Dvaitam — Dualism
Dvaitam (Sanskrit: dvaita — two; two-ness) is the Vedāntic philosophical school that asserts an eternal, absolute distinction between God (Īśvara), the individual souls (jīvātmās), and the material world. In its most developed form — the Dvaita Vedānta of Madhvāchārya (13th century CE) — this distinction is irreducible and permanent: even in liberation, the jīva remains categorically distinct from and subordinate to Bhagavān.
Early forms of Dvaitam were encountered and critiqued by Rāmānuja. His objection is that a strict and absolute distinction between God and the world is incompatible with the Vedic teaching of God's omnipresence and omniscience — for if God is truly omnipresent, he must be present within and as the inner self of every soul and every thing, implying a relationship of far greater intimacy than strict dualism allows. At the same time, Rāmānuja agreed with the core Dvaitin insistence that the individual soul is real, distinct, and not to be dissolved into Brahman as in Advaitam.
Viśiṣṭādvaitam navigates between both by affirming real distinction (against Advaitam) and real inseparable unity (against strict Dvaitam), through the body-soul (śarīra-śarīrī) relationship.