Sri Ramanuja was a sri vaishnava sanatana dharmavis'ishtaadvaita theologian, philosopher, and one of the most important exponent of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition. He was born in A TAMIL family in the village of Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement. Ramanuja's guru was Yadava Prakasha, a scholar who was part of the more ancient Advaita VEDANTA monastic tradition. Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that Ramanuja disagreed with his guru and the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta, and instead followed in the footsteps of INDIAN ALVARS tradition, the SCHOLARS NATHAMUNI AND Yamunacharya. Ramanuja himself wrote influential texts, such as Sri Bhasya on the Brahma Sutras all in Sanskrit. His theories assert that there exists a plurality and distinction BETWEEN Atman (souls) and Brahman (metaphysical, ultimate reality), while he also affirmed that there is unity of all souls and that the individual soul has the potential to realize identity with the Brahman.
