Madhvacharya (579)

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Madhvacharya taught men to look upon the world of matter and souls as real instead of as illusory and unreal in a philosophical sense. He therefore put forward a fresh ontological classification of reality into two orders, Svatantra and Paratantra - independent and dependent. God alone is the one independent reality. Hence the name Dvaita (dualism) given to his system. Madhva freed the concept of Bhakti from the clutches of blind faith and placed it in its right perspective as informed faith in, and love of God, both based on a right understanding of his glory. He also rescued it from the pitfalls of sentimentalism, eroticism and other maladies. Madhva lived a robust life of 79 years. He was a prolific writer in Sanskrit prose and verse. He wrote thirty-nine works which are collectively known as Sarvamula. These include commentaries on Rig Veda, Upanishads, Gita, Brahmasutras, Mahabharata, Bhagawat and critical works on logic and metaphysics, rituals and sadachara (right conduct). He also wrote a number of devotional hymns. The Chaitanya Sampradaya of Bengal is deeply indebted to Madhva's philosophy in many respects. It includes in its guruparampara Madhva and his successors, Jayatirtha and Vyasatirtha. The followers of Madhva are found on Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra, Maharashtra, Goa and U.P. Madhva's system has made a massive contributionto Indian philosophy through the writings of great commentators such as Jayatirtha, Vyasatirtha, Raghuthama, Vadiraja and Raghavendra, to mention only a few. The Haridasas of Karnataka, owing allegiance to Madhva philosophy, such as Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa have made equally significant contributions to Kannada religious literature.