The Three-Fold Epistemological Schema
Viśiṣṭādvaita's epistemology analyzes knowledge through three factors: pramātā (the knower/subject), prameya (the knowable/object), and pramāṇa (the valid means of knowledge). This triad is the standard rubric through which the tradition examines right understanding.
Who Is the Pramātā?
Primarily the pramātā is the jīvātmā — the individual self. The jīvātmā knows through its dharma-bhūta-jñāna (attributive consciousness), which expands or contracts based on karmic condition. Brahman (Śrīman Nārāyaṇa) is also a pramātā, but uniquely so: His knowledge is self-luminous, unlimited, and requires no external instrument.
Rāmānuja's Emphasis
Rāmānuja discusses the pramātā in Vedārtha-saṃgraha and the Śrī Bhāṣya, insisting that the individual self is a real, distinct knower — not illusory as Advaita claims — whose consciousness has both a self-illuminating and an object-illuminating dimension.