Life of Sri Madhvacharya - Part 1

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A relative of mine called me from Mumbai. He read my previous columns and was quite annoyed that though I belong to the Madhva sampradaya (followers of Madhvacharya who follow Shuddha Dvaita or pure dualism), I have been studying & following Adi Sankara's teachings also. According to him, this is an unwanted diversion from my traditional roots and warned me against the 'corrupting' influence of Advaita Vedanta on my spiritual life (it is said that Madhvacharya was so averse to the word 'Advaita' that he never once used it in his exposition of Vedanta)!

But, what can I do? Having been exposed to the teachings of all the great masters of Vedanta, I have come to appreciate the essence of their teachings; I cannot bring myself to reject their message without examining it in depth.

It is true that Vedanta has come to be largely identified in the popular mind with Advaita and Adi Sankara's methodology. Its sharp logic is particularly appealing to the modern rationalistic mind. However, it is unfair to ignore or pass over the schools of Dvaita and Vishisthadvaita without a serious study.

Each of these schools is a complete spiritual philosophy and practice in itself, well supported by full-fledged logic, epistemology, ontology and ethics. Sankara's followers often tend to dismiss these two rival schools of thought as ritualistic and devotional cults, without giving sufficient consideration to the philosophical basis of these systems.

Hence, I thought it befitting that this trilogy on the life and message of the Trinity should begin with Sri Madhvacharya (I can see my relative smiling now).

Sri Madhvacharya (1238 - 1317 AD) was born in a Tulu speaking Brahmin family in Pajakaksetra (eight miles southeast of Udupi in Karnataka). Udupi is today famous for the Sri Krishna temple, which Sri Madhvacharya established himself (immortalised in the minds of the modern Indian youth through Hariharan's indipop adaptation of the traditional song 'Krishna nee begane baaro'!)

A traditional Telugu proverb declares that 'a flower begins to spread its fragrance as soon as it blooms, so do great men begin to exhibit extraordinary qualities from early childhood itself.' Vasudeva, as Sri Madhva was known in his childhood, lived up to this proverb literally. Madhyageha Bhatta, Vasudeva's father, is supposed to have practised austerities and prayers at the Ananteswara temple (which is still a famous pilgrimage destination in Udupi) to beget another child through divine grace, after his two sons passed away in early childhood itself.

Madhvavijaya, the authentic biography of Sri Madhvacharya composed in Sanskrit by Narayana Pandita attributes a divine origin to Madhva's birth, as is usual in Indian spiritual tradition with all great teachers. For example, Adi Sankara is considered as an incarnation of Siva and Sri Ramanuja the incarnation of Adisesa, the divine serpent depicted in the reclining posture of Lord Vishnu, Ananta Padmanabha.)