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Saba Sara Sangraha of Sri Sri 1008 Sri Sathyadhyana Swamiji, Pontiff of Uttaradhi Mutt - Part 5

English Translation by G Rajesh

Session II

[Questions asked by H Subba Rao, M.A., Maharaj College, English tutor; 20-06-1930]

Q.) Swamiji! Some people in this world trust that perception is the only source of knowledge and lead the life very happily. What is your opinion?

A.) This is called Charvaka matha or philosophy (Charu = attractive; vak = words). We have explain this philsophy from the beginning.

(Charvaka matha has been criticised in the Brahma sutra om abyugamepi arthaabavaath om (2-2-6) by Sri Vedavyasa. There are no use by accepting only perception as the source of knowledge. The usefulness of preaching the philosophy is to obtain more happiness then what we possess. It should also help to get release from the sorrow and to develop Bakthi in God. What is the use if it doesn't say how to do dharma and to avoid adharma. What is the use of this life if there is no development and to lead the life as the mind goes. If only pecepetion is true then it means we are ignoring ourself. Therefore we have discard this philosophy.)

Charvaka says Perception i.e. eyes and other sense organs for knowledge (jyanendriya) are true and fit for standards of judgement. It's like vyahatha bhashi as in the statement - "me matha vandhya" - "my mother is sterline woman". (hatha = kill; vyahata = wrong statement; the unreality of the statement is contained in the statement itself - a self destroying statement; vyahata bhasi - a person who makes self destroying statement) If charvaka says only perception is valid then if a teacher is teaching to a student how will the teacher knows that the student understood the subject of not and had obtained the knowledge or not. As the knowledge is beyond the perception, sense organs for knowledge (jyanendriya) cannot know that. Teacher can make a guess (infer) by seeing the facial expression (gesticulations) of the student and can decide whether the student understood the subject or not. Therefore charvaka in his activities accepts the inference and tells that only perception is valid. Doesn't he self contradicting his statement (vyahata bhashi)?

Also charvaka must accept the validity of the text. There are three parts in the word Pramaana - pra (upasarga); ma (dhathu); lyut (prathyaya). Pra = In the original state (without altering); Ma = knowledge; Ana = will create; The meaning of the word Pramaana is the one which will give true knowledge as it is without any change. Consider the statement "Text cannot be Pramaana". Let us put this statement to Charvaka and ask whether he obtained any knowledge or not. If he says no then his statement "text cannot be valid source of knowledge" is false. If he says yes then we can understand that he accepts text as a valid source of knowledge.

(Let us see another example. On Sunday, if you say "Today is not Sunday" to Charvaka, he will say no. He is having the knowledge that today is Sunday. He got this knowledge from the Calendar. It means that he accepts that text is also valid source of knowledge).

Keeping these points in mind, Charvaka has to accept that Perception, Inference and Authentic text, all these three are valid source of knowledge.

In the service of Sri Hari
G Rajesh

Life and History of Sri Madhwacharya - Part 5

By Late M Rama Rao, Kumbakonam

Then he went on a South Indian tour with the two-fold purpose of piligramage and propagation of his interpretations of the Sastras. He visited Vishnumangala (Kasargod TK) where after a sumptous feast Sri Madhva swallowed 200 plantain fruits and yet his belly didn't budge out. Asked by his Guru about it he said his stomachic fire was so powerful that it could burn the whole universe too M.V. 10 51, 52. He ate a thousand bananas at Isupata and at Goa 4000 big-sized ones and drank 30 pots of milk. Then he visited Trivandrum, Cape Comorit and Rameswaram. Here at ascetic of the Sankara Mutt disputed with Sri Madhva and tried to belittle him, but in vain. After performing Caturmasya a Dhanuskoti he visited Srirangam he reached a temple on the banks of the river Payasvini in Kerala. Wherever he went, he attracted hosts of pandits and worsted them in debates on any subject in any branch of knowledge. Here too, the head of the Vidvatsadas wanted Sri Madhva to expound a particular portion of Aitareyasukta. While appreciating his telling delivary, they differed in the meaning of a certain word. Sri Madhva quoted from the Skanda Purana and added that all the Vedas have three meanings, the whole of Mahabharata,-ten meanings, but each word of the Vishnusahasranama therein, a hundred meanings.

Thereupon they asked him to give out the hundred meanings of the first word VISVAM of the Vishnusahasranama, in the fond hope of his utter failure. Yet Sri Madhva agreed to do so on the condition that they should reproduce all of them. They agreeing, he began to give out one meaning after another, with the aid of grammer, explaining the crude form of the root, its various meanings, the case-terminations, affixes, suffixes, and so on The learned Pandits strained every nerve of theirs to retain them one by one in their memory but, alas! their small brain coud not hold all of them, even as the wells could not hold the waters of the deluge. Begging his pardon and wondering at his omniscience, they all fell his feet. This was the same case in two other assemblies of pandits in Kerala.

The fame of Sri Madhva spread far and wide and he returned to Udupi after his successful South Indian tour. He felt that it was his bounden duty to prove the untenability of the 21 systems of philosophy and establish the real system of Realism, Dualism cum Pluralism and Theism. For this purpose, he had to meet Sri Vyasa at Upper Badari. One should not go empty-handed to meet a King, God, guru and others.A token of knowledge was a fitting gift to God, who has manifested knowledge in the avatars of Sri Vyasa, Dattatreya, Kapila, and so on. So he wrote his first Bhasya or commentary on the Gita. Giving a copy of the same to hsi senior Yati, together with his Guru, and craving his Guru's permission for his tour on a divine mission, he set out on his North Indian tour, with a larger retinue and reached the lower Badari, the resort of nowadays.

Prostrating before the idol of Lord Sri Narayana and dedicating to it his Gita Bhasya, Sri Madhva read it out at night after his disciples went to bed. At the end of the reading, the God in the idol suggested a silitary correction in the opening verse. It was the use of the word lesatah-slightly, in the place of saktitah according to my capacity. Sri Madhva had the capacity to tell all the meanings of the Gita but he had not told them all in that Bhasya and hence this correction. He also directed Sri Madhva to teach that bhasya to his disciples. Thus Sri Madhva's interpretation of the Gita elicited the warm approval of Lord Sri Narayana.

For meeting Sri Vyasa, he stayed at Anata Mutt for 48 days, daily bathing before dawnin the icy waters of the Alakananda and observing the vow of strict silence and continuous fast. Pleased with his earnestness, Sri Vyasa appeared before him in all his radiance and invited him to his asrama. Next morning, leaving to his disciples the following message in writing, as he was observing the vow of silence, he set off for the Uppar Badari.

"There is no other spot like this (Badari) in destroying sins; no other God similar to Vishnu and no other beneficial preaching like ours (Gita Bhasya). This person is now proceeding to have the darsan of Sri Vyasa and the latter alone knows whether this person will return or not May you all fare well !"

Though all the disciples were sorr for parting with their Guru, it was too much for Satyatirtha, who had thrice studied the Aitareya Upanishad, under Sri Madhva and he followed him. But even at sunset, he could not catch him, aho was jumping at top-speed from rock to rock, like Hanuman and Bhima. Poor Satyatirtha was stranted and at this juncture, Sri Madhava turned back and waved his hand. That waving of the hand enabled him to retrace in a muhurta or 48 minutes, the wholr distance travelled till sunset and reach Ananta Mutt. describing to his comrades, the efficacy of the Guru's blessing unto him and his adventurous onward march, he lived with them, yearning for his return.

Canto VII gives a beautiful word-picture of teh Upper Badari, its environment, the divine personality of Sri Vyasa, the foliage of the jujube trees, the brilliant assembly of sages around him, the thrill experienced by Sri Madhva, while approaching the holy precints of Sri Vyasa, nearer and nearer, the memorable meeting of Lord Sri Hari and Sri Vayu and the wonder of the on-looking sages. In fine, it was a Vaikunta in miniature. All these touch the very heart of a pious reader. Sri Vyasa introduced Sri Madhva to the Sages, who were very glad to have such a distinguished guest in their midst and paid him due respects.

There, in a secluded place,Sri Madhva courted Sri Vyasa as his Guru and prayed for his initiation into the esoteric treasures, hidden in the Vedas, Itihasas, Puranas, Sutras,Pancharatras and others. Sri Vyasa too taught them all to him, though Sri Madhva, as a member of the Rju group, knew them already. Then Sri Madhva, under the guidance of Sri Vyasa, went to pay his homage to Lore Sri Narayana, who was an avatar of Vishnu, as the son of Yama and Murti and doing penance in another ashrama there, setting an example to others. Recalling to his memory about 25 avataras of Sri Vishnu and their glories, he prostrated at the lotus-like feet of Lord Sri Narayana and was warmly received by him. Here, the set of three persons shone like the three Vedas in imparting knowledge, like the three fires in destroying sins and like the three words in supporting everything.

Lord Sri Narayana told Sri Madhva as follows:-

"Listen to the divine mission, for which, you have come down on earth, and which will be pleasing to Sri Vyasa. Several others have come down on earth, and which will be pleasing to Sri Vyasa. Several others have commented upon Sri Vyasa's Brahmasutras, according to their whims and fancies without understanding the heart of the matter. They have done the same to the Upanishads, smritis and other connected literature also. So you will hasten from here and write a bhasya on the sutras linking the srutis, smritis and so on, to Sri Vyasa's established views, which you know full well."

Sri Madhva submitted that he could not find any other happiness similar to the nectar of service to them both, there itself. He added that there was none on earth, qualified for the study of that superb work in this Kali age, which is bereft of knowledge, devotion and detachment.

Lord Sri Narayana said, "Oh charming one! Qualified persons like gems do exist but they are scattered all over the country. You will gather them and purify them." Now Sri Madhva agreed and accepted the command of both, with his head bowed and hands folded. He took leave of Lord Sri Narayana and repaired to Upper Badari, with Sri Vyasa. After studying all to be studied under him, he bowed to him and returned to the lower Badari.

The joy of his disciples knew no bounds. Sri Madhva began to compose the Sutrabhasya and Sri Satyatirtha transcribed it. An advance copy of the same was sent to the senior ascetic at Udupi.

The glories of the work are described in five fine verses. Sri Madhva is dear to the heart of Sri Vyasa, he described God as an embodiment of countless virtues, he is devoid of all defects, and he gives us knowledge, devotion, detachment and eternal bliss. His work Sutrabhasya also, is endowed with all the above virtues of his and as such, it is an exact and blessed counterpart of Sri Madhva. It is at once easily understandable even to the beginners and unfathomable even to the learned scholars. The copying of a single syllable of this holy work ensures the merit of constructing a Visnu temple on the auspicious banks of the sacred Ganges. It proves the untenability of the 21 bhasyas of the previous commentators and reflects the actual views of the author, Sri Vyasa.

Sri Madhva bowed to the idol of Lord Sri Narayana and left for Udupi, with his retinue. On the way he reached the banks of the river Godhavari, where a group of Pandits, well-versed in the 18 branches of the Vedic lore, accosted him jointly and severally. He not only rectified the text of their suktas but explained their meanings also. He condemned in addition, the six systems of thought, viz. Bhatta, Prabhakara, Vaisesika and Naiyayika, Bauddha and Carvaka.

The Head of the group, know as Sobhana Bhatta, a versatile genius, was impressed with the all-round proficiency of Sri Madhva, fell at his feet and listened to his exposition of the Sutrabhasya. He went into raptures over the excellence of the work and became a propagandist for broadcasting in every assembly, the super-eminence of Sri Madhvabhasya over all others. He had the gift of fine speech and gave an excellent illustration to prove the three-fold classification of souls.

The owner of a lime-kiln luckily got along with the load of lime-stones a valamuri conch, which is curved on the right side unlike the ordinary conches which are curved to the left. He did not know its divine powers of conferring on its worshipper fabulous wealth and other facilities. As it could not be baked into lime, he threw it away. A passer-by who knew its value, picked it up and sold it to a king for an enormous sum. The King worshipped it daily with great devotion and thereby became the King of Kings and his kingdom flowed with milk and honey. Similarly one who luckily gets Sri Madhva's all yielding sastra but throws it away without studying it, is like the owner of the lime-kiln. He, who knows its glory but does not take the full advantage of it, is like the passer-by. The person like the King is very rare and the four faced Brahma alone can be placed on a par with him. The Goddes of Fortune smiles on one, only to the extent one deserves. This illustrious Sobhana Bhatta later became Sri Padmanabha Tirtha, the first direct disciple of Sri Madhva and his next sucessor to the pontifical throne. He is believed to be an avatar of Sesa and without his grace one cannot tread on the path of virtue (15-120 to 126 also).

Sri Madhva, thus preaching his bhasya on the way , reached Udupi at last, bringing joy to his Sanyasa Guru, Achutapreksha and the senior ascetic of the Likuca family. He found that Sri Achutapreksha's leaning towards Monism was deep-rooted due to the influence of Kali, and with repeated efforts and long discussions, he succeded in removing his misconceptions. Reformation came upon him like an angel and he was in ecstatic delight, when the true import of the Sutrabhasya flashed on him. Sri Madhva revived the traditional branding of his disciples with the disc and conch (Mudhradharana) which is essential for a votary of Vishnu and calculated to destroy sins and help spiritual spirit.

Once he had a pre-sentiment that the lovely idol of Sri Balakrishna, holding the churning rod in hand and the churning rope in the other, which was specially made for Sri Rukmini was in a ship bound for Udupi. He was on the beach of Malpe composing Dwadasha stotra. He sighted a ship in distress and saved it by the waving of his hand (Paani leelaya patva). He got from the grateful Captain a big clod of Gopichandana as a gift and ordered it to be carried to the Mutt. On the way it broke in twain and disclosed the beautiful idol. Sri Madhva installed it as a remedy for the ills of the good people, which stood in their way of obtaining salvation and for bringing into practice the rituals of temple worship.

Now Sri Madhva felt an urge to dedicate at the lotus feet of Sri Vyasa, the work so far done by him and started on a second tour to Badari. The incidence and adventures, which are enumerated in Sarga 10, on his way to Badari and back, serve as glimpses of his super human powers and divine nature.

In the service of Sri Hari
M Rama Rao

(Source: Dharmaprakash Journal, Chennai)