses into dualism. If it is unreal, we are driven to self-contradiction or infinite regress.
II. The incomprehensibility of Avidya. Advaitins claim that Avidya is neither real nor unreal but incomprehensible, {anirvacaniya.} All cognition is either of the real or the unreal: the Advaitin claim flies in the face of experience, and accepting it would call into question all cognition and render it unsafe.
III. The grounds of knowledge of Avidya. No pramana can establish Avidya in the sense the Advaitin requires. Advaita philosophy presents Avidya not as a mere lack of knowledge, as something purely negative, but as an obscuring layer which covers Brahman and is removed by true Brahma-vidya. Avidya is positive nescience not mere ignorance. Ramanuja argues that positive nescience is established neither by perception, nor by inference, nor by scriptural testimony. On the contrary, Ramanuja argues, all cognition is of the real.
IV. The locus of Avidya. Where is the Avidya that gives rise to the (false) impression of the reality of the perceived world? There are two possibilities; it could be Brahman's Avidya or the individual soul's {jiva.} Neither is possible. Brahman is knowledge; Avidya cannot co-exist as an attribute with a nature utterly incompatible with it. Nor can the individual soul be the locus of Avidya: the existence of the individual soul is due to Avidya; this would lead to a vicious circle.
V. Avidya's obscuration of the nature of Brahman. Shankara would have us believe that the true nature of Brahman is somehow covered-over or obscured by Avidya. Ramanuja regards this as an absurdity: given that Advaita claims that Brahman is pure self-luminous consciousness, obscuration must mean either preventing the origination of this (impossible since Brahman is eternal) or the destruction of it - equally absurd.
VI. The removal of Avidya by Brahma-vidya. Advaita claims that Avidya has no beginning, but it is terminated and removed by Brahma-vidya, the intuition of the reality of Brahman as pure, undifferentiated consciousness. But Ramanuja denies the existence of undifferentiated {nirguna} Brahman, arguing that whatever exists has attributes: Brahman has infinite auspicious attributes. Liberation is a matter of Divine Grace: no amount of learning or wisdom will deliver us.
VII. The removal of Avidya. For the Advaitin, the bondage in which we dwell before the attainment of Moksa is caused by Maya and Avidya; knowledge of reality (Brahma-vidya) releases us. Ramanuja, however, asserts that bondage is real. No kind of knowledge can remove what is real. On the contrary, knowledge discloses the real; it does not destroy it. And what exactly is the saving knowledge that delivers us from bondage to Maya? If it is real then non-duality collapses into duality; if it is unreal, then we face an utter absurdity.
DOCTRINE:
Ramanuja sees Brahman as essentially one: ultimately Brahman is God.
God's essential being is characterised by five transcendent attributes: satya, true-being, God is Ultimate Reality and Absolute Truth; JNaana, Knowledge, God's awareness, his knowledge is never lessened, diminished or contracted; Anantatva, Freedom from Limit, God is unlimited with regard to time, place and transcends all natural limitations (any that seem to be implied by his Divine Attributes are not real limits since it is the opposites of the Divine Attributes that express limitation); Aananda, Bliss, God is Transcendently Blissful; Amalatva, Purity, God is Absolutely Immaculate, free from any trace or stain of imperfection or evil.
In addition to the five essential attributes, God also possesses unlimited auspicious attributes which are connatural to him, such as Unbounded Mercy, Transcendent Beauty.
Ramanuja teaches that God has bodily form, and that His consort(s) coexist with Him coeternally - one of the titles of Vishnu/Narayan as the Supreme Deity is Shrinivasa, "abode of Shri". The Godess abides eternall in the bosom of the Lord, interceeding for all fallen souls.
Cit (mind) and acit (matter) are inseparable modes or adjectivals of God, and constitute the Body of the Lord.,
'Theism': the world is the body of the Lord the Lord alone is truly independent, all else exists depending on Him. In the state of Pralaya: He encompasses Prakriti within Himself in its most subtle form, so that there is no way of differentiating the world from God except conceptually. The word Panentheism expresses Ramanuja's doctrine of God rather better than the word Theism.
'Creation': the evolution of the world of matter and souls as an effect of the freely acting causal power of the Lord, under the influence of which Prakriti takes on new qualities.
Individual Souls: Are atomic in size but their knowledge spreads throughout the body (as rays of a lamp shine out throughout a room)
Occasionalism: Souls cannot affect the world directly: Ishvara Himself accomplishes their desires. He indwells the soul as its inner controller, moving it by His grace if it merits His favour.
Freedom: The soul is free to desire what it wishes, to strive (SB ii.3) to accomplish its desires, to attain whatever knowledge it can.
Avidya: Ignorance affects the soul as a result of its contact with matter - but ignorance is not a positive something as it is for Shankara. All cognition for Ramanuja is cognition of the real: even erroneous or illusory perceptions are of the real, the errors we make derive from the incorrect inferences we make about the objects and contents of our perceptions.
Moksha: Release is attained by selfless devotion and the attainment of true knowledge.
Prakrti: the original matter of the universe - it posses the three qualities, sattva, rajas and tamas. Before anything is manifest it is in the state of MAHAT then emerges AHANKARA (and the three differentiated gunas). The Creation - Process is the progressive differentiation of prakriti via the the tan-matras (in which elemental qualities are not yet manifest) and the elements, which are correlative to the sensory capacities of living being.The Creation-Process is Isvara's field of play, it is where individual souls merit and attain fruit by their actions.
The Existence of God: for Ramanuja is unprovable and is believed from scriptural evidence
Brahman:
for Shankara Brahman is pure intelligence/consciousness without qualities: MAYA occludes our perception of Brahman, the World is a complex, layered array of illusions which cover over Brahman. Ultimately, only Brahman is real.
for Ramanuja the effects are real - but dependent, the world is not illusory MAYA but mutable and dependent. Brahman is absolutely real; souls and matter are real, but dependent on Brahman.
Before the emergence of the World in its differentiated state, Brahman exists in Its Causal state, Karanavastha, as the world differentiates out, It is in Its effect state Karyavastha.
Madhva
Although it is the philosophical work of Ramanuja that marks the first major attack on the Non-Dualist Vedanta, historically it is the Dualist school of Madhvacharya that provided the most determined and resolute opposition to the Advaitins.
The philosophical views of Madhva and Ramanuja can be distinguished as follows:
i) The Nature of Knowledge
R & M both recognise experience, inference and sabda as pramanas:
M also recognises memory & dream as pramanas.
For R all experience is of the real; For M there is genuine error.
ii) The Nature of the World
The World is real: Matter and souls are eternal; they are real but dependant.
R & M both accept the Samkhya account of the transformations of Prakrti.
3) The 'Creation' of the World
the World is God's field of Lila, (play): to Western ears the idea of Lila as sport or play sometimes seems odd, but it points to the absolute freedom from need that marks the creativity of divine causality.
i) God is the cause of the World
ii) R sees God as instrumental and material cause; M denies God is the material cause.
4) The Relation of the World to God
i) R: the World is the Body of God
ii) M: there is an absolute fivefold distinction,
God is distict from souls,
God is distinct from Matter,
Soul is distinct from Matter,
This soul is distinct from that soul,
This matter is distinct from that matter,
but despite the absolute distinction, for M the highest souls are part of the body of God..
5) Souls
i) R: in nature souls are exactly like God, except that they are atomic in size and limited in creativity.
ii) M: souls are images of God.
iii) R: all souls are identical in nature, but three categories of soul can be distinguished in relation to Moksha.
iv) M: Souls differ in nature, and the differences in nature determine the different ways individuals behave. There are Four kinds of soul - one of which is damned eternally.
v) R sees Lakshmi, the Divine Consort, as an inseparable, eternal connatural adjunct or aspect of Brahman. M sees Lakshmi as the highest created soul.
6) Bandha
We are in bondage through Maya and Avidya. Maya is God's creative power as experienced from the standpoint of human sin and imperfection. By Avidya we identify with the body and fail to see our dependence on and path of return to God. God uses our Karma to teach us in the field of morality and reveals truth to us (by Scripture) and Himself comes into World as Avatara.
R sees three kinds of Avatara:
a] Gaunya e.g. Brahma, Rudra, Vyasa,
b] Mukhya e.g. Rama, Krsna
c] Image-avatars
M denies the existence of Image avatars.
The aim of all avatars is (as the Gita states) to defend the righteous, defeat the evil, and establish reign of dharma
7) Moksha
is attained by Bhakti, Recognition of dependence on God, worship, morality, service &c.
or by Prapatti,Utter devotion.
8) Fruits of Moksha
i) for R: we become like God save for 2 things, Atomic Size, limited creativity.
ii) for M: there are four grades of Moksha:
salokya: beatific vision of God in Heaven.
samapiya: living close to God, like the Sages.
sarupya: life as an attendant of God, like Him in form.
sayujya: entrance into the body of God - the privilege of the gods.
This page has been modified to take account of most helpful critical comments kindly made by Mani Varadarajan, who maintains the remarkable SriVaishnava Page.

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