Shaiva and Vaishnava Concept of Soul:
Shaiva’s Concept of Soul says that Shiva is luminous and beyond three characteristics of sattva, rajas, and tamas. With rajas in the form of Brahma, He creates; with sattva in the form of Vishnu, He preserves, and with tamas in the form of Rudra, He destroys. Shiva, along with all human souls, resides in the supreme home of divine knowledge and complete silence. It is called Shanti Dham or Param Dham and is placed in the sixth element of divine light, far beyond the material universe.
Vaishnava’s Concept of Soul says that God and the Soul are different entities and that the soul’s existence is dependent on God. The Soul is separated from the body, senses, mind (manas), breath, and intellect.
The characteristics familiar to Soul and God are:
(1) Interiority (pratyaktva),
(2) Rationality (cetanatva),
(3) Spirituality (ātmatva), and
(4) Agency (kartṛtva).
Pratyaktva or Interiority means to be self-luminous.
Cetanatva or Rationality is to be the seat (or involucre) of knowledge.
Ātmatva or Spirituality is to be the opposite to body (matter).
Kartṛtva or Agency is to be the seat of awareness, of the kind of Will (saṁkalpa).
Ramanuja and Madhvacharya’s view of Liberation:
Ramanuja became a priest at the Varadharāja Perumal temple (Vishnu) at Kānchipuram, where he started to explain that moksha (liberation and release from samsara) is to be obtained not with metaphysical, nirguna Brahman but with the help of personal god and saguna Vishnu. Ramanuja rejected the doctrine that moksha can only result from the knowledge of a non-qualified Brahman. According to Ramanuja, knowledge may come from three sources: 1) perception (pratyaksa), 2) inference (anumana), and 3) scripture (sruti).
As per Dvaita Vedanta by Madhvcharya, the Supreme being is the final and principal means of attaining moksha. Individual souls and supreme beings support the variations even after achieving liberation and they never join together. The happiness after liberation has a degree in the quality based on how one attained moksha. The greatest devotee of god after liberation attains the greatest bliss after getting released or moksha and so on. This difference is because of the individual capacity.
