Greatness of Anu Bhashya – I

• Author : Hariprasad Nelliteertha

Jagadguru shrimanmadhwacharya has composed 37 main works in order to propagate the tattvavada philosophy that he revived and propagated. For the successful defense of any Vedantic philosophy it is important for the ‘pravartaka’ to comment and elaborate on the three ‘prasthanas’ or streams of philosophical literature in Santana Dharma – the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the brahmasutras. In accordance with this tradition, Shri Madhwacharya also has commented extensively on all three of the prasthanas.

The brahmasutras are a set of sutras or aphorisms composed by Shri Vedavyasa himself. The purpose of the brahmasutras is mainly to aid in the correct interpretation of the entire body of shastras. By relying on the tenets given in this work, the jignyasu, or keen learner, will be able to see the shastras in the right way and realize that the purpose of all shastras is to extol the virtue of the ‘parabrahman’. Therefore, the brahmasutras help in understanding the nature and glory of brahman as given in the shastras.

The founder of every school of Vedantic philosophy has, naturally, interpreted the brahmasutras to show that it conveys the meaning as propounded by their own school of thought. Prior to the bhashya, or commentary, of Shri Madhwacharya, there were at least 21 main interpretations of the brahmasutras already in vogue. Needless to say, each of those commentaries had superimposed their own philosophy on to the sutras, leading to their distortion and misinterpretation.

In order to restore the original purport and meaning of the brahmasutras, shrI madhwacharya commented extensively on it. Initially he composed three works viz the brahma sutra bhashya, anu-vyakhyana and the nyayavivarana. Each of these dealt with the sutras and Vedanta in great detail and established how the entire body of shastras unequivocally propagate the tattvavada philosophy only!

The composition of the anu-bhashya

During the times of ShrI Madhwacharya, it was common practice amongst sanyasis to chant the entire set of 564 brahmasutras every day in the morning. On normal days, this exercise would not pose much of a challenge. However, whenever a ‘sadhana dwadashi’ arrived, keeping up with this practice became a major challenge since the entire set of morning rituals had to be finished quickly close to sunrise before proceeding to have early ‘dwadashi parane’ (partaking of food on dwadashi mornings).

Shri Achyutapreksha, the guru who gave deeksha to Shri Madhwacharya had aged considerably and was finding it difficult to chant the entire set of brahmasutras on sadhana dwadashis. He therefore requested Shri Madhwacharya to suggest a way out of this. The great student, Shrimadananda teertha, turned guru to his own teacher and solved the problem for him. He composed a short metrical work of 32 shlokas – known as the Auu-bhashya – and asked Shri Achyutapreksha to chant this new work, instead of the entire sutras.

Thus, the fourth work of ShrI Madhwacharya, on the brahma sutras, came into being. The Anu-bhashya is an extra-ordinary grantha, perhaps unparalleled anywhere else in the shastric world.

As stated earlier, the anu-bhashya contains just 32 shlokas, composed in the anushtub metre. However, it provides a complete summary of all the 564 sutras! The sumadhwa-vijaya extols the greatness of this work in the following manner:

अनन्तोsर्थः प्रकटितस्तवयाणौ भाष्यसंग्रहः (chap 15 – 82)

“You have brought out innumerable interpretations (of the sutras) through your bhashya-sangraha (aNnu-bhashya)”

• To be continued

Hariprasad Nellitheertha