Doctrines and Nethods Used by Sahkara and Ramanuja to Elucidate the Relation Between Self-knowledge and Dharma with Special Reference to their Commentaries on the Bhagavad-Gita

Abstract

Careful study of the commentaries of both Sankara and Ramanuja concerning the relationship between Self-knowledge and dharma confirmed the usual doctrinal differences between them which have been the focal point of scholarship on Vedanta but as well it also uncovered areas of structural convergence co-existing with the former. Accordingly this investigation proceeded on two levels: the first level was concerned with those differences in the ontologies; the second level was concerned with the "meaning-structures" common to both. Previous scholarship on Vedanta has not made reference to these areas of structural convergence. The objective of this work has been to verify how these areas of structural convergence throw light on their respective explicit positions.