Across families
Sikhism and Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
Different families with 10 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.11 (0 would be identical).
One formless creator present in everything, remembered in daily practice and served through honest work and shared food. Rejects both caste and asceticism: the householder’s life, lived attentively, is the path.
Non-dual, but qualified: souls and world are real and are the body of a personal God. Surrender rather than knowledge is the operative move, which puts D1 on the grace side of a family that mostly sits on the effort side.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at leaning literal and binding — a gap of 0.00.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.00.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.02.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.02.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at leaning given as grace — a gap of 0.05.
A4 Locus
Both sit at fully present within it and leaning fully present within it respectively — a gap of 0.07.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at leaning revealed and fixed — a gap of 0.07.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at leaning clergy and tradition decide — a gap of 0.07.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at leaning cyclical return and cyclical return respectively — a gap of 0.12.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Sikhism | Vishishtadvaita Vedanta | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | a personal being one can address | 0.17 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | leaning strictly one | 0.28 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | leaning fully present within it | 0.07 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | leaning revealed and fixed | 0.07 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | leaning literal and binding | 0.00 |
| B3 Institutional authority | leaning clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.07 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.00 |
| C2 Shape of time | leaning cyclical return | cyclical return | 0.12 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.02 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning given as grace | leaning given as grace | 0.05 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | leaning essential and prescribed | leaning essential and prescribed | 0.15 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | leaning to be disciplined | 0.20 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.17 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | between an intentional act and beginningless or natural | beginningless or natural | 0.33 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | leaning a people, inherited | 0.20 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.02 |
Positions for Sikhism rest principally on Guru Granth Sahib and the Rehat Maryada; for Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, on Ramanuja’s Sribhasya and the Divya Prabandham. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.