Vedanta Deshika

(13th c.) Writer and commentator in the
Vishishthadvaita Vedanta philosophical school. Vedanta Deshika was a follower of Ramanuja and interpreted
Ramanuja as teaching that there were
two sorts of liberation: a lower one in
which one was subject to no outside
forces, and a higher one in which one’s
entire being was focused on the Lord,
whom Ramanuja identified as the god
Vishnu. The human being is considered
both identical to and different from the
Lord, which means the perfect identity
is never possible; God’s transcendence
leads to the exaltation of devotion
(bhakti) and the stress on submission to
God’s grace.