Mimamsa and Vedanta: Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita
Mīmāṃsā
Mīmāṃsā centres on dharma, Vedic injunction and precise ritual interpretation. Verbal testimony (śabda) is authoritative; apūrva is the unseen potency of action; karma leads to results, and liberation is release from karmic consequence. It defends Vedic authority against doubters.
Vedānta schools
Vedānta takes the Upanishads, Brahma Sūtra and Gītā as foundation. Advaita (Śaṅkara) holds Brahman alone real; the world is māyā, neither real nor utterly unreal; jīva and Brahman are essentially one. Viśiṣṭādvaita (Rāmānuja) holds qualified non-dualism: Brahman is one with cit (souls) and acit (world) as its body, yet distinct; bhakti and grace matter. Dvaita (Madhva) holds real difference between God, souls and world; souls are dependent and graded.
Worked example
In rope-snake illusion, a rope in dim light is mistaken for a snake. Advaita argues: the snake is not real (it vanishes), yet not nothing (it was experienced); error arises from ignorance. Similarly, the world is misperceived through māyā, while Brahman remains the ground. Rāmānuja would resist calling the world sheer illusion; difference is real within unity.
Traps
Māyā is not 'nothing'. Advaita does not deny practical experience, only its ultimate reality. Viśiṣṭādvaita is not simple identity, and Dvaita is not a dualism of independent equals. Do not attribute 'world is unreal' to Rāmānuja or Madhva. Mīmāṃsā is not only ritual detail; it is a theory of language and duty.