Śaṅkara’s gloss anchors everything in an impersonal, non-dual Brahman. The world becomes a grand illusion (māyā), with individual selves and the cosmos vanishing like mirages once real knowledge dawns. Every sūtra is bent toward unveiling oneness—no room for real distinctions.

Rāmānuja pulls no punches by retooling that framework into a “qualified non-dualism.” Rather than brushing the cosmos aside as mere illusion, this school insists Brahman wears the universe and all souls as divine attributes—almost like an artist inseparable from her painting. The material world and individual jīvas aren’t mistakes to be dismissed, but essential threads in Brahman’s tapestry. Where Śaṅkara reads śakti-māyā, Rāmānuja sees śakti-īśvara: power serving purpose, not trickery.

Madhva flips the script even further with dualism that’s as crisp as morning air. God, souls, and matter stand as eternally distinct categories—no sliding scales here. If Advaita is jazz, and Vishishtadvaita a rich orchestral symphony, Dvaita marches to its own militant beat. The insistence on real difference means karma, devotion, and God’s grace follow a strict chain of command: thanks to Madhva’s reading, liberation isn’t just self-realization but a personal relationship with an ever-transcendent deity.

Hermeneutics shift too. Śaṅkara often sweeps side arguments under the carpet by invoking Brahman’s inscrutability. Rāmānuja engages in lively give-and-take, quoting Vedic hymns to underscore a world both real and divine. Madhva, never one to sit on the fence, brands any hint of non-difference as outright misreading—often sparring with both predecessors.

These differences still resonate today. Devotees flock to Sri Ranganatha Temple in Srirangam or Udupi’s Krishna Matha, living out Ramanuja’s warm embrace or Madhva’s devotional rigor. Meanwhile, scholarship at institutions from Oxford to Bengaluru spotlights how each commentary shapes everything from ritual to modern self-help spin-offs. Clearly, each thinker cast Vedanta in a very different light—and those variations keep the conversation as alive now as it was over a millennium ago.