Was Ramanuja born to improve or refute the message of Sankarachraya?
Adi Sankara lived at a time when there were great thinkers capable of comprehending the tough import of Advaita and practice spiritual pursuit in that basis. Today, we have Saivites who claim to follow the great avthar of Siva himself as Sankara bhagawad padha, but least understanding the import of his great philosophy. At best they are discussed in elite lectures, but adopted least in practice. St Ramanuja proposed an amendment to the philosophy of Advaita, by introducing the philosophy of Visishta Advaita (qualified non dualism). Sri Sai Baba would say showing a hand kerchief, “this is cloth. It is materially cotton. Cotton is made of the same substance as the cloth. For that matter, can you call it vasthra (cloth)? It has undergone some value addition – spinning, weaving, stitching etc – to qualify to be called as cloth..” Even so, we are basically made of the divine substance, but we are like raw cotton. Seekers are threads, realized ones are cloth and God himself is garment – the
