Page 10 - Ramanuja and Equality Book.pmd

EQUALITY, as practiced and taught

by Ramanuja

The core philosophy of Equality – all beings have the
same eternal relationship with the Supreme Being

The core philosophy of Vedic literature is that ALL beings are equal
in the eyes of Universal Supreme Power. Ramanuja established
the philosophical foundation of equality after thorough study
and analysis of scriptures under great teachers. The crux of the
philosophy is this –
• All beings have the SAME relationship (connectivity) to
God and are equal - as every being has God within it

• Every being that we perceive - human (of any gender,
race, caste, creed, religion, etc.), animals, plants, insects,
bacteria, basically all flora and fauna - even inanimate
objects like mountains, water, stones etc. - every one of
them has a soul, and God is present as the inner soul of
each soul

• Just as the physical human body is the body of the soul
inside it, the soul is the body of God
• All things and beings are simply different limbs of the
same Universal Body that is God. This is Ramanuja’s
distillation from Vedic literature and known as the
‘sareera-sareeri bhava’ (body-soul relationship, all limbs
of the same Universal Body).
• Just as the right hand in our body will not do anything to
harm any other part of the body, similarly we should not
do anything that can hurt any other limb of the Universal
Body that is God. Harming any other person, or living
being, or an object in nature is like one part of our body
harming another part of our body.
This wonderful distillation of Universal truth provides the core
platform for equality. After all, no one would consider the right

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