Advaita Vedanta

===Vishishtadvaita===
{{main|Vishishtadvaita}}

[[Ramanuja|Ramanuja's]] Vishishtadvaita school and [[Adi Shankara|Shankara]]'s Advaita school are both nondualism Vedānta schools,<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp>J.A.B. van Buitenen (2008), [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramanuja Ramanuja – Hindu theologian and Philosopher] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621165517/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramanuja |date=21 June 2022 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica</ref><ref name=cetternonplu/> both are premised on the assumption that all Selfs can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya and his Dvaita subschool of Vedānta believed that some Selfs are eternally doomed and damned.{{sfn|Sarma|1994|pp=374–375}}<ref>{{Cite book|first=Edwin |last= Bryant| title=Krishna : A Sourcebook (Chapter 15 by Deepak Sarma)| publisher= Oxford University Press| year= 2007| isbn= 978-0195148923|pages=361–362}}</ref> Shankara's theory posits that only Brahman and causes are metaphysical unchanging reality, while the empirical world ([[Maya (illusion)|Maya]]) and observed effects are changing, illusive and of relative existence.<ref name="Sydnor2012p87">{{cite book|author=Jon Paul Sydnor|title=Ramanuja and Schleiermacher: Toward a Constructive Comparative Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae4FBAAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=Casemate|isbn=978-0227680247|pages=84–87|access-date=21 September 2016|archive-date=16 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116175559/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae4FBAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=joeschultz81>{{cite book|author=Joseph P. Schultz|title=Judaism and the Gentile Faiths: Comparative Studies in Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dchpiP-9YQAC|year=1981|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|isbn=978-0-8386-1707-6|pages=81–84|access-date=21 September 2016|archive-date=16 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116175615/https://books.google.com/books?id=dchpiP-9YQAC|url-status=live}}</ref> Spiritual liberation to Shankara is the full comprehension and realization of oneness of one's unchanging Atman (Self) as the same as Atman in everyone else as well as being identical to the ''nirguna'' Brahman.<ref name=cetternonplu>{{cite book|author=Christopher Etter|title=A Study of Qualitative Non-Pluralism| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jW2pcWpXY8wC| year=2006| publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-39312-1|pages=57–60, 63–65}}</ref>{{sfn|Indich|2000|pp=1–2, 97–102}}{{sfn|Deutsch|2013|p=247–248}} In contrast, Ramanuja's theory posits both Brahman and the world of matter are two different absolutes, both metaphysically real, neither should be called false or illusive, and ''saguna'' Brahman with attributes is also real.<ref name=joeschultz81/> God, like man, states Ramanuja, has both soul and body, and all of the world of matter is the glory of God's body.<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp/> The path to Brahman (Vishnu), asserted Ramanuja, is devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of personal god (''saguna'' Brahman, Vishnu), one which ultimately leads one to the oneness with ''nirguna'' Brahman.<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp/><ref name="Sydnor2012p87"/><ref name=joeschultz81/>