Advaita Vedānta

On this reading the highest mode is worship 'as one', which means the direct realization of non-difference: the supreme Brahman is one only, and the knower dissolves the whole expanse of distinctions into that one Self. The knowledge-sacrifice here is the grasping of the 'I', supported by scriptural sayings of identity such as 'thou indeed art I'. Several of these voices rank the three modes as a ladder: the highest worship 'as one' by the vision of supreme truth; the middling worship 'as separate' by symbol-worship, taking the one Lord as present in sun, moon and fire, on the strength of 'the sun is Brahman'; the dull, unable even to grasp the 'I', worship 'in many ways' as the all-formed Self of all. By this gradation the later worshippers in time reach the earlier grounds. One source within this school resists forcing the modes onto a single ladder, holding instead that worship 'as one' is simply the direct vision of the one Brahman while the other modes are real but distinct knowings; it also rejects readings that take the knowledge-sacrifice here as I-am-He absorption or as the formless trance of the yoga school, insisting it means knowing 'all this is one Brahman'.

Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Bhāskara

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Here the three words do not rank temperaments; they describe one coherent vision of God and world. The Lord, Vasudeva alone, first holds the whole conscious-and-unconscious reality in its subtle, unmanifest state as his body, then resolves 'let me become one having the manifold, divided, named-and-formed world for my body', and so abides with the entire universe of animals, humans, and unmoving things as his body. The worshipper contemplates this: God as the single inner reality (as one), God as the separate inner controller dwelling within each distinct being (as separate), and God as the manifold inner ruler of the whole cosmic field (manifold, all-faced). All three are modes of one inner sacrifice of contemplation, and all reach the same Lord who genuinely has the world as his body.

Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika

Dvaita

This school reads the verse to protect the real distinction between God and the world. 'As one' does not mean non-dual identity, which is rejected as a false contemplation; it means that the one Narayana alone stands present everywhere. 'As separate' means that the Lord is utterly distinct from everything else. The reading that takes 'as separate' to mean the forms of sun and moon is set aside; that detail belongs instead to the manifold-and-all-faced clause, where the Lord's own form is described as gloriously varied, supported by the Sanatsujata text that it 'shines as if white, as if red, then blue, then bright'. Alternatively the words may point to the many worshippers who worship in many ways. The little word 'as if' is taken in the sense of 'also', signaling these are real distinct forms, not mere appearances.

Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha

Śuddhādvaita

This school ties the knowledge-sacrifice back to the earlier 'all is Brahman, the offering is Brahman' passage, and treats the knowers as a class distinct from, and marked as lower than, the pure devotees praised before; the words 'also' and 'and' signal that inferiority. Within knowledge-worship there are still modes. Some, called tantrikas, worship by contemplating non-difference of the self, 'I am he', or 'so'ham, I am Brahman'. Some, the more restless tantrikas, worship by distinction, 'I am his servant', taking the Lord as their master and taking refuge in dependence. Some worship in many ways, in the forms of Shiva, Shakti, Surya, Ganesha and the rest. And the brahmavadins worship the Lord who, though unchanging, abides turned toward all as pot and cloth and every worldly form, with hands, eyes, and faces everywhere.

Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama

Bhakti

Within this school the readings split. One voice deliberately refuses the ladder: worship 'as one', 'as separate', and 'in manifold ways' are held together as three faithful ways of worshipping the one Vasudeva, none forced above another. Another voice, following the gradation, places all the knowledge-worshippers as inferior to the pure devotees of the previous verses, and ranks the three modes from 'I am That' worship, down through symbol-worship of the Lord as sun, Indra, or Soma, down to worship of the universal form; it adds a striking alternative in which 'as one' and 'as separate' together form a single worship, like a river flowing to the sea that is at once different from the sea and non-different. A further voice frames the knowers as devotees in whom glorification is present but subordinate to knowledge, who worship the one Krishna standing forth, by his infallible will 'may I become many', as the whole world from Brahma down to a tuft of grass. The Marathi voice gives an extended figure: the knower offers the very sense of separation between soul and God into the fire of knowledge until neither sacrificer nor sacrifice remains, like a sleeper who wakes and sees the whole dream-army was only himself, and so realizes the entire universe is inseparable from the supreme Brahman.

Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar

Modern

These voices read the three modes as naming the historic philosophical schools and as describing one inclusive truth. The knowledge-sacrifice means seeing the Self in all and treating every form as God's form, every sound as God's name, every meal as an offering. Worship 'as one' is the monistic view of identity with Brahman; worship 'as separate' is the dualistic view, master and servant; worship of the manifold all-faced Lord sees him present as Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Shiva and every form. One voice stresses that these terms 'as one' and 'as separate' are ancient even though the named dvaita, advaita, and vishishtadvaita systems are modern, and that the all-facing Lord receives every kind of knowledge-sacrifice. The non-sectarian voice reframes the whole point as a difference of aptitude, not of goal: as all the hungry share one hunger and one satisfaction though their food differs, all who turn fully toward God reach the same fulfillment, becoming accomplished and fulfilled, even though their taste, capacity, faith, and trust differ, and so their modes of worship differ too.

Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas