Acarya Ramanuja himself credits Nathamuni(CE1000) to be the originator of Visihstadvaitha, although none of his works remain extant.
Ramanuja’s main source of inspiration came from the works of Yamunacarya, also known as Alvandar, grandson and disciple of Nathauni.
Works of Yamunacarya
- Agama prabandham (Authenticity of scriptures)
- Maha-purusha Nirnayam (Deciding the Paramount Person)
- Githartha Samgraha (The essentials of Gita)
- Siddi Thrayam (Threefold attainments)
- Sri-Sthuthi (A hymn on sri, the consort of Vishnu)
- Vishnu Sthuthi (A hymn on Vishnu)
Works of Acarya Ramanuja
- The sri-Bhashaya is Acarya’s famous commentary on the Brahma- sutras.
- Bhagavad Gita commentary
- Vedartha Sangraha : Instead of writing a commentary on the Upanishads, Acarya collated their essentials into his Vedartha Sangraha(essence of scriptural teachings) as a presentation supporting the Vishishtadva Philosophy.
- Vedanta Sara (essence of vedanta)
- Vedanta Deepam (The lamp of Vedanta)
- Nitya-Grantham (The eternal Treatise)
Great Seers in the lineage
Sudarsana Suri, one of Ramanuja’s prominent disciples, wrote explanatory comments for the Sri- Bhashya and the Vedartha Sangraha of his Guru.
VenkattaNatha, popularly known as Vedanta Desika, lived around the middle of the 14th century was the most outstanding exponents of Vishishtadvaitha after the successful tenure of Ramanuja. He improved upon and codified the Vishishtadvaitha philosophy to the dismay of many a critic. This erudite scholar ably refuted the arguments that had been forwarded by the Advaitha Vedanta School and its followers. He then revised and cleansed the Vishishtadvaitha of all superficial additions that had accumulated over the centuries, correcting all its logical inconsistencies.
Works of VenkattaNatha
- Tattva Tika Taytparya Chandrika(Moonlight of the essential meaning)
- Nyaya siddha Njanam(Unfolding the attainment of reason)
- Tattva Mukata Kalpam(Clusture of pearls of Basic Principles)
- Sarva Siddhi( Attainment of Entire Values)- Gita Commentary
- Shata Dhooshani( One hundred defects) This was written to identify and expose the weak points and inconsistencies of the Advaitha Philosophy
Srinivasa Acaryar
Entire philosophy of Vishishtadvaitha was condensed into a book called Yatindra Matha Deepika by Srinivasacharya. This handy little treatise is helpful for gaining a general understanding of the whole philosophy of Acarya Ramanuja.
Scriptural Base
Vishishtadvaitha in essence is a blend of prehistoric Bhagavatha Cult with the non-dualist phiolosophy of the Upanishads.
This blending bridged the Divya Prabandhas or the divine discourses of the ALVARS, which were of non-vedic origin, with the Vedic wisdom teaching of the Upanishads.
Vishishtadvaitha schools accepts both these set of scriptures to be equally valid in authority.
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