Advaita Vedānta, Dvaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita can be seen as three distinct contemplative visions of the same scriptural landscape, each organizing the relation between Brahman, the individual self, and the world in a different way. Advaita presents Brahman as the one, non-dual reality, ultimately without attributes and identical with pure consciousness; multiplicity is regarded as an appearance born of ignorance, empirically experienced yet not ultimately real. In this view, the individual self (ātman) is not truly separate from Brahman, and the sense of individuality rests on superimposition and misunderstanding. Dvaita, by contrast, insists on an irreducible plurality: God (identified with Viṣṇu), individual souls, and the world are all real and eternally distinct. Viśiṣṭādvaita offers a qualified non-dualism, affirming that Brahman alone is the independent reality, yet holding that souls and the world are real, dependent modes or parts of Brahman, comparable to the relation of body to soul.

From the standpoint of spiritual anthropology, these schools diverge sharply in how they understand the status of the jīva. Advaita teaches that the jīva is, in its deepest essence, nothing other than Brahman; the experience of being a separate individual is traced to beginningless ignorance (avidyā). Liberation, therefore, is a matter of direct knowledge: realizing “I am Brahman” and thereby sublating the entire structure of bondage and saṃsāra. Dvaita maintains that the soul never becomes identical with God; it is eternally dependent, and its perfection lies in recognizing this dependence and entering into blissful, personal relationship with a distinct Lord. Viśiṣṭādvaita navigates a middle path: the soul is neither absolutely identical with Brahman nor wholly independent, but a real, inseparable attribute or part, so that liberation is experienced as intimate union and loving service while individuality is preserved.

The status of the world and the means to liberation further highlight the contrast. Advaita characterizes the world as neither absolutely real nor absolutely unreal, but as an indefinable appearance (anirvacanīya) that is ultimately resolved in the knowledge of Brahman; practices such as discrimination, renunciation, and deep meditation on scriptural teachings are emphasized, with devotion and action serving primarily to purify the mind. Dvaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita both affirm the full reality of the cosmos: for Dvaita, it is a genuinely created and sustained order, eternally distinct from God; for Viśiṣṭādvaita, it is the real “body” of Brahman, a mode through which the divine manifests. In both of these theistic visions, devotion (bhakti) to a personal God, supported by right knowledge and righteous conduct, is central, and divine grace is indispensable for liberation—conceived as eternal communion with God, suffused with bliss and service, rather than the erasure of all difference.