Acharya Madhva

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

Tomorrow is Madhvanavami ( 14 the february). I thought that

remebering our saviuor and teacher thorugh Sumadhvavijaya is the

best way to celebrate the event. Here with is the result.

NAPSRao

HAVE YOU SEEN ACHARYA MADHVA?

Most of us have felt an intense desire to " see " the person who

has left behind the magnificent edifice of Thathvavada. Most

devout followers believe that he is living on in his present

human form in Badarikashrama at the Lotus feet of His master,

the great Veda Vyasa Himself. But our desire to personally

interact with him can not be satisfied in the normal way it is,

for our near and dear ones. Actually as Mukhya Prana, he is

nearer to us than any other soul, and as the Inner Controller

and All Pervader who energises all souls, he is responsible for

making those whom we hold as dearest to us, alive and hence most

coveted. For a strong personality who has left behind a whole

system of philosophy, religion, worship and social mores, there

are no personal relics, except perhaps the Akshaya Pathre and

the Holy spoon used in Paryaya for formal handing over. There

are of course, a large number of Idols and Vyasa Mushti etc.

which were handed over by him to the ascetics who were ordained

by him. There is also the Krishna temple established so securely

that even after 8 centuries, the system of worship set up by him

continues inspite of all social and political changes that have

taken place.

What was his personality really like? We have his biography to

fall back upon, along with its word pictures. Biographies

however can be notoriously unreliable, specially about the

subject personality. How good is Sumadhvavijaya in this respect?

If one goes through Sumdhvavijaya, one finds that there are

three distinct types of descriptions. The first is essentially

mythology where the faith and beliefs are presented as reality

with a poetic imagination. This is seen in the description of

the earlier Avatharas of Vayu, the meetings in Badarikashrama

with Veda Vyasa, Narayana forms of the Lord or the blissful

state of the liberated souls in Vaikunta etc. The source of

information for these can only be either the sacred texts or

Acharya Madhva himself. The former are generally available and

form part of the doctrines of Thathvavada.

The second set is where the information is essentially

hear-say, indirect and where the poet is lacking clear

information about the order of events, period, details of the

persons present etc. But, these events have survived in group

memory by virtue of the impact that they made on the gathering.

It is also likely that some of this information was already

composed as stories or poetry by others and preserved even

before the composition of the Sumadhvavijaya itself, though none

of them are available today as separate compositions. This is

the opinion of Sri C M Padmanabhacharya also. Thus we see that

the stories pertaining to the childhood, Sannyasa, etc of the

Acharya are written in the style of recountal of past events

furbished with poetic imagery. There is also an entire chapter

(Number Ten), where the stories are clearly attributed by the

author to another disciple of Acharya Madhva who recited a Kavya

like composition containing some events of Acharya's tour of the

North ending up in Badarinath. The shlokas have various poetic

embellishments like Rhyming, repetition of words and phrases,

which are some times split into different combinations of root

words etc. All these have a ring of truth in them, with no

element of undue exaggeration or untruth just to glorify the

Acharya. Such important events like the establishment of the

Krishna temple in Udupi, the first and second visits to

Badarinath, the defeat of various Buddhist and Advaitha scholars

in debate, the acquisition of the great successors of Acharya

Madhva after their acceptance of the new school etc are dealt

with in this manner, clearly indicating that the personal

contacts of the poet of Sumadhvavijaya itself came long after

all this happened.

The third set is clearly based on information which the poet

Sri Narayana Pandithacharya has received first hand in the

immediate past or present. In the twelfth chapter, there are

descriptions of Advaitha veterans and leaders of society getting

worried about their flock getting denuded by the growing

acceptance of Thathvavada. Some names like Padma Tirtha (from

Chola country), Pundareeka Puri are mentioned specifically as

contemporaries who were involved. The places in Thaulava country

where the important events took place are are also clearly

mentioned along with very detailed descriptions of the daily

life of the Acharya, the incident of the theft of his archives

by Padma Tirtha, and their subsequent recovery at the

intervention of the king .

Sri Thrivikrama Pandithacharya is introduced into the

composition at this stage. He was requested by the Advaitha

caucus to fight for their doctrines with Acharya Madhva. A very

large part of the fifteenth chapter is devoted to a detailed

description of their debate, which led to his conversion to

Thathvavada. A detailed description of the immediate disciples

of Acharya Madhva and their greatness, the writing of the first

commentaries on the Brahma Suthra Bhashya by Sri Padmanabha and

Sri Thrivikrama, the writing of the famous classic Anuvyakhyana

at the request of Sri Thrivikrama, Nyaya Vivarana, Krishnamrutha

Maharnava, Karma Nirnaya followed. There is a clear back ground

of personal cognition of the Acharya by the poet Sri Narayana

Pandithacharya in all these. It appears probable that such an

accomplished scholar like Narayana was personally present in

most of the events including the debate of his father with

Acharya Madhva and all the subsequent developments. The last and

sixteenth chapter lists some more events, both of the past like

the demonstration of the validity of the Vedas, lifting of the

huge boulder etc. along with more contemporary events in

Thaulava country culminating with the disappearance of the

Acharya under a heap of flowers while reciting Aithereya

Upanishath. These are essentially either eye witness accounts or

at the worst, events as gathered personally from Acharya's

contemporaries first hand by the author.

There is thus no doubt that we can " see " Acharya Madhva through

the eyes of the gifted observer, poet and eye witness Sri

Narayana Pandithacharya. I will try to sum up his word picture

in the next instalment.

NAPSRao

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

I am enclosing the second and final instalment on Acharya

Madhva. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did, when posting

it.

PERSONALITY OF ACHARYA MADHVA

There is a poetic description of Acharya Madhva and his daily

routine in the Chapters 13 and 14 of Sumadhvavijaya. I will try

to reproduce briefly this part leaving out extraneous points.

Acharya Madhva started after his Chaturmasya from Kodipadi

village temple at the invitation of the king Jayasimha of Kumbla

state. The king had arranged to locate the stolen books of

Acharya Madhva and invited him to come and take possession and

bless his state. The Acharya was effulgence personified when he

walked with long strides accompanied by hundreds of his

disciples - both ascetics and others. The party spent a night

in the Madanadhipathi temple on the way before reaching

Vishnumangala temple. They were accompanied by a young disciple

who carried the box containing the idols and Saligramas having

washed his hands and avoiding talking or even breathing when

picking it up. A number of young disciples lifted up bundles

containing the vessels and books which always accompanied

Acharya Madhva. A disciple held an umbrella over the Acharya's

head. At one point, the Acharya was himself carried by a

disciple on his shoulders. The long walk did not tire any one,

as his followers were immersed in seeing the beautiful face and

the majestic figure of the Acharya. The king came down from his

own palanquin and waited on his feet to receive the Acharya. He

left behind his army and accompanied by a few Brahmins

approached the Acharya humbly and fell at his feet with great

devotion. The people who were anxious to see their king also

saw the great sage. There were many persons who danced with joy

while reciting their own shlokas of Hari katha, wearing the

auspicious signs and garlands of Thulasi leaves etc. The king

followed at a respectful distance when the Acharya entered the

temple.

The Acharya's effulgence is comparable to that of the Sun. He

walks like a young lion. His nails are red like Padmaragamani.

His ankles were round and thighs were like the trunks of an

elephant - big at the top and thinning gradually and slender at

the end. He wore a new white silken Dhothi around his thin

waist. There were three lines (formed naturally on the surface)

on his stomach, neck and forehead. He wore a fine woollen red

shawl on his shoulders which appeared like the rising sun on the

Meru mountain. He had a great full chest, high shoulders, long,

thick and round arms. His red palms were like freshly sprouted

mango leaves and those who could see them in detail saw that

they had the auspicious marks of the flag, wheel etc. His face

was like the full moon, but was actually superior to it, as the

moon has some flaw, while his face had none. He had a

captivating smile on his face which showed his teeth resembling

new jasmine buds in between red lips. His beautiful large eyes

which resembled the Lotus petals looked out at the gathering

with love and compassion. The onlookers were overjoyed at the

sight.

He wore small branches of Thulasi leaves on his ears. His

cheeks were shining with radiance. The eye brows which can give

any gift to the world by their movement were exquisite. There

were many scholars there, who know the auspicious signs and

features of the human form. They decided that Acharya Madhva's

form should be used as the standard for deciding the

characteristics of the perfect human form. Though he was

surrounded by a large crowd, Acharya Madhva showed the top of

his chest to even the people who were unable to come near him

due to the crowd pressures. This suggests that he was perhaps

taller than the average and he was trying to bless even those

devotees who were helpless due to the force of circumstances.

After the party settled down, Sri Hrishikesha Tirtha read out

Bhagavatha Purana in his rich and musical voice. Acharya Madhva

explained the passages. The poet says that even the memory of

Acharya Madhva's walk, sitting down to recite Bhagavatha etc

will lead us to emancipation. The beauty and greatness of these

can only be described by the great gods like Bharathi Devi (His

consort), Rudra etc.

The above description seems to bear the marks of an eye witness

account by Sri Narayana Pandithacharya - as it was also on the

same occasion that the famous disputation between his father and

Acharya Madhva took place. The description of his beauty and

features is not just poetic or exaggerated, as this is the

refrain of all persons including his father who saw Acharya

Madhva. The latter calls him Sundara (beautiful) in Hari

Vayusthuthi. There are also earlier descriptions of Acharya's

personality, when he was seen to be with all the Shubha

Lakshanas (good and auspicious features), but the only feature

of the then Sankaracharya, which his disciples tried to praise

was found to be imperfect. In the words of Sri C M

Padmanabhacharya - " To the last, Sri Madhva's physical and

mental powers continued unabated. He was frequently furnishing

instances of the iron frame he possessed, and the indomitable

strength of his muscle " . Even in his " old age " , he had

challenged and proved by an actual trial of strength that two

strong men called Gandavata and his brother could not even press

his neck to reduce his recitation of God's name with all their

strength. On the other hand, he could be carried like a feather

by a young lad on his shoulder, proving that he had the

different Siddhis called Anima, Laghima, Mahima etc. Even the

strongest blow to the tip of his nose at his own behest was

found to be worthless in hurting him. Thus his beautiful and

delicately outlined features were not the ordinary flesh and

blood with its limitations, but were divine in origin and

nature. It was thus that he could eat fantastic amounts of food

or go without food for long periods of time. He used to be kind

to poor devotees, when they offered him limited quantity of

food, when it was made to be sufficient not only for his

prodigious needs, but also for all the assembled persons.

Let us look at his routine for a day - as described in

Sumadhvavijaya. He and his disciples would get up at Arunodaya (

when the red still tinges the sky, the stars are visible and the

sun is till below the horizon). He would take the ritual bath

and complete his early morning worship and sit inside an

enclosue made of Kavi cloth and meditate on Lord Narayana. His

disciples would get up even earlier, and after brushing their

teeth fully with neem sticks at least 12 inches long, they would

also take ritual bath and perform Pranayama etc. There was one

disciple who was awake most of the night as he had slept much

after the others and thus did not get up at his usual time. When

he woke up, he found that his Guru had already gone for bath

with his clothes and felt that he had failed in his duty. There

was a light burning near the place where Sri Poornaprajna was

performing his rituals (as it was still dark). One of his

disciples offered Arghya, Padya etc to the deities and removed

the Nirmalya of the previous day with great care and devotion.

The white liquid that was dripping from the flowers at the time

was seen as Ghee by the ordinary persons, while the devout knew

that it was the Nectar itself which was there after it was

offered to the Supreme Being. The Sun who is at the heart of the

Gayathri recital then rose and dispelled the darkness. The birds

started chirping, and the early morning dew reflected the early

red rays of the rising Sun. The fine dust which went up in the

air when the disciples prostrated to the Acharya was illuminated

by the bands of light falling through small windows inside the

rooms and indicated that it was time for the morning lessons and

study. The Acharya was provided with a high seat (Yogasana) and

all the audience came earlier to listen to him. The disciples

had numerous books with them, which were opened and kept at the

right position for continuing the lectures. The Acharya

completed his meditation and came and sat down on his seat. He

commenced his Pravachana by reciting Aum, the sacred syllable.

He started on the expounding of the Upanishad Bhashya, which his

audience listened with full attention. He answered all questions

put by his disciples fully then and there. This continued till

midday, when the Pravachana was stopped and the Acharya rose up

for the afternoon worship. He went to the pond and performed

his ritual bath and worship on its bank itself. There is a

pramana which says that while the sacred rivers and the ocean

give the same merit as for several days of fasting, the drinking

of the sacred water offered at the feet of Lord Vishnu will give

the same result many times over - for a fast of 12 years. Such

Thirtha was taken by the Acharya. He applied the Dvadasha Namas

(twelve sacred marks on the body with Gopi chandana) and the

marks of the conch and the discus. He went inside the temple

after the bath, after washing his feet when entering it. This

water was eagerly sought by the people present who applied it

over their head. Pure filtered water which was carefully brought

by a disciple for Abhisheka was filled in the Conch with

fragrant flowers, sandal paste etc. This was offered to bathe

the Saligramas and the idols by Acharya Madhva. Sixteen

different prescribed modes of worship were offered to the

Lord. After the Puja, he took the sandal paste offered to God

and applied it on his own body, wore a silken cloth and greeted

the assembly with a smile. He ate Paramanna already offered to

God as Naivedya. He came and sat down on a carpet in the hall.

Discussions were held with assembled scholars with regard to

various subjects. By slightly raising his eye brows he

indicated to a disciple to come and listen to his instructions.

The disciple came and carefully avoiding any touch of his breath

by covering his face, listened to his instructions. The people

came to know that they could offer their prostrations to the

Acharya individually. There was a rush, as all of them wanted to

do so. The Acharya greeted the people with a smile and

blessings. The Acharya started his evening Pravachana again ,

when all the disciples who were doing their own study broke off

and came to listen to him. The Sun set, when the Acharya and his

disciples performed the prescribed rituals when there was still

sunlight, up to the time when stars became fully visible. The

moon rose, when Acharya Madhva continued his discourse

describing the glories of lord Krishna.

The description corresponds to the daily routine of the devotee

prescribed in Sadachara Smruthi for the devotee of the Lord.

Most of us do not find it possible to devote all our time to the

Supreme Being, but being conscious of Him always and performing

every action in a spirit of service to him is some thing we can

always do. There should be a constant craving for improving our

knowledge, performance of prescribed rituals to the maximum

possible extent with understanding their purpose and with the

sole aim of pleasing God there by.

On this sacred day, when Acharya Madhva vanished from the sight

of men, let us remember him fondly and try to deserve him

better.

NAPSRao