Madhavacarya’s contributions to re-establishing pure devotion

Transcript

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Yes, that was the answer. Thank you for your reply. Hare Krishna.
So on the sacred occasion of the appearance of Shri Madhavacharya, let us contemplate on his distinctive contributions to the re-establishment of dharma, of the pure sanatana dharma, of pure devotional service, that was taught ultimately by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago. So Shri Madhavacharya taught a philosophy that is known as Dwaitavada. So he brought the personal aspect of the absolute truth very unambiguously and very forcefully back into Vedic culture.
So we know that Shri Shankaracharya brought back Vedic culture through teaching impersonalism. Thereafter, Shri Ramanacharya brought in the personal aspect but not fully. He taught Vishishtadvaita.
So if you consider a pendulum, one extreme of the pendulum is impersonalism. Then Ramanacharya brought the pendulum towards middle position, that is Vishishtadvaita. And then Madhavacharya took the pendulum to the other extreme, where he talked about Dwaita.
And then Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu brought the pendulum to a steady state in the center, which is in his teachings of Achintya Bhedabhedra. The teachings of Achintya Bhedabhedra are very close to, among the various systems of philosophy, close to Ramanacharya’s Vishishtadvaita. So Madhavacharya’s contributions can be summarized in three main aspects.
One is his literary contributions. The second is the contributions through his personal example. And the third is through the through the tradition that he revitalized and systematized and to which we as his scorned devotees belong.
So Ramanacharya, Madhavacharya wrote many books. In fact, he wrote several, in fact, three commentaries on the Brahma Sutra. He wrote commentaries in the Upanishads.
He wrote a series of books, which thoroughly and systematically demolished the misconceptions of monism, of Mayavada, which is spread all over the country. And he, along with some of his followers like Vyasa Tirtha, they are considered to be among the greatest logicians, not just in Indian history, but even among the world’s greatest logicians. So they were not just great scriptural authorities, but they used logic to establish what is the ultimate conclusion of the scriptures.
So the Sampradaya, which is the Madhava Sampradaya is produced although numerically its followers may not be as many as that of the Sri Sampradaya or of the Shankara Sampradaya. Intellectually, the number of books that they have produced is phenomenal. Then apart from that, his personal example was that he was so forceful, yet so humble.
And he traveled all across the country and defeated some of the greatest scholars of his times and established the glory of the personal aspect of the absolute truth in a very unambiguous and as I said, forceful way. And he performed many miracles also. He could, he had so much strength.
After all, he was Hanuman. So he was so forceful that he could even beat away, with a single blow, he could beat away a tiger, would attack one of his disciples. The most important contribution for us is that he revitalized the teachings of Dwaitavada or the Madhava Sampradaya as we call it, that is existing before him also.
But he, those teachings were there, scattered here and there, but he systematized those teachings and he revitalized them. And he was so strong and forceful in establishing the personal aspect of the absolute truth that that was what pleased Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And he could have taken initiation in any Sampradaya, but he took initiation in Madhava Sampradaya.
Why? Because he appreciated, as we know in the conversation which he had with the Madhava sannyasi, the Rudupi, he says that, you, you establish the personal aspect of the absolute truth. And his example of unambiguously and unflinchingly establishing the absolute truth is what we see also demonstrated in Prabhupada’s teachings. And he has brought back devotion into its pure aspect, pure in terms of conceptual understanding, back within the intellectual and the cultural mainstream within India.
And that is what Shri Prabhupada has done all over the world. So when we contemplate on the lives of the great acharyas, we understand that there is a legacy of rescue that has been going on for centuries, not just centuries, millennia. And it is that legacy that has rescued us through its current day representatives.
We can pray for the strength to stay rescued and to extend this legacy forward and help others to become rescued from ignorance and misconceptions and attain the path of pure devotion to the Supreme Lord. Shri Madhavacharya Ki Jaya. Thank you.
Great. It is a little technical. But I think I should have, what I should have done, I should have taken only one and focused.
But anyway, it is fine. No, we can do another two tomorrow. You can maybe more in college.
No, but how will you do it then? We will put three on Madhavacharya. No, no, what I did, I took the three things, the tradition, the books and the example. I felt I should have taken only one.
So that I could have spoken on that elaborately because I felt it became a little rushed I couldn’t elaborate what we can do bro it is not necessary it has to be five minutes I mean if you feel that necessary we can make it 10-12 minutes so you prepare or we can do it today night or morning let me think about it and it’s okay because this is 14th only not much date is there. Durga Pooja also will do, I’ll speak something