Indian theologian and philosopher, Ramanuja the most influential thinker of devotional Hinduism founded centres to spread devotion to Vishnu and Lakshmi. He provided an intellectual basis fir the practice of Bhakti in major commentaries on the Vedas, the Brahma-sutras and the Bhagavadgita. He was a major figure in the school of Visistadvaita which emphasized the need for the soul to be united with a personal god. His chief philosophical contributions follow from his conviction that the phenomenal world is real and provide real knowledge and that the exigencies of daily life are not contrary to the life of the spirit.