Sriman Madhvacharya or Madhva Acharya was also known as Purna Prajna and Anand Tirtha. He was a Hindu philosopher and the chief proponent of the Dvaita (dualism) school of Vedanta. Madhva referred to his philosophy as Tattvavada meaning “arguments from a realistic viewpoint”.
Madhvacharya was born on the west coast of Karnataka state of India in the 13th century. At a young age, he became a sannyasi (renouncer) joining the Brahma-sampradaya of Ekadandi order under Achyutapreksha.
Madhva studied the classics of Hindu philosophy, particularly the Principal Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras (Prastanatrayi). He has commented on them and is credited with 37 works in Sanskrit. His style of writing was extremely concise and succinct in expression. His greatest work is considered Anuvyakhyana, a philosophical supplement to his commentary on the Brahma Sutra Bhashya, composed in a poetic structure.
He declared himself to be an avatar of Vayu, son of the god Vishnu. Madhvacharya was a critic of Adi Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta and Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita Vedanta teachings. However, Dvaita philosophy was limited to a few states of India. He travelled several times to various places in India, visiting places such as Bengal, Varanasi, Dwaraka, Goa and Kanyakumari, engaging in philosophical debates and visiting Hindu centres of learning.
Madhva established the Krishna Matha in Udupi in 1285 AD, with a safely brought idol from Dwaraka, Gujarat.
Madhvacharya’s teachings are based on the premise that there is a fundamental difference between the atman (individual soul, self) and the Brahman (ultimate reality, God Vishnu), these two are different unchanging realities, and the individual soul is dependent on Brahman, never identical. Madhva claims, liberation is achievable only through the grace of God.
The Dvaita school established by Madhva influenced Vaishnavism Bhakti movement of medieval India and is one of the three influential Vedanta philosophies along with Advaita Vedanta and Vishishtadvaita Vedanta. Kulandran and Kramer state Madhva’s historical influence has been commendable in Hinduism
Hare Krishna
