Qualified Non-Dualism

MASTER: "Again, I cannot utter a word unless I come down at least two steps from the plane of samādhi. Sankara's Non-dualistic explanation of Vedānta is true, and so is the Qualified Non-dualistic interpretation of Ramanuja."  

NARENDRA: "What is Qualified Non-dualism?" 

MASTER: "It is the theory of Ramanuja. According to this theory, Brahman, or the Absolute,  is qualified  by  the  universe  and  its  living  beings:  These  three -Brahman, the world, and living beings - together constitute One. Take the instance of a bel-fruit. A man wanted to know the weight of the fruit. He separated the shell, the flesh, and the seeds. But can a man get the weight by weighing only the flesh? He must weigh flesh, shell, and seeds together. At first it appears that the real thing in the fruit is the flesh, and not its seeds or shell. Then by reasoning you find that the shell, seeds, and flesh all belong to  the  fruit;  the  shell  and  seeds  belong  to  the  same  thing  that  the  flesh  belongs  to. Likewise, in spiritual discrimination one must first reason, following the method of 'Not this, not this': God is not the universe; God is not the living beings; Brahman alone is real, and all else is unreal. Then one realizes, as with the bel-fruit, that the Reality from which we derive the notion of Brahman is the very Reality that evolves the idea of living beings and the universe. 

The Nitya and the Lila are the two aspects of one and the same Reality; therefore, according to Ramanuja, Brahman is qualified by the universe and the living beings. This is the theory of Qualified Non-dualism. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 733-34 (11 March 1885)