User:Prabhanjanmutalik/sandbox

The extant works of the Dvaita founder-philosopher, Madhvacharya, called the Sarvamūla Granthas, are many in number. The works span a wide spectrum of topics concerning Dvaita philosophy in specific and Vedic thought in general. They are commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavadgita, Brahma Sutras and other works. The list of works are enumerated below.

Commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita
Madhva, of the view that the Gita is as much a part of the religious canon as Upanishads or the Vedas, has authored two commentaries on it. His first work, Gita Bhashya is expositional while the latter, Gita Tatparya, is polemical in nature. According to Madhva, the Gita contains the distillation of the ideas expressed in the Upanishads and the Pancharatra, hence a vital part of the Vedanta tradition. Gita Bhashya is preliminary commentary on the Gita is the earliest example of Madhva's style which is characterised by its terseness and brevity. He quotes from a variety of rare sources and scriptures and is not an exhaustive commentary on the Gita as it concentrates only on a few verses. Madhva establishes the importance of Karma Yoga or the path of duty, which had been previously relegated to a footnote in Advaita. According to Madhva's view, the ultimate knowledge or the Aparoksha Jnana can be attained through a combination of dispassionate discharge of one's duties (Karma Yoga), acquisition of scriptural knowledge (Jnana Yoga) and the unconditional devotion to the higher entity (Bhakti Yoga). Though, according to Madhva, Bhakti represents the final and ultimate step towards transcendence, Karma and Jnana aid in cleansing the consciousness of the spiritual aspirant. He also takes an approach, unique to his time, that the rituals prescribed in the Vedas for rewards are not to be taken literally. He views them as mere objects of attraction for the general population that would subsequently propel them towards deeper meaning underlying the superficial performance of rituals.

Gita Tatparya is a later work of his marks a stylistic transition from the previous work in that brevity and formality of his other works are replaced by poetry and elegance. To substantiate his views, he quotes from a diverse array of sources including a non-extant text called Brahmatarka, which has led to significant speculations among the scholars (both present and historical) about its authenticity and existence. Gita Tatparya amplifies the claims of the previous work as well as deals with the rival schools of thought, mainly that of Adi Sankara and Bhaskara. Madhva argues in favour of the reality of experiences (as opposed to the illusoriness of the world in Advaita) by basing the validity of a particular experience on the pramanas or "channels of knowledge acquisition". The pramanas Madhva accepts are pratyeksha (direct perception), anumana (inference) and shabda (testimony) with Sakshi (the internal witness) serving as the ultimate arbiter. Jayatirtha's Nyayadipika serves as a commentary to Gita Tatparya.

Commentaries on the Brahma Sutras
Brahma Sutra (referred to as Sutra in the article) of Badarayana is the bedrock of Vedanta literature. It has been subjected to diverse forms of interpretations from the various sub-schools under Vedanta, ranging from the earliest commentators such as Sankara and Bhaskara to later ones like Vallabha. Brahma Sutras seek to systematically explain the purport of Upanishads as a cogent whole. Madhva has authored a principal commentary on the Brahma Sutra along with accompanying appendices and summaries to flesh out his views further. The collective works of Madhva on the Brahma Sutra are called Sutra Prasthana. Brahma Sutra Bhashya stands in direct opposition to the interpretation of the Sutra by Sankara. Written in a plain and unpretentious style, the work is both expositional and polemical; they expand upon his views while simultaneously refuting views of the opposing schools of thought. Apart from Sankara, the commentaries of Ramanuja and Bhaskara on the Sutras are refuted. Tenets of Shiva Advaita are addressed as well. Due to the condensed nature of the text and on insistence of his disciple Trivikrama Pandita, a companion work to the original, called Anu Vyakhyana was written with the aim of explaining the intricacies in the doctrine. Running up to 1985 verses (to the 2000 verses of the original commentary), Anu Vyakhyana is considered to be Madhva's magnum opus. Anu Bhashya and Nyaya Vivarana are two additional works summarizing the contents of Brahma Sutra Bhashya.

The Sutra Prasthana as a collective refutes the certain principles of Advaita that are derived from their interpretation of the Brahmasutra. For example, Madhva contests the concept of identity of the Jiva with the Brahman by appealing to common sense. He asks how the limitations and misery of humankind compare to the infinite bliss and perfection of the Brahman. In doing so, he introduces his concept of Sakshi, a mechanism deeply embedded in every Jiva that validates reality. This Sakshi has the capacity to supersede all the pramanas (pratyeksha, anumana and shabda) including the Sruti texts. Madhva finds unhelpful the concept of Nirvisesa Brahman or the Brahman without attributes. Madhva says that even ascribing negative attributes such as adrushyatva (invisibility) serve as attributes and therefore Brahman can never be attribute-less. The Sutras also assign positive attributes to the Brahman rendering the concept of attribute-less Brahman invalid. Additionally, Madhva also attacks the concept of error and the falsity of the world. But these are dealt in detail in the 10 monographs called Dasha Prakarana.

Commentaries on the Upanishads
As a proponent of Vedanta, Madhva accepts Upanishads to be a valid source of knowledge or pramana falling under the category of sabda. Like Sankara and Ramanuja before him, he has authored commentaries on the principal Upanishads. In his commentaries, he interprets the ambiguous aphorisms of the Upanishads from a standpoint of theistic, pluralistic realism. The arguments are presented from a logical as well as linguistic standpoint, relying on etymology and grammatical reduction of phrases. Isha Upanishad Bhashya, according to Madhva, is a theistic document which claims that passivity in dispelling ignorance is worse than being ignorant. Through this he justifies his aggressive reaction against Advaita, which, according to him, spreads ignorance by doing away with a personal god. Madhva interestingly interprets Asmi and Aham in the phrase So Aham Asmi to be one of the esoteric names of God, which parallels Ahmi in the Avesta and the Old Testament. The parable of Brahman and the Devas in the Kena Upanishad is interpreted by Madhva as the supremacy of Brahman over the Devas in his Kena Upanishad Bhashya. Additionally, the agnostic quotes in the Upanishad are explained by Madhva as the expression of the inability of the human mind in comprehending the infinite grandeur of the Brahman. Though the human mind is limited, Madhva claims that it is possible to understand the Brahman based on his or her capacity. In his Katha Upanishad Bhasya, Madhva postulates that the theory underlying the Upanishad is the dependence of the soul, in both its waking and dream states, on the Brahman.

Polemical Monographs
The 10 short polemical works known as Dasha Prakarana cover different aspects of ontology, epistemology and metaphysics along with barbs directed at concepts of Advaita. Pramāna Laksana justifies Madhva's claim that Pratyeksha, Anumana and Sabda are the only valid channels of knowledge through which truth claims can be made. Aware of the Advaita criticisms of the Nyaya school of thought which accept the same three pramanas, Madhva resolves those conflicts through his interpretation. Katha Lakshana deals with the three standard forms of debate a person needs to adopt: Vada, Jalpa and Vitanda. In Upadhi Kahandana, the concept of upadhi or limitation that obscures the worldview of the Brahman leading to multiplicity and plurality is argued against. Madhva asks how the Brahman, which is infinite, omniscient and omnipotent, accrue limitations. If Brahman is the material cause of the universe, the limitations must result from the Brahman himself. This creates contradictions in the Advaita line of thought. Prapancha Mithyatva-Anumana Khandana refutes the Advaita concept of the world being both real and unreal.

In Mayavada Khandana, Madhva questions the validity of Advaita as a system of thought as it is based on a number of faulty premises. If the Brahman is self-revealing (svaprakasha) and does not require any pramanas to validate its existence (as it is beyond the pramanas), Madhva asks, why does Jiva perceive itself to be different from Brahman. Madhva further asks if the doctrines of Advaita as a means to gain identity with the Brahman even makes sense if the Brahman or the Jiva is self-revealing. The views of Sankara along with Sriharsha and Vimuktam are dealt with. Tattva Sankhyana, along with Tattva Viveka, is a work of ontology that expands upon the hierarchy of entities in the universe and their respective categories. According to Madhva, there are two categories of entities in the universe, animate and inanimate included, the dependent (para tantra) and the independent (sva tantra). Only the Brahman is independent and everything else including jiva (souls) and jada (matter) as well as primordial aspects (space, time etc) is dependent on the independent entity. In the polemical work titled Tattvoddyata, Madhva compares Advaita to Buddhism. Though he was not the first raise the issue (Bhaskara, Ramanuja and others had raised the issue before), he substantiated his claims by textual evidence. The Brahman without attributes or the Nirguna Brahman is compared to the concept of sunyata of Nagarjuna. Madhva further contends that the concept of Buddhist nirvana is similar to the sublation of the world and identity with the Brahman of Advaita. Moreover, the denial of the Karma Kanda sections of the Vedas as well as the dismissal of dualistic verses from the Upanishads makes Advaita even more suspect in Madhva's eyes. He further says that cherry picking certain verses from the scriptures to be true and dismissing others as untrue is hypocrisy.

Vishnu Tattva Vinirnaya contains arguments for the non-origin of the Vedas (apaurusheyatva), the plurality of the world, the gradation of souls existing even in the state of Moksha and the nature of the Brahman. He also introduces the concept of Visesha, an ontological principle that connects the subject to its attributes. Karma Nirnaya deals with the alignment of the Dvaita thought with the Vedas, especially the ritualistic aspect of the Vedas i.e. Karma Kanda. He argues that the rituals need to be performed to get closer towards Brahman and not for trivial gains as argued by Prabhakara and other Mimamsakas.

Works on Puranas
Madhva considered Puranas, especially Bhagavata Purana, to be one of the Agamas in contrast to Sankara and Ramanuja who ignored it. Bhagavata Tatparya Nirnaya is a commentary on certain verses from the source. He supports his remarks from a variety of sources ranging from Pancharatra Samhitas and non-extant works such as Brahma Tarka and Tantra Bhagavata. His commentary serves to unify the Purana in a theistic, pluralistic framework and toning down certain monistic elements in the text. In his commentary, he brings out the independence of the Brahman and the reliance of other entities such as Prakriti, Jivas, Akasha (space), Kala (time) etc on the will of the Brahman. Madhva places a deep importance on Mahabharata. Not limiting its scope to just an epic, he believes that the work contains esoteric truths which can be found in no other scriptures and deems it the fifth Veda. Madhva demonstrates the concept of gradation of souls or Taratamya, the supremacy of Krishna and the pivotal role played by Bhima by interpreting certain key verses.