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“ in With Reference To Sri Madhva’s School Of Dvaita ”

C H A P T E R 2

LIFE SKETCH OF S R i M A D H V A

I ti- CHAPTER 2

LIFE SKETCH OF SRI MA D H V A

Sri (1238 -1317) was the founder of the Dvaita system, which is one of the five principal schools of Vedanta.

Sri Madhvacharya was also known as Aanandateertha and Purna-. He was born in the village Prajakaksetra, eight miles south east of the modern town of Udipi, on the West Coast of South India and was a native of Tulunadu in

Karnataka. He lived for seventy-nine years.

He appeared on the Indian philosophical scene after the systems of Sankara and

Ramanuja had been well established. The reasons, which led him to establish a new system of Vedanta, were his doctrinal differences and ideological dissatisfaction with the system of Sankara, which was the dominant of the time. In spite of the Theistic revolt against Sankara led by , Madhva could not agree with him on many points of Theistic doctrine. So he felt the need to give a to his countrymen.

“Madhva called his system, Tattvavada (Realism). It is described by in his San/ Sangraha as ‘‘Purnaprajnadarsan’’. [1]

In early childhood, his natural intuition took him to Acyutaprajna, an ascetic of the

Ekadandi order of Brahmasampradaya. He received initiation from him, as a

Sanyasi. After this, Madhva studied the classics of the Advaita school such as the

Istasiddhi. Later he began to expound the Prasthanatrayi independently and from a new standpoint. He found out the defects in the extant interpretations of

28 Sankara and his school. Sometimes entered into scholastic disputation with the veteran scholars of the day, viz. Vadisimha and Bhanu Pandita. He toured all over

India several times and visited Badarikasrama, , Bihar and Banaras in the north and many centers of learning on the Godavari and also important places like

Goa, Srirangam, Kanjeevaram and Kanyakumari in the South.

Sri Madhva has left thirty-seven works in all, important of which are:

I) Dasha Prakarnas or ten philosophical monographs explaining his ,

and criticism of Advaita doctrines of Upadhi, and

Mithyatva. ii) Commentaries on the Ten principal . iii) Commentaries on the Gita and the Brahmasutras. iv) A brief commentary on the first forty Suktas of the Rgveda. v) A perfect example of the in verses. vi) Brief notes and comments on the Bhaagavat. vii) Miscellaneous works comprising , poems and works on and

. viii) His greatest work is the Anu-Vyakhyana, a critical exposition of the

philosophy of the Brahmasutras.

It is a metrical work and is his masterpiece. Jayateertha, one of his

commentators in his famous work, the Nyayasudha, commented upon it.

Sri Madhva's writings are characterized by extreme brevity of expression and compression of thought. They need the help of a very good commentary to be understood in their fullness of thought, depth of meaning and intention. Sh

Madhva was endowed with a fine magnetic personality. He was a born leader of men. As a creative thinker he cared little for the conventions of fashionable

29 t - v> f-S and interpretation. His logic was as lovable as his . His Theisnn was unshakable. He made a deep impression on his contemporaries. Some of his eminent disciples like Trivikrarma Pandita, Padmanabha Teertha and Narahari

Teertha were distinguished scholars of Advaita and other systems before they became converted to his views. After establishing his systems on firm foundations, Sri Madhva installed the idol of BalaKrishna secured from Dvarka at his Mutt in Udipi in 1285. He made Udipi the spiritual centre of his school and gave the responsibility of worshipping Sri to eight ascetic disciples and established Eight Mutt’ at Udipi Of these, the Uttaradi Mutt is very famous. Other

Mutts of Sri Madhva’s following are: (1) Sri Vyaasaraya Mutt (2) Sri Raghvendra

Mutt (3) Sri Padaraya Mutt (4) Sri Akshobhya Tirth Mutt (5) Sri Gokarna Mutt (6)

Sri Kashi Mutt and (7) Sri Krishna Mutt.

Their line of successors and those of other disciples, all propagating his system are flourishing to this day, according to tradition.

Sri Madhva disappeared from men’s vision and retired to Badarikasrama in his seventy-ninth year. It is said that Sri Bibhisan came to visit Sri Madhva at this stage. Sri Madhva before disappearing from this world handed over Sri

Padmanabha Teertha the idol of Sri to and the five Saligramas which were given to Sri Madhva by Sri Vyaasa himself and asked Sri Padmanabha Teertha to propagate his system and his favorite . He narrated its contents to Sri Padmanabha Teertha arid disappeared from this world.

Pandita, the son of one of his direct disciples, Trivikrama Pandita, considered Sri

Madhva as a Vaayurupa. He wrote Sri Madhva’s biography in a Sansknt Kavya of sixteen cantos known as Madhva Vijay’. It is the main source information of Sn

Madhva’s life and activities.

30 Sri Madhva’s thoughts are based on the Puraanas and . There was a strong note of mystic intentions in his thought and writings. Sri Jayateertha brought out the inherent logical strength from Sri Madhva's writings.

“There were certain great ideas behind Madhva’s writings, viz. philosophical power, significance of potentiality such as the Conception of Saksi, the doctrine of

SvatantraTattva, Visesas in relation to the Concept of identity and , and creation in the new sense of Paradhinavisesaptr. [2]

31 CHAPTER 2

PART ‘A’ : DVAITA PHILOSOPHY

Indian Vedanta is firmly based on the , the Upanishads, the Puraanas,

Brahmasutras and the Gita. The objective of all these scriptures is to attain the absolute good of man, which is Liberation, the Summum Bonum. To attain this

Supreme goal, all scriptures have given various means/methods, e.g. Jnaana

Maarga, Maarga and Bhakti Maarga and Maarga. Veda,

Upanishads mainly dealt with and Jnaana Maarga, Mimansakas dealt

Karma Maarga wheras. Yoga Maarga of was also very famous. The

Bhaagavat, the Naarada and Shaandilya and the Vaishnava like

Sri Ramanuja, Sri dealt Bhakti Maarga and Sri Madhva propagated this strongly.

Sri Ramanuja’s philosophy is known as Visistadvaita, Sri Nimbarka’s philosophy is known as . Sri Vallabha’s philosophy is known as Suddhadvaita and lastly and importantly, Sri Madhva's philosophy is known as the Dvaita

Philosophy.

The or tradition of spiritual descent from teacher to disciple of the different schools of Vedanta is as follows:

“ (i) Sri Vaisnavism of Ramanuja: or Narayana Sri or Laksmi

Visvaksena - Satakopa - - Pundarikaksa - Rarnamisra -

Yamuna - Mahapurna - Ramanuja.

(ii) Sampradaya of Nimbarka: Vishnu as l-lamsa - - Kurnaras

- Naarada - Nimbarka,

32 (iii) Sampradaya of Vallabha: Vishnu - Rudra - - Vallabha.

(iv) of Madhva: Vishnu - Brahma - Vasistha - Sakti -

Parashara - Vyaasa - Purna Prajna or Madhva ". [3]

Madhva's philosophy is based on the axiom “Vishnu Sarvottam", Vishnu is the perfect , and He is the supreme .

“Vishnu is Lord of the Universe. He is the only Independent and Supreme Being.

All others are dependent on him even after . Vishnu’s world is Real”.

[4]

“Lord Vasudev is Bhagvan, He is Hah, He is Vishnu, He is worshipped in the world”. [5]

He is the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer of this Real World. Man is His servant.

Man must try to attain about Vishnu and through this knowledge man can attain Bhakti. Bhakti is the means as well as the end according to Sri

Madhva's philosophy. To attain the knowledge of Vishnu and Jnaana, man has to do sravan, , and nididhyasa of Vishnu’s Name, Gunas and

Avataras. “Firm, Ceaseless, unshakable love of God which surpasses every other form of affection and attachment, which is based on full knowledge of His transcendent Majesty is called Bhakti. By that alone one can attain liberation by and no other means". [6]

Through Bhakti man does work for the sake of Lord. The work must be done by all, i.e. Muktiyogya Jivas. as well as Jnaanis. For this, the Lord cites the examples of King Janak and King Priyavrat.

33 Karma w ith detachm ent of fruits m ust be done a s said in Gita by Lord Krishna .

“C onstantly perform your obligatory duty w ithout attachm ent a s King Janaka a n d

others achieved perfection by action and w hatever the great m an does is followed

by others, a s they set exa m p les for people so, perform your duty for all the tim e”.

[ 7 ]

“Do your obligatory w ork constantly and always rem em ber Lord Vishnu as the

doer of our Karma". [ 8 ]

I n Madhva's philosophy, Jnaana, Karma, a n d Bhakti are interrelated w ith each

other. Th e y are dependent on each other, i.e. only Jnaana w ill not lead m an to the

grace of Lord, only Bhakti w ithout Jnaana is of no use and only Karma w ill be a

m echanical process. Sri Madhva tried to co-relate these three to attain Real

h a p p i n e s s .

3 4 CHAPTER 2

P A R T ‘ B ’ : DARSAN O F SRI MADHVA

Sri Madhva’s system is called as Tattvavada (Realism ) and also as “Dvaita

Siddhanta". The latter nam e is m ostly used for his philosophy. H is philosophy

accepts two categories i.e. swatantra, (Independent), and Aswatantra

(Dependent). Paramatma is independent and all sentient and insentient things

are dependent on Him .

He clarifies what m eant as the follows; things or objects, sentient or

insentient as w e see, are called as ‘Prama’ / Tattva / Category, e.g. if we see

chair and call it a chair it is Prama and if w e se e chair and call it a table it is not

Prama. It is wrong knowledge. And thus Prama n e e d s Prameya i.e. C ha ir is the

Prameya a n d Prameya is called Tattva.

Second aspect of Tattva is categories of Prama e.g. C ha ir and its aspect i.e. four

legs, tw o hands, w ooden m aterial. All these are of C hair and thus called

a s Tattva. Bu t if w e call chair a s a table it is not a Tattva, it is fa lse identification.

Sri Madhva in two separate categories even in liberation. is not

m erged in a H ig he r self. Th e criterion of to Madhva is that it should not be

superim posed, e.g. snake as a rope, silver as nacre, etc. and given a s an object

of valid know ledge as existing at som e point of tim e and in som e place. “The

tortoise’s hair though not superim p osed for w ant of its originallity is not a reality

or, is not present or existent at som e tim e or place, or in anybody's valid

Know led g e’, [9]

3 5 “And, not superim position but valid know ledge as existing in som e place and tim e

a r e Madhva’s Tattva o r Prameya for his R e a lism ”. [10]

Reality c o n sists in actual relation to tim e and place, w hich cannot be predicted for

unrealities like hare’s horn. G radation is m ade in Reality e.g. am ong a n d

Jiva in respect of its being, p ow ers and activity. Brahman is Independent Reality,

described a s Satyasya Satyam i n Brh. Up. ii. 3 and Nityo Nityanam, Eternal of the

Ete rna ls in Katha Up. ii. 2.13. M etaphysical reality and other finite reality depend

o n Brahman. Brahman is inherent in the Universe. O therw ise there would be no

order in the world, w hich we see through the various sea so ns com ing one after

other (e.g. Rainy, W inter, Sum m e r), or rising of sun and m oon in the sky, or m a n’s

childhood, followed by adulthood, old age and the death, or grow ing of fruits,

leaves, etc. There is a rhythm in the whole Universe. Som etim es we are

astonished to see such a system atic developm ent in the Universe.

A l t h o u g h Sri Madhva’s philosophy is called as Dvaita Philosophy or Dvaita

Siddhanta. “it includes other categories also and all these are collectively called

a s t h e Dvaita Siddhanta. V i z .

(1) Lord Hah is alw ays superior. Independent

( 2 ) Jagat or W orld is real

(3) Se lf or is the serva nt of G od

(4) To attain liberation m ea ns to attain hap p iness in oneself through the m ea ns of

Bhakti

(5) The re is bheda or difference am ong each self and ability; there is gradation

am ong G ods and hum an according to their capacity, gradational

approach or tartam ya in Mukti a l s o . Veda i s t h e Pramaana fo r all th e se ”. [11]

i

3 6 “It sh o w s five differences in his Siddhanta ( i ) jada-jiva ( i i ) jiva-jiva ( i i i ) jiva-lsa ( i v j

Isa-jada (v) jada-jada”. [ 1 2 ]

Pratyaksa, Anuman a n d Aagama are valid sources of know ledge according to Sri

Madhva.

Now we see Sri Madhva’s Bhakti through his various w o rks as well as from

t h e Gita, a n d Bhaagavat.

Sri Madhva has given an unique and im portant place to the Divine grace for

liberation and this can be achieved by Bhakti. Bhakti m eans deepest attachm ent

to the Lord, is deep-rooted and based on a clear understanding of H is G reatness

and M ajesty

‘Bhakti is thus the steady and continuous flow of deep attachm ent to G od w ithout

any a m ount of hindrance, able to face attacks for the sa ke of love”. [13]

"Bhakti is transcending the love of our own , our own kith and kin, any

other belongings and knowing the greatness of God as He is the Suprem e and

having all good qualities and H e w ill give H is grace to a true devotee. Liberation is

the firm conviction”. [14]

Bhakti is the continuous flow of love and is spontaneous. A devotee thinks only

o f Bhakti a n d n o t Mukti.

“W ho with full know ledge and intellect thinks only about G od’s love and no other

thing s such a s w ealth, his body, etc. and w ho w ith h is intellect and w ith full love in

3 7 his m ind thinks only God as the suprem e, not thinking about Mukti is real the

Bhakta". [ 1 5 ]

Know ledgeable Bhakta is dear to the Lord, such a Bhakta sees God everywhere

and G od in him . He com m unicaties with G od only and thus he becom es a Muni.

“Tha t w hich is night to all beings, in that disciplined m an w akes, in which all

beings w ake is night to the Attman o r munr. [ 1 6 ]

“W hen one can not see any other thing, nor can he listen or feel, that state is

know n as Infinitism . Th is state is achieved w hen one se e s G od everyw here. Such

Bhakta is called Atmajnaani and such a state is called Brahm i state and those

w ho attain th is are called Munis”. [ 1 7 ]

Th is state of Bhakti is achieved w hen the Bhakta sees the Lord and H is power

everyw here. Such a love is pure love and can be acquired by G od’s grace.

3 8 C H A P T E R 2

REFERENCES

R e f . D e t a i l s

n o . 1

1 Madhva's Philosophy by B.N .K. Sharm a

2 Philosop hy of Sri Madhvacharya by B.N .K. Sharm a

3 W ork on Caitanya by A. K. Majumdar.

4 Madhva’s Brahma Bhashya 1 . 1 . 1 1

5 Madhva and his philosophy by R. B. Avdhani (M arathi)

6 Bhaagavat Tatparya from B.N .K Sharm a ’s Madhva's Philosophy |

7 Bhagvad Gita, 3 I - 2^ 1

8 Sri Madhva’s Dvadashastotra 3 . 1

9 1 Vyaasateertha in Madanmanjari. 1 1 1 0 ! Tattva b y Sri Jayateertha in his com m entary: from B.N .K. Sharm a’s Sh

\ Madhva's Philosophy, page 390 i 1 I 1 1 1 1 V i s h n u Tatva Nirnaya o f Sri Vyaasaraya !

1 2 V i s h n u Tatva Nirnaya o f Sri Vyaasaraya

1 3 Sudha, P a g e 1 7

1 4 M ahabharat Tatparya Nirnaya, 1 / 8 6 1

1 5 Bhaagavat, ! 23 ! 27 '\

1 6 Bhagvad Gita, 2 / 6 9

[ 7 . 2 4 . 1 i i Chhaandogya Upanishad,

3 9