[Advaita-l] Sri Vidya prabhuji's introduction of Acharya dvaya

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms

Hare Krishna

Here below Sri Vidya prabhuji's introduction of Sri Appayya Deekshitar and Sri Madhusudana saraswati from Advaita-L web page.  My heartfelt praNAms to Sri ‘X’ prabhuji who copy and pasted this directly from Advaita page on my request.  I am just forwarding as it is received :

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In the 16th-17th centuries, a number of south Indian householder scholars, surnamed dIkshita, rose to prominence in the advaita tradition. The name dIkshita is used only for those who have performed certain Vedic sacrifices. Chief among them was appayya dIkshita, whose most famous work was the siddhAntaleSasangraha. [14<http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/biblio2.html#app>] He also wrote the parimala on amalAnanda's kalpataru, thus representing the bhAmatI sub-school. However, appayya dIkshita points out that the differences between the vivaraNa and bhAmatI schools are not because of philosophical disagreement on fundamental principles, but a result of differing technique and the emphasis on different issues, such as epistemology in one and ontology in the other. Like vAcaspati miSra, appayya dIkshita has also written many texts on nyAya-vaiSeshika, pUrva mImAm.sA and other schools. He also wrote the madhva-tantra-mukha-mardanam, attacking the dvaita school, and an autocommentary to it, called vidhvamsana. Many descendents of appayya dIkshita were great scholars and authors in various fields of traditional learning well into recent times, including tyAgarAja makhin of the 19th century. Popularly known as Raju Sastrigal, this scholar wrote the sadvidyAvilAsa on the famous uddAlaka-Svetaketu dialogue of the chAndogya upanishad. swAmI SivAnanda, who founded the Divine Life Society, was another descendent of appayya dIkshita.

Tradition records that appayya was initially a follower of the SivAdvaita school of the 13th century teacher, SrIkaNTha. appayya wrote the SivArkamaNidIpikA on SrIkaNTha's brahmasUtrabhAshya. In the SivAdvaitanirNaya and the Sivatattvaviveka, appayya dIkshita tries to accommodate SrIkaNTha's thought within Sankaran advaita vedAnta. He represents the close connections between Saivas and the followers of SankarAcArya during this period in southern India. narasimha bhAratI, who was an AcArya in the Sringeri<http://www.erols.com/ramakris/sringeri/sringeri.html> line, and a contemporary of appayya dIkshita, wrote a commentary to the SivagItA. An earlier example of this synthesis is mallanArAdhya, who wrote the advaitaratna, to which nRsimhASrama wrote a commentary called tattvadIpana. mallanArAdhya's name indicates that he belonged to the ArAdhya group of brAhmaNas, who greatly respected the vIraSaiva leader basavaNNa, but unlike the vIraSaivas, did not reject the authority of the vedas. A great motivating factor for this was surely the fact that south Indian vaishNava religion had given birth to two schools of vedAnta, namely the viSishTAdvaita of rAmAnuja and the dvaita of AnandatIrtha. Meanwhile, advaitins and Saivas found common cause in various social, religious and political issues, which is reflected in appayya's works. This understanding must have been helped by the religious customs of most traditional advaitins. For example, a Sivalinga is consecrated at the site where a sannyAsin of the advaita order is buried, and advaitins themselves worship Siva and vishNu as equally valid forms of saguNa brahman. However, appayya dIkshita was no narrow sectarian. He is known to have composed a commentary on the yAdavAbhyudaya, a work of vedAnta deSika, a vaishNava leader. The inclusivistic and non-sectarian nature of the followers of Sankara is also seen from other customs and texts dating from this period.

madhusUdana sarasvatI, disciple of viSveSvara sarasvatI and mAdhava sarasvatI, is the most celebrated name in the annals of the great dvaita-advaita debate. He also flourished in the 16th century. His advaitasiddhi [15<http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/biblio2.html#mad>] is a classic work, and most advaita teachers maintain that all the logical issues raised by the dvaita school of AnandatIrtha have been more than sufficiently answered by madhusUdana. His gUDhArthadIpikA on the bhagavadgItA is another well-known treatise. In addition, he wrote the ISvarapratipatti-prakASa, vedAntakalpalatikA, sArasangraha on sarvajnAtman's samkshepa-SArIraka, and the justly famous siddhAntabindu on SankarAcArya's daSaSlokI. madhusUdana sarasvatI was a great devotee of Lord kRshNa. Just like appayya dIkshita, who integrated SivAdvaita into advaita vedAnta, madhusUdana bridged the sAtvata school of pAncarAtra vaishNavism and advaita vedAnta philosophy. It is also interesting to note that madhusUdana boldly differs from Sankara in some of his interpretations of the brahmasUtras and the gItA, although he salutes Sankara and sureSvara in the most reverential terms.

madhusUdana sarasvatI is popularly reported to have been a contemporary of the Mughal emperor Akbar. It is said that on Akbar's suggestion, madhusUdana initiated large numbers of sannyAsins from kshatriya and vaiSya communities to the daSanAmI orders, in order to form a group of martially trained ascetics to protect the people. This most probably reflects historical fact. Armed nAga sannyAsin warriors, tracing their origins to madhusUdana sarasvatI, and affiliated with the daSanAmI akhADas, were a component of almost every Rajput army in northern India, till fairly recent times. Tradition also recounts that viTThaleSa, the son of vallabhAcArya of the SuddhAdvaita pushTimArga school, studied under madhusUdana sarasvatI, who thus forms a crucial link between advaita vedAnta and many vaishNava sects in the north.

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From the above it is interesting to note that Sri Appayya Deekshitar belong to bhAmati school though shivaadvaita follower he has written commentary on vishishtAdvaita work also !!

And with regard to Sri MS, I apologize that I have included Upanishads also when Sri Vidya prabhuji says MS differs only from geeta and sUtra.  And it is also worth pondering with regard to Sri Vidya’s another observation from the above write up :

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Just like appayya dIkshita, who integrated SivAdvaita into advaita vedAnta, madhusUdana bridged the sAtvata school of pAncarAtra vaishNavism and advaita vedAnta philosophy.

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Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

Bhaskar

CC :  I am directly cc’ing this mail to Sri Vidya prabhuji, if he is not following list discussion.