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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1186
Sankaracharya, the founder of the Advaita or Monistic school of Vedanta—
and which school of Ramanuga is called the “qualified-monistic” or else
“qualified-dualism”—holds that Brahman contains within himself elements
of plurality, or modes of existence, and which elements or modes share
his reality, and are at one with himself, although apparently separate and
individual. That is to say, Ramanuga holds that just as the individual cells of
the human body, or groups of such cells, including the blood-corpuscles,
may be considered as “of the man,” rather than as “separate parts of him,”
and at the same time manifest individuality, so are the individual souls of
Brahma, and not separate from him, although apparently individuals. This
school holds that the material universe is an illusion occasioned by these
“individual souls” (which are really elements of Brahman) being deluded
by Avidya, or Ignorance, which produces Maya, the cause of the material
universe. When these individual souls realize their nature and identity
with Brahman, the spell of Maya is over, and the soul escapes Samsara and
returns to its original state of Bliss.
The above explanation would seem to be a partial answer keeping fairly
well within logical lines, but the Advaitists, or Monists, or “non-dualists,” who
compose the other great branch of the Vedanta, regard this explanation
and doctrine as but a half-truth, and consider it unworthy of the true
Vedanta. And, without prejudice, it must be admitted that the school of
Ramanuga seems to attempt a compromise, and beats a retreat after having
fixed its standard on the philosophic heights. It seems like a compromise
with the position of the Sankhyas, with their individual souls, or else with
the Patanjali school, with their individual souls and their Universal Purusha,
as you may see in the forthcoming lessons. Or, looking at it another way, it
would seem as if Ramanuga was changing his conception or postulate of
a One Infinite, Eternal Being, incapable of change or division, into another
conception or postulate of an “Atomic Brahman” composed of countless
“elements” or “modes,” which, while not called parts, still destroy the “nonparticled”
conception or postulate of Brahm “with nothing within itself, and