The Obligation to Worship God and Theistic Vedānta Philosophy

Worship is one of the paths used to accomplish the highest levels of knowledge in Vedānta theism. These levels refer to knowledge of ultimate reality, where the worshipper realises oneness with God. In worship, we regard Him with admiration and as a maximally excellent being. However, in contemporary debate many philosophers examined the grounds for worshiping the God and argued that none of them are compelling enough to be accepted. This paper explores the philosophy of the Indian theist Rāmānuja with respect to the contemporary debate on what justifies the obligation to worship God. This paper contends that the arguments against worshipping God used by contemporary thinkers do not undermine Rāmānuja’s arguments for worshipping God.