- A thesis on Shri Madhwacharya by Prof. B.N. Venugopala
Sri Madhvacharya is the brightest luminary in the galaxy of Indian philosophy. He is the most scholarly philosopher the world has ever witnessed. He has been aptly referred to as Poornaprajna an account of his commendable knowledge of all the shastras, languages, sciences and arts. Sri Madhvacharya appeared on the Indian Philosophical scene after the systems of Shankaracharya and Ramanujacharya had been well established. Sri Madhvacharya was not content with the interpretations of his predecessors with reference to the Vedic texts and his dissatisfaction with those interpretations led him to formulate his philosophy which is popularly known as Tatvavada. Sri Madhvacharya particularly refuted the Mayavada propounded by Sri Shankaracharya which was the dominating philosophy of his time. Sri Madhva’s Tatvavada is the most powerful reaction to the non-dualistic philosophy preached by Sri Shankara. Prior to Sri Madhvacharya, attempts had already been made by the philosophers like Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Nimabarka and others to refute the philosophy of Mayavada and Non-Dualism propounded by Shankara. In spite of the powerful Theistic revolts led by his predecessors, Sri Madhvacharya could not see eye to eye with them on many points of the Theistic doctrine. Hence, he felt the need to give a new vision to the Indian Philosophy.
It would be rather inappropriate to call Sri Madhva’s Philosophy as new because he never aimed at the establishment of a new doctrine. Instead, he aimed at the reestablishment of the Vedic truth promulgated by Sri Vedavyasa, the incarnation of Almighty Himself. Sri Madhvacharya wanted to bring to light the basic tenets of Vedic Philosophy which had been fogged up by wrong interpretations. He turned the national conscience towards the buoyant realism of the Vedas, the transcendental Theism of the Upanishads and the emotional Theism of the Puranas. The uniqueness of Sri Madhva lays in the fact that he has written scholarly commentaries on the basic texts of Vedanta, the Brahma Sutras of Sri Vedavyasa, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. He was the first among Acharyas to write commentaries on Vedas. All the other Acharyas have just attempted in their commentaries to establish their philosophy on the basis of the doctrines found in the Upanishads. Madhva was the only Acharya to quote profusely from an exceptionally wide range of works such as the Mantras, Brahmanas, Khilas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, Epics, Puranas, Pancharathras and a variety of ancillary literature. The exceptional contribution of Sri Madhva to Vedic Literature was his Adyatmic interpretations of the Vedas which has been duly acknowledged by scholars like Sri Kapali Shastri, an ardent follower of Sri Aurobindo in the later centuries.
In his ‘Light on Vedas’ Kapali Shastri has written as follows:
“Again, the tradition that the Vedic Hymns are supremely spiritual in their import was recovered by Anandathirtha, the Dvaitha teacher known as Madhvacharya. This shows clearly that there was, even before Sayana, a school of vedic interpreters holding that though ritual worship was part of the Vedic Religion and as such, the Mantras present an aspect favorable to it, yet, the inner meaning of the Mantras was spiritual and the highest aim and use of life possible for man. Madhvacharya’s work is comparatively small in volume, the language simple, but
its influence among scholars – modern or ancient is not commensurate with its importance, as can be judged from the fact that most modern scholars and pundits as a class with the possible exception of some among his followers are unaware of the very existence of such a work.”
- To be continued
