The Gita is a central text in Hindu traditions, and commentaries on it express a range of philosophical-theological positions. Two of the most significant commentaries are by Sankara, the founder of the Advaita or Non-Dualist system of Vedic thought and by Ramanuja, the founder of the Visistadvaita or Qualified Non-Dualist system. Their commentaries offer rich resources for the conceptualization and understanding of divine reality, the human self, being, the relationship between God and human, and the moral psychology of action and devotion.
In this conversation, we discuss the question of Brahman as differently conceptualized by these two paradigmatic thinkers.
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of six books and some fifty papers. The book under discussion, Divine Self, Human Self (Bloomsbury) won the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies Best Book Award 2011-15.
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