RAMANUJA (1017-1130?):
HINDU philosopher and leading opponent of AKARA whom he attacked
for moral laxity and intellectual confusion. He taught a modified version of MONISM which
acknowledged GOD and the separate SPIRITS of men as well as the material world or
non-spirit. The spirits of men he regarded as essentially different from GOD who is both
the CREATOR and material out of which the world is formed. He taught that periodically
human spirits are reabsorbed into God and distinguished five ways or stages of WORSHIP
each being higher than the other.