Chaturmasya jnAnArjane saraNi - Madhwa Vijaya (a Gist in English) by Few Eminent scholars - Sarga 9, Part 1 of 3

August 25, 2009

|| Sri Rama Krishna VedavyAsAya namaha ||

|| Sri Hanuma Bheema Madhwa MunibhyO namaha ||

namaste all,

Here comes the fifth installment in this series.

You can check the previous ones at the urls below:

Sarga 8 - MadhwaYuvaParishat/message/10540

IT_Madhva_Sangha/message/3953

/message/6755

|| shrI hari vAyu gurubhyO namaH ||

Madhwa Vijaya (a Gist in English) by few Eminent scholars

Sarga 9, Part 1 by Sri R.S. Panchamukhi

Book edited by Srimushnam V Nagaraja Rao

SRI MADHVAâ€™S RETURN FROM BADARI, HIS SOOTRA BHASHYA & SECOND TRIP TO BADARI

Sri Madhvaâ€™s emergence out of the Himalayas Ranges after taking leave of Sri Veda Vyasa & Narayana, his writing the Bhashya at lower Badari, his homeward march, a few incidents at place on the banks of Godavari including the conversation of Shobhana Bhatta during his return journey, the joy of Sri Achyutha Preksha Acharya at Udupi on seeing his meritorious Sishya who was shining in Divinity, the Sishyas convincing the Guru & converting him to the new school of thought, Sri Madhvaâ€™s establishing Krishna Temple at Udupi, his guiding a great Yagnya, his second trip to Badari & return again to Udupi are the topics dealt with in this ninth Sarga.

In the opening verse, the poet says, Sri Vedavyasa & Sri Madhva left Narayana Ashrama & returned to Vedavyasa Ashrama (verse 1). And after concluding the final studies at the feet of Sri Veda Vyasa, Sri Madhva took leave of Him with full grasp of his Guruâ€™s Hrudaya Bhava (chitta vR^ittiM anuvR^ittimAn.h, verse 2). How hard it was for Sri Madhva to take leave of such a lovely Lord ! Prostrating at His lotus feet & getting ready to depart from His enchanting Sannidhi, Sri Madhva again & again looked affectionately at the smiling & charming face of Sri Vedavyasa (mandahAsa mR^idu sunda rAnanaMsatpatiM (verse 3). Sri Narayana Panditacharya (in shloka 4) hastens to remind us that in reality, Sri Madhva being an aparoxsha jnAni, never suffered the pains of

separation from the Lord (naiShanAtha virahI tato.abhavat.h) and that he was ever face to face with the Lord at his heart. (verse 4).

Descending from the high mountains, & jumping down from hill to hill like a veritable Vanarendra, Sri Madhva quickly reached Anantamata at lower Badari where his retinue of Sishyas was eagerly awaiting his arrival. How happy they were when they received in their midst their dearest Guru after a spell of separation ! The term svajana in verse 6, suggests the kind of happiness that the members of a family would feel when their beloved father returns home from a far off country completing a meritorious mission (verse 6).

While Sri Madhva was camping at Anantamata, some five or six Brahmins of the place, headed by one Agnisarma brought & served large quantities of sumptuous dishes of Bhiksha to the Master severally & Sri Madhva consumed the whole lot & surprised & satisfied them all. This wonderful feat was trivial for him, being the avatara of Vayu who consumes the worlds at final dissolution (Pralaya) verse 7.

Camping at Anantamata, Sri Madhva composed (as ordained by Lord Narayana) his Sootra - bhashya which represented his whole self in form & spirit. The work is commended as a chaste, simple & highly meaningful compostion easily intelligible even to the ordinary students & yet hard & difficult to be grasped even by the learned scholars (verse 8-12)

WHAT IS SOOTRA & BHASHYA

Vedas are the only source of knowledge that reveal Paramatma Tatva & Jeevatma-Tatva (the true nature of God & man). Every word of it leads us from perfection to perfection. But in scope & range, the vedic expressions are so vast & endless that in some contexts they outwardly appear to be self contradictory. In order to dispel the possible doubts in this regard & also to establish a decisive & clear cut meaning of the Vedas, Sri Badarayana (Vedavyasa) has composed 564 Sootras, Topic wise. The definition of a Sootra: -

alpAxaraM asaMdigdhaM sAravat.h vishvatomukham.h |

astobhaM anavadyaM cha sUtraM sUtra vido viduH ||

A Sootra is more or less a short of concise technical sentence used as a memorial Rule. Here, these are known as Brahma Sootra. For example, they begin with these Sootras: -

1. OM OM athAtho brahmajignAsA Om

2. OM janmAdyasya yataH OM

3. OM shAstrayonitvAt.h OM

And end with

4. OM anAvR^ittiH shabdAt.h anAvR^itti shabdAt.h OM || 564 ||

The first & foremost requisite for an Acharya to establish his Vedanta is to produce a bhAShya (commentary) on all these 564 Sootras. Sri Sankara & Sri Ramanuja have done so. Sri Madhva, as explained above (in verse 8 to 12) has composed his Bhashya as guided by Lord Vedavyasa the very author Himself. The greatness of this Bhashya lies in the fact that Sri MAdhva convincingly proves (by extensively citing the acknowledged works of authority) that his Vedanta is the one only one- distilled as the pure essence from the vast range of Shruthi-s, Smriti-s, Puranas & the Epics. His Bhashya is in full conformity with the definition of a Bhashya

sUtrAtho varNayate yatra padaiH sUtrAnusAribhiH |

svapadAni cha varNyante bhAShyaM bhAShyabido viduH ||

A Bhashya is a commentary which explains Sootras word for word with comments on the technical words used in itself).

ACHARYA ROOPA AND HIS BHASHYA

In five beautiful verses of extraordinary construction (verses 8-12), the poet describes in Slesha, the Mahima of Sri Acharya- Roopa & in the same words the Mahima of his Bhashya as well. In addition to Slesha, these five shlokas are built in Kulaka with the verb placed in the last verse: à¤…à¤¤à¤¨à¥‹à¥¤à¤¤à¥ à¤¬à¥à¤°à¤¹à¥à¤® à¤¸à¥‚à¤¤à¥à¤° à¤—à¤£ à¤à¤¾à¤·à¥à¤¯à¤‚ à¤…à¤¤à¤¨à¥‹à¤¤à¥â€Œà¥¤ â€œatano.tâ€ (brahma sUtra gaNa bhAShyaM atanot.h).

The beauties in verse 8 are worth enjoying in original. à¤µà¥à¤¯à¤¸ à¤¦à¥‡à¤µ à¤¹à¥ƒà¤¦à¤¯ à¤…à¤¤à¤¿ à¤µà¤²à¥à¤²à¤à¤‚ à¤µà¤¾à¤¸à¥à¤¦à¥‡à¤µà¤‚ à¤…à¤—à¤£à¥‡à¤¯ à¤¸à¤¦à¥à¤—à¥à¤£à¤‚à¤¸à¤¾à¤§à¤¯à¤¤à¥â€Œ -- vyasa deva hR^idaya ati vallabhaM vAsudevaM agaNeya sadguNaMsAdhayat.h (Sri Madhvaâ€™s Bhashya is very dear to the hearts of Sri Vedavyasa because it speaks of the countless attributes of Vasudeva). Further, it is sakala doSha varjitaM (absolutely perfect & spotless) gives us jnAna, bhakthi & anantha saukhya. The same meaning can be applied to the personality of Sri

Madhvacharya as well (verse 8).

The verses 9 & 10 are oft quoted shlokas & they are given here: -

uktamuktaM abhidheya muttamaMveda vAkyaM anuvAdayan.h muhuH |

vyaMjayat.h smR^iti vachobhi raMjasA tasya chArthaM atiyukta yuktimat.h || 9 ||

bAlasa~Nghamapi bodhayat.h bhR^ishaM durnirUpa vachanaM cha paNDitaiH |

aprameya hR^idayaM prasAdavat.h saumya kAMti cha vipaxa bhIShaNam.h || 10 ||

The poet, in verse 11, points out that Sri Madhvaâ€™s Bhashya & his personality are worthy of reverence & respect even by the Devathas like Sri Rudra & Indra (nAki nAyakaiH) the Lords of swarga loka) verse 11. In addition to formulating a perfect system of philosophy, Sri Madhva in his Bhashya has exposed the serious defects inherent in other twenty one system of philosophies (verse 12). The twenty one earier Bhashyas referred to are mentioned in Bhavaprakashika as follows :

Bharathivijaya, Sacchidananda, Brahmaghosha, Shathananda, Udvartha, Vijaya, Rudrabhatta, Vamana, Yadavaprakasha, Ramanuja, Bharthruprapancha, Dravida, Brahmadattha, Bhaskara, Pishacha, Vrttikara,

Vijayabhatta, Vishnukrantha, Madhavadasa, and Sankara.

Regarding the different philosophies on earth, Sri Madhva says in his anuvyAkhyAna

anAdi kAlato vR^ittAH samayA hi pravAhataH |

na cha uchChedo.asti kasyApi samayasya ityato vibhuH ||

The philosophical systems are eternal (like the flow of the river) and there can be no total destruction for any of these systemsâ€. Because of the different tastes of the human minds according to the individual inner vasana & svabhava which none can control. By nature, some systems would be prominent at one time & others at another time.

At lower Badari, the chosen Sishya Sri Satya Theertha transcribed the whole work of Acharyaâ€™s Sootra Bhashya in great humility & enthusiasm. He did it with a great conviction that copying of even a single syllable of the sacred work would fetch the merit of founding a beautiful Vishnu- Temple on the banks of the holy Ganga (verse 13)

gA~Nga ma~Ngala tara~Nga bha~Ngada prAnta su shrihari veshma kR^itsamaH |

yadgataika tama varNa lekhakaH satyatIrtha iha bhAShymAlikhat.h || 13 ||

SRI MADHVA IN ANDHRA DESA

On completing his sacred Sootra Bhashya at lower Badari & getting it copied, Sri Acharya prostrated before the Lord & started with his retinue of disciples to return to the plains where he had to fulfill the Divine mission as ordained by Sri Narayana. In due course, he reached the banks of Godavari, a great center of learning in those days in Andhra Desa (verse 14).

tatra devaMabhivandya yAtavAn.h svAmino vachana gauravAd.h drutam.h |

sAnugo vividha bhUratItyago dAvarItaTaMagAdaleshadhIH || 14 ||

The annual meet of Pandits of high merits was in session when Sri Madhva arrived on the banks of Godavari. Here, a body of scholars well versed in the 18 Shakhas (branches) of the Sruti, met him to test his knowledge in the Vedic lore. The master of Vedas surprised them with his superhuman erudition. In the same place, he encountered the stalwarts of the six systems of philosophy viz., Bhatta, Prabhakara (Meemamsaka), Vaiseshika, Naiyayika, Bouddha & Charvaka & convincingly proved to them individually the fallacies inherent in each of the systems. In all humility, they admitted defeat & they proclaimed that Sri Madhva was Sarvagnya (all knower)verse 15,16.

The chief Pandit of the assembly, Shobhana Bhatta by name, was a great Vedic scholar & had mastered all the Shastras, Puranas & Mahabharatha & was well known as the crest jewel among Logicians. (à¤¤à¥à¤°à¤¯à¥€ à¤¸à¤•à¤² à¤ªà¤•à¥à¤· à¤¶à¤¿à¤•à¥à¤·à¤•à¤ƒ à¤µà¤°à¤¿à¤·à¥à¤ à¤¸à¤‚à¤®à¤¤à¤ƒ à¤µà¥‡à¤¦ à¤à¤¾à¤°à¤¤ à¤ªà¥à¤°à¤¾à¤£ à¤¨à¥à¤·à¥à¤ à¤¿à¤¤à¤ƒ à¤¤à¤¾à¤°à¥à¤•à¤¿à¤• à¤¶à¤¿à¤–à¤¾à¤®à¤£à¤¿à¤ƒà¥¥ trayI sakala paxa shixakaH, variShTha saMmataH, veda bhArata purANa nShThitaH, tArkika shikhAmaNiH || 17-18). He came to conquer Sri Madhva but at the end of the debate found himself conquered by the Acharya. The close reasoning and the thrilling Vedic exposition of the Acharya had such a telling effect on the great scholar, Shobhanna Bhatta that he prostrated before the Acharya in devotion & became his disciple. He studied the Acharyaâ€™s newly composed Sootra Bhashya & in his limitless joy, he went into raptures over the

excellence of the sacred work. He praised the Bhashya in many wonderful words that it is the only key to unlock the sacred work. He praised the Bhashya in many wonderful words that it is the only key to unlock the secrets of the Vedic lores hidden in the Brahma Sootras. From then on, he became the foremost exponent of Madhva Bhashya & engaged himself in debates in various Sabhas & convincingly established that Sri Madhvaâ€™s Bhashya was the only correct & unbiased commentary on the Sootras of Badarayana & that those who availed themselves of its merits were really the blessed ones (verses 18-20)

apamruthyu pariharisO anila dEva

krupaNa vatsalanE kAvara kANe ninnuLidu

sAdhanA shareeravidu nee dayadi kottaddu

sAdhAraNavalla sAdhupriyanE

vEdavAdOdita Sri Jagannatha viTalana

pAda bhakuthiya kottu mOdavanu kodu sathatha

- Sri Jagannatha Dasaru

bhAratIramaNa mukhyaprANAntargata shrI kR^iShNArpanamastu

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