ABSTRACT
There is general scholarly consensus that the formation and consolidation of Çr⁄vai‚~ava theology falls into two phases with some clear disjunctures between them. The first phase being that of the first three teachers Nåthamuni (traditional dates: ca. CE ninth century), Yåmuna (traditional dates: CE 918-1038) and Råmånuja (traditional dates: CE 1017-1137) and the second phase that of the post-Råmånuja åcåryas culminating with Vedånta Deçika (traditional dates: CE 1268-1369). An important locus of this disjuncture has been identified as the break between the writings of Råmånuja and that of his successors on prapatti. Van Buitenen’s comments on this perceived doctrinal divide between Råmånuja and his successors in this regard are characteristic:
This progress of the aspirant to God by way of karma-, jñåna-, and bhaktiyoga, which are not separate roads but successive stages of the same way culminating in the attainment of God, is for Råmånuja the fundamental teaching of the G⁄tå. But we miss in this brief exposition of Råmånuja’s views that mystic doctrine which has grown so important in later Viçi‚†ådvaita, which has indeed divided the Vai‚~avas into two schools which exist today, the doctrine of prapatti. The doctrine of prapatti as a second, and indeed a preferable, way to the attainment of God beside bhakti is completely absent in Råmånuja’s G⁄tåbhå‚ya.2
