Madhwa's Teachings. Shri Satyadhyana Teertha Swamiji - A genius of a rare kind.

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Madhwa’s Teachings.

Shri Satyadhyana Teertha Swamiji - A genius of a rare kind.

06-04-2010.

Dear Reader,

Last month, the Satyadhyana Vidyapeetha celebrated Shri. Satyadhyana Teertha Swamiji’s aaraadhana, for three days, from 20th to 22nd March. Special pooja was performed in the mornings and pundits paid rich tributes to the Swamiji in the evenings. The Vidyapeetha also held examination of the students. But the most remarkable thing about the aaraadhana was the lengthy lecture Vidwan Vidyasimhacharya gave on the Swamiji, for three days, during which period, he gave a detailed account of the truly extraordinary life of the Swamiji. The following are the salient points from the Vidwan’s lecture. 

Shri. Satyadhyana Teertha Swamiji became the Pontiff of the Uttaradi Mutt in 1912. His presence in the mutt, however, predated his priesthood. Pundit Seturamacharya, as he was known prior to his initiation into sanyasa, taught the senior students Dwaita philosophy, in the mutt. He was an extremely well-read person in the Hindu philosophy as a whole. On assuming the high-priesthood of the mutt, he shifted the mutt activities into fast mode. The next three decades of his pontificate witnessed hyper-activity in the mutt that gave a new direction to the Maadhwa movement in the country.

The long pathas to the students in the mutt to train the future pundits, the philosophical debates with various scholars of different schools of thought that included the all time great Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, writing of the books like the Sabhasar Sangraha, the Geeta Pratipadartha Chandrika, the Civil Suit, to name just a few works, the legal battles of the mutt he fought and won, and constant travelling and giving discourses to spread Maadhwa philosophy all over the country took the Uttaradi Mutt to far greater heights than ever imagined. He came to be known as Abhinav Anand Teertha (Shri Madhwacharya of modern times).

The Swamiji was a genius of a rare kind. Apart from intelligence of a very high order, he was born with many sublime qualities rarely found in one person. Respect for others, genuine appreciation for scholarship even of opponents, admiration for the virtuous, generosity, concern for disciples and the poor and above all love for one and all earned him the epithet -ase swamiji parat hone naahi (There shall not be another swamiji like him) in the Marathi speaking Maadhwa community.

 The Swamiji was the final word in Dwaita philosophy. He was one of its greatest proponents. Once, when asked, he propounded Dwaita philosophy exclusively on the basis of the Bhagawad Geeta. He was no less an authority on Adwaita philosophy.

 Shri.Denduru Lakshmi Narasimha Shastri, a Vidwan from a place near Guntur, was known as the highest authority of his time on Adwaita philosophy. Vidwan Gopalacharya for a while studied Adwaita philosophy under him at the instance of the Swamiji. Once he expressed his inability to answer the question asked by young Gopalacharya and said there was only one person who could give a satisfactory answer on the basis of Adwaita philosophy and that person was H.H.Shri Satyadhyana Teertha Swamiji, he said, with reverence. Shri. Anant Krishna Shastri, another great Adwaita scholar, who argued with the Swamiji on many occasions and with his disciple, Vidwan Gopalacharya later on, held the Swamiji in very high esteem. The respect that the Swamiji commanded from these great vidwans and other scholars was not merely for his scholarship but his genuine appreciation for their own erudition and the fatherly love towards them.

 The Swamiji highly appreciated those who trod the righteous path and gave them handsome dakshina, if they were found to be in need. He would insist on observing chaturmasya in famine hit areas so that poor people could get free food at least for a couple of months. He treated his disciples like his own children. He loved one and all and that universal love made him weep when one of his staunch critics for a long time died a premature death and that too a miserable one.

Coming from the eloquent speaker as it did from Vidwan Vidyasimhacharya, the life sketch of the Swamiji seemed like that of a character from fiction. The spell bound audience would have termed it as exaggeration if some of the very senior pundits in their late eighties and early nineties from the audience and who were a witness to the last couple of decades of the great era of the Swamiji had not vouched for the authenticity of the account.  

Shri Satyadhyana Teertha Swamiji left his mortal frame and attained Vishnupada in the year 1943; but his name has continued to figure in every patha in every Maadhwa school in the country till to-day. The Swamiji is gone, yet he is living amongst us. May his noble soul guide us from above in our endeavoure for spiritual advancement!

 With regards,

Ramachandra Tammannacharya Gutti.

9819550626.