Name and Meaning
Viśiṣṭādvaita (Sanskrit: विशिष्टाद्वैत) — from viśiṣṭa (qualified, differentiated) + advaita (non-dualism) — means 'non-dualism of the qualified.' Brahman alone is real (advaita), but this Brahman is qualified (viśiṣṭa) by chit and achit as His organic constituents — His body.
The Middle Path
Viśiṣṭādvaita stakes its position between Śaṅkarācārya's Advaita (which holds the world and souls to be illusory) and Madhvācārya's Dvaita (which holds the difference between God and souls to be absolute). For Rāmānuja, both the unity and the difference are real: the unity is the śarīra-śarīrī-bhāva (body-soul relationship), and the difference is real within that unity.
Scriptural Foundation
Rāmānuja's magnum opus, Śrī Bhāṣyam (commentary on the Brahma Sūtras), establishes Viśiṣṭādvaita through careful exegesis of the Upaniṣads, Gītā, and Brahma Sūtras. He shows that identity statements like 'tat tvam asi' (That art thou) mean not that the individual soul IS Brahman, but that the soul is Brahman's body — inseparably His, qualified by Brahman as its soul.
Unique Features
Distinctive Viśiṣṭādvaita doctrines include: the eternity of matter and souls alongside God; the reality of the world (not māyā); the real efficacy of bhakti and prapatti as means to liberation; and Paramapada (Vaikuṇṭham) as the ultimate state — not absorption into Brahman but eternal, conscious service in the presence of the Lord.