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1.Bhagavadgita Bhashya
In this Bhashya Srimadacharya has not commented on each sloka of the Gita, but has given explanation to about 300 slokas, starting with the 11th sloka of ch.2 .Greatness of Srimadacharya's commentaries is that he hardly makes a statement which he does not support with quotations.
2.Gita Tatparya
Gita Tatparya may be said to be supplementary to the Bhashya. As standalone work it can give us the true importance of the Gita. It contains the main message of the gita that Narayana whose greatness is intended to be extolled in this work is full of auspicious qualities and has no flaw . All other principles stated herein are subservient to this knowledge of the supreme Lord.
In this work Srimadacharya gives us the view from which one has to study the Bhagavadgita
This means that the Lord tells Arjuna,who is a Jnani being the avatara of Indra,but whose knowledge is temporarily blurred ,by his attachment to his relatives,that his dharma as a Kshatriya is to fight against all those opposed to the Lord and those supporting them ,as everything on this universe is under His control.The Gitatatparya gives additional explanations to the points already given in the Bhashya and also gives some new explanations.
3.Sutra prasthana (Brahma sutras.)
The Brahmasutras were composed by Sri Vedavyasa,an incarnation of the Lord Vishnu. They are short sentences or phrases which convey a specific meaning in terms of philosophical thought. It is said that these sutras form the basis for interpreting the Vedas. It is considered that a person who independently gives the interpretation of these sutras,the Bhagavadgita and upanishads has established his own school of philosophical thought .
The sutras are 564 in number. They are classified into four chapters(adhyayas) and each chapter has four sections (padas). The four chapters are named as :Samanvaya adhyaya,avirodha adhyaya,sadhana adhyaya, and phala adhyaya.
Brahmasutra Bhashya.
This work of Srimadacharya gives detailed interpretation of each 'sutra' and establishes the main tenets of his philosophy. These are:
1. Sriman Narayana is the Lord of the universe, and the creation, destruction, control are according to his wish. He is the one called Brahma in the vedas and He is full of knowledge,bliss, and power(strength).
2.All living beings are different from Him and from each other and are subordinate to Him,all their actions are controlled by Him.
3.All inanimate objects are different from Him and from each other and from all living objects.
4. The final emancipation called mokhsha for the beings who are bound to the problems of 'samsara' can be attained by intense devotion to the Lord with the true knowledge of HIM.
Srimadacharya has established these and other principles related to the same with reference to the sutras.
According to the bhashya of Srimadacharya,the summary of each of the chapters of the Brahma sutras is as follows:
Samanvaya adhyaya-- This chapter explains that Sri Narayana is ParaBrahma and all names(names of the devatas etc.), all words,and even all sounds are primarily qualifying the Lord and so apply to Him and only secondarily to the persons or objects they indicate.HE is the controller of all functions in the universe.
Avirodha adhyaya- In this chapter Srimadacharya has shown that according to the Sutras there is no statement which contradicts the supremacy and the qualities of the Lord defined in the first chapter; and wherever any statement appears to contradict the same,it should be reconciled with this main principle by considering the statements prior to it and those following it (these are in philosophic parlance called upakrama and upasamhara). This chapter also deals with the errors in the interpretations given by others to the Brahmasutras.
Sadhana adhyaya-- The third chapter deals with the fact that the Lord will be pleased with us only by devotion to Him with the knowledge about Him as given in 1 above. Srimadacharya has defined 'bhakti' as devotion with right knowledge,and complete attachment to Him.
Phala Adhyaya-- This chapter gives the result of such 'sadhana', namely freedom from the bondage of this world where we face a lot of misery and attainment of 'moksha' where there is always happiness. The gradation of souls,commonly known as 'taratamya',is also dealt with here.
anuvyAkhAna
THe 'anuvyAkhAna' is a work written by Srimadacharya,in response to the request by his beloved disciple,Trivikramapanditacharya. It is said that the Acharya dictated the four chapters of this work simultaneously to four of his disciples.This work contains further explanation of the Bhashya for many 'sutras'. The implied meanings of several sutras would have been not clear or obscure, but for this work. While the language of the Bhashya is terse, this work is in simple style. In spite of it, it is necessary to study this work with its well-known commentary by Jayatirtha, 'SrimanNyayasudha' to understand it .
ch.1: samanvayadhyaya- The discussion of the first sutra 'aum athato brahma jignasa aum' - the question why ,when and where the study regarding 'brahma' should be undertaken itself has been dealt with in detail and the fallacy in the approach to the subject by other thinkers earlier to him has been brought out. Then,the fact that Narayana alone is referred to by the term 'brahma' and that He is represented by the letter 'aum'(having in it eight syllables) ,denoting the 'gunaparipurnhen thatva', 'nirdoshatva' and other qualities of 'brahman' has been established. Acharya hasexlpained further that 'Narayana' can be understood by 'Agamas' alone and not by any logic. However,the statements of the Rishis and others like Dhruva,supports the Greatness of the Lord.
Ch2: avirodha adhyaya- It is in this chapter, that Srimadacharya has dealt with in detail all the systems of philosophy that had been in vouge at that time and showed that each of them were inconsistant with what is stated in the Vedas, brahmasutras,Bhagavadgita, and all authoritative shastraic works like the Bhagavatha.. He has also concluded in this chapter that there is hardly any difference between the Bouddha shastra and the Advaita except in the use of terms.
Ch3: sadhana adhyaya- It is in this chapter Srimadacharya has stressed that bhakti combined with jnana and vairagya is the only path for attainment of Moksha. In fact Srimadacharya has said that one should first practice 'Vairagya' which leads to 'bhakti' which in turn leads to the desire for 'jnana'; once the path is laid the two,,jnana and bhakti go hand-in-hand to lead us in the path of attaining His grace, which alone can grant us the ultimate goal of reaching His abode.
Ch4: phala adhyaya- In this chapter the concept of Moksha as in other
systems like Jaina,Bouddha etc. is discussed and the futility of their
concept of Moksha or liberation is established. The incongruency of the
concept of moksha in the Ramanuja system is also established. Finally the concept of Moksha as the one giving the Jiva ( a sattvic jiva) his intrinsic 'ananda' has been detailed,at the same time giving in detail the 'taratamya' amongst the gods in Moksha ,and as a corrollary the 'taratamya' among all jivas is established.
A word regarding the famous commentary of Sri Jayatirtha, known as 'Sriman Nyayasudha' is a must in this context. But for this commentary, many details implied in the 'anuvyAkhyAna' would have been lost. The well known work Parimala' by Raghavendra is his notes on this work. In this work Sri Gururaja says that he is able to read many many meanings into the 'nyAyasudha' but he has not given them all for fear of making the work very large. If this is the greatness of the commentary, the greatness of the original is anybody's guess.
anUbhAshya
The name of this work itself indicates that it is a summary of the
Bhashya. It is said that the ashramaguru of Srimadacharya,Sri Achyutapreksha ,was recitng the Bhramasutrabhashya daily before taking food. When Sri Madhvacharya found that it was difficult for his guru to do so on Dvadasi days,he composed this work called anUbhAshya to fecilitate him. This work is in simple style and in only about 35 stanzas,the AchArya has provided the gist of the Bhashya. There is a saying 'sankshEpa vistarAbhyAm pravadanti manIshina:h'- great people say things 'in short' or 'in detail' as needed. Sri Raghavendra swamigalu has shown in his detailed commentary on this work that the Bhashya on all the 564 sutras has been covered in this work.
Reciting this work daily gives one the same spiritual results as reciting the Brhamasutra Bhashya.
nyAyavivarana
This work also gives a summary of the Brahmasutra Bhashya ,also incorporating the points made out in anUvyakhyana. It highlights many of the arguments used in the Bhahsya . To understand this work we have to take recourse to the vyakhyana by Sri Jayatirthamuni.
With this we have covered the 'sUtra prasthAna'.
DasaprakaranAs
As the name indicates we have ten works in this group. Of these four are taken as a sub-group titled 'TattvagranthAs'. We will now have a glimpse of them.
tattvasankhyAna
The word 'Tattva' is defined by Sri Jayatirtha as 'Tattvam anaropitam'-
Facts that are uncontaminated are 'Tattva'; In other words it is truth based on facts supported by 'Pramanas'. We shall know about 'Pramanas' In 'Pramana Lakshana'.. For the present we can say it means 'authenticated facts' ,which is called as 'yatArthajnAna'. IN this short work ,Srimadacharya has given a complete knowledge about the whole universe. It classifies the universe as two entities,the independent,that is the Lord Himself and the dependent being all other entities;this is further classified into Laxmi,who is 'Nityamukta' oralways in Mukti,and others. This is further divided as Jiva 'and' jada'etc.The eternity of 'akasha','Kala'(time and space) are also discussed.It is a fascinating break up of the whole creation laid bare before us by a masterly hand. From this classification can be derived the main principles of philosophy,namely:
God is the supreme being controlling all the entities(animate and inanimate); there is the five fold difference among these entities.The living beings are having the three qualities ,sattva,rajas and tamas etc.There is an interesting point stated by Sri Jayatirtha in his commentary on this work. This work does not have an invocatory verse( mangalacharane) and an objection is made by some regarding it. Sri Jayatirtha gives two explanations; 1.The first word swatantra in the first sloka denotes Vishnu,who is the only one who is Swatantra all others beings being paratantra and so a separate mangala sloka is not required. Our Guru, Srimadacharya is always doing Harismarana and so He may not write a mangalasloka to his work.
There is a very fine translation with explanations of this work in kannada by Sri Sri Vidyamanya tirtharu (swamiji of Phalimaru mutt).
This work deals with the same subject as 'Tattvasankhyana', but is based on a work by the same name(Tattvaviveka) by Sri Vedavyasa(the Lord himself). There are some small differences between these two works. Sri Jayatirtha has shown in his commentary how these apparent differences are to be reconciled,and do not affect the substance of the work.
This one of the major works of Srimadacharya, both in volume and content.. The circumstances of the writing of this work is like this. After listening to the Brahmasutra Bhashya , many good thinking persons became his shishyas and his popularity rose tremendously which could not be tolerated by others,particularly by some advaitic scholars of the day. So,one of their leaders challenged the Acharya for a debate. When the debate was arranged this scholar could not start his arguments(poorvapaksha) at all. He sat in the 'sabha' spell bound and mute. Then, Srimadacharya,started the debate providing both the opening arguments(poorvapaksha) and the replies(siddhanta) and before the debate was complete this way, the scholar and his group ran away from the scene.
This work strikes at the root of all the philosophic thought in 'advaita'. The logic based on 'appearacnce of silver in the shell' is discussed threadbare and it is proved that this anology cannot substantiate that the world is 'unreal'. The concept of an 'akhanda brahma' and his manifestation as this world due to 'avidya' is also falsified. The 'siddhanta' according to the 'Tattvavada' of Sri Madhvacharya is placed on a sound footing with "paramata khandana' and 'svamata sthapana' in this work.The logical arguments in this work are highly sophisticated and without the teaching from a proper guru,with the commentary of Sri Jayatirtha and the notes of Sri Gururaja(Raghavendraru) and others , it is difficult to follow it.
Na Madhava samO devoO na cha Madhva samO guru:h na tad vAkyasama, shAstram na cha tasyasamah pumAn.
Sri Madhvesharpanamastu.
Vishnutattva nirnaya
The 'visnutattva Nirnaya', as it's name indicates is in independent work of Srimadachrya to establish the principle of the supemacy pf the Lord with reference to scriptures.
In this work Srimadacharya condemns the Charvaka system of athiesm and establishes that a theistic philosophy based on sound principles as stated in the vedas is absolutely necessary for the good of the world as an ateistic thinking can lead too chaos. Further He proves the 'apourusheyatva'( that they are not authoured by any human being ) of the Vedas. Further the work deals with the Vedic statements like 'Tattvamasi' 'sarvam khavidam brahma' on which the advaitic thought is based showing that they are also supporting the dualistic philosophy and are not contradictory to statements like 'dvasuparnA ...'. The concept of 'Ekajivavada' and other modified systems of advaita are also shown to be not acceptable. Srimadachraya,in the second part of this work establishes with suitable quotations that Vishnu alone is represented by the term Brahma, and is the sole controller of all functions on this world.
Sri Sri Visvesha tirthasripadangalavaru has written a simple kannada translation of this work. He has given as an introduction to the same a detailed study of this work in his inimicable style.
I have a few words to add here. Athiesm is refuted by Sri Madhva, primarily for not being a 'theory'. Earlier I had thought that he is refuting athiesm for cause of voilence in the world. But after reading the commentary (posted on the dvaita-list), I understood the correct meaning. Argument that athiesm causes voilence in the world, is to refute Charvaka's own claim that his position does have characteristics required for being a theory, i.e., it has a 'benefit to the world' (lokopakaara). Please look into the archives for details.
In my opinion this is an excellent and *only possible* refutation of atheist,and a *must read* for any seriously interested person. I would like to know if members of the list know of any other Hindu Acharya (before or after Sri Madhva) also refutes athiesm in this way.
We shall now take up the three works known as 'khandanatraya'. These works are intended to show that the philosophy of Shankaracharya's advaita - that Brahma is the only 'true' entity and the whole world is a falsified manifestation of Him due to' ignorance ' is not tenable .
(a) mAyAvAda KhaNDana.
The benedictory verse of this "khandana'' - NarasimhO(a)khilAjnAnamata dhvAnta divAkara:h Jayatyamita sajjnAna sukha sakti payOnidhi:h' conveys the summary of the three 'khandanAs'. The verse means that Narasimha,the Lord, is like the rising sun destroying the darkness caused by all theories based on ignorance; he shall be praised, who is like a ocean in His 'sajjAna ' (perfect knowledge) sukha'(ananda),sakti(power of control).(Sri Jayatirtha,in his commentary says that the comparison of the Lord's abilities to a ocean is only to say that it is extraordinarily high but His capacities and ananda are infinite-poorna).
In this work two points are discussed . One is that the Brahman,who is not having any qualities and is the only 'truth', is affected by a 'thing' called 'avidya' and appears as the world that we see, which is but a fantasy. This gives rise to the question whether the Brahman as a whole or partially affected by avidya, and in either case it is shown that the concept of a Brahman, who alone is the truth, is defeated. Other ideas like the world being neither'sat' nor 'asat'(real or non-existant) are proved to be a misnomer. Having defeated the advaitic concepts , Srimadacharya has done 'svamata sthapana'(establishing the philosophy as stated by him) by quoting the last five verses of ch 15 of the Bhagavadgit statrting with' dvAvimau purushau lOkE' which state the' supremacy of the Lord',and the principle of 'bheda'.
In this work also the effect of "ajnana' on 'Brahman" according to Advaita is dealt with.Advaita states that the 'ajnana' acts as a medium or say a catalyst which when it acts upon 'Brahman' makes 'it' transform into the universe. Srimadacharya refutes this theory with his straight arguments.
mithyathvanumAnakhaNDana
As the name indicates this work deals with the Advaitin's theory of 'Jagan mythyatva'(or the world being unreal)'. The argument based on the proposition that 'anything that is seen is unreal'(vishvam mythya drishyatvat) and so the world is unreal,which looks absurd on the face of it, but which the advaitins try to substantiate with the example of 'a shell appearing like silver when light falls on it' ,is shown to be only on a slippery ground. To conclude this notes on the three khandanas, we may say that the three together make the Advaitic philosophy collapse like a pack of cards. All the works are very short. They look like the three feet of Vamana covering the three worlds under them and putting down Bali.
'VAmana VAmana BhAmana VandE sAmana seemana shAmana sAnO'-
(dvadashastotra).
There are two works called Lakshana granthas- Pramana Lakshana and Katha lakshana. The term 'lakshana' has the meaning conveyed by "type' or 'nature of' and does not mean quality or characteristics.
‘Pramana' in the shastraic parlance indicates a statement which supports or proves a theory proposed to be established (the 'jiva paramatma bheda' for example. One philosophic thinker put the number of 'pramanas' as five ,while another put it as seven or so. Srimadacharya ,in his above mentioned work has stated that the main 'pramanas' are three ' PRATYAKSHA,ANUMANA and AGAMA" and all other types of pramanas stated by others merge within these. 'pratyaksha' is whatever knowledge we gain with our senses(when they are free from any defects);'anumAna' is a logical statement made in support of the theory ; and Agama' is a scriptural work accepted as 'pramana' or authoritative. Sri Madhvacharya has explained the nature of the first two and has stated that 'anumana' not supported by either 'pratyaksha' or 'Agama' may not hold good and can be misleading. He has also defined the texts which are to be treated as 'Agamas'.
"katha" ,in this context, means a philosophical debate. Sri Madhvacharya has defined 'katha' as of three types. they are called 'vada', 'jalpa' and 'vittanda'.
Vadakatha: It is a discussion between a 'guru' and a 'sishya' on any philosophical topic during or after a lesson. It is a healthy discussion intended for the benifit of the student. A student is free to discuss with the 'guru' and even argue if he differs from him , but has to accept the decision given by the ' guru', politeness and respect for the teacher being observed strictly.
jalpakatha: this is a discussion of a topic of philosopy between two scholars of different schools of thought, or betweeen any two persons who have divergent views. The discussion is held with a third party as the judge on a public platform. Srimadacharya has dealt with in detail the nature of such discussion, selection of judges etc.
vittanda: This is a discussion more like 'jalpa'. But when one of the parties is losing, if he resorts to talking without 'pramanas' or making personal comments other party and may make comments in a rough language the debate is called 'vittanda'.
These two works of Srimadacharya are unique in the field of shastraic thought.
' yO vipralambha viparItamatiprabhutAn vadAnnirasya nikhilAn bhuvi tattvavadam sarveshvarO Haririti pratipAdayantam Anandateertha munivaryamaham namAmi'
This work is said to have been composed by Srimadacharya in reply to the remark by some people that he is only propagating 'Tattvajnana' but is not versed in 'karmakanda' of Vedas. Being Sarvajnacharya, he had stated in his discourses that all vedic words have three meanings,the primary meaning being the praise of the Lord. Srimadacharya has illustrated this in this work. He has chosen a mantra in a 'chandas'(metre) called 'Mahanamni' which apparently praises Indra and explained its significance with reference to Vishnu.. This work illustrates the profoundity of his knowledge in Vedas. In fact ,while Shankaracharya has stated that only a few vedic statements are to be taken as stating real philosophy and the others are 'a-tattvavedaka' (not having any philosophic import), Sri Madhvacharya has upheld that all vedic statements are basically stating the philosophic truth of the supremacy of Vishnu. At the end of the work, Srimadacharya has quoted his favourite stanzas from ch 15 of the Gita starting with 'dvavimau purushauloke' to show that the ultimate truth is the supemacy of the Lord and the principle of 'bheda'.
With this we have concluded the ten works called 'DasaprakaranAs' by the grace of 'dasapramati' that is rimadanandatirthabhagavatpadacharya.
'asEshadOhadurAya gunapoornAyaVishnavE nama:h sriprAnanAthAya bhaktAbheeshtapradAdAyinE'
Note: From the archives,I have found that a fairly detailed , and clear notes on 'dasaprakaranas' are given by Sri GV Bindumadhavan which is worth studying..
Srimadacharya, in "vishnu Tattvanirnaya', has defined the works that are to be treated as 'Shastras' (Agamas) as the four Vedas, Mularamayana, Mahabharata, Pacharatra ; Puranas and other works where the statements do not contradict these are also to be taken as 'pramana'. Of the 'puranas', Bhagavata is considered to be fully authoritative.Srimadacharya has written a commentary on Bhagavata called 'Bhagavata tatparya nirnaya'. In this work Srimadacharya has explained the meaning of several passages and the implications of several annecdotes. He has not commented on all the verses , and has given explanation of certain slokas in each chapter where there is particularly some philosophical import , profusely substantiating them with quotations.For example, the Uddhava gita in the 11th canto,which is somewhat parallel to the Bhagavadgita is expalined in detail. To put it in short,Srimadacharya has shown that the BhagavataPurana substantiates that Sriman Narayana is the supreme deity and all 'devatas' are subordinate to Him and devoted to Him and preach to others that devotion to Him is the means for salvation from the bondage of 'samsara'. (an example of this is the Rudragita taught to the Prachetatas by Shankara). The Bhagavata Tatparyanirnaya gives us the right approach with which we should study any 'purana' or other works, and that is we should look in any work for 'Vishnusarvottamatva' and treat anything opposed to it as false knowledge.
'Vasudevasutam devam Kamsa Chanura mardanam Devakiparamanandam Krishnam vande jagadgurum'
Among the works of Srimadacharya, The Mahabharatatatparya nirnaya is biggest in volume,comprising of 32 chapters in about 5200 slokas. It encompasses the two Itihasas Ramayana and Mahabharata ,the latter incorporating parallelly the , story of Sri Krishna as in the Bhagavata. It is not just a narration of the stories but gives explanation for the actions of the Lord in both the avataras(Rama and Krishna) in cases like 'Vali vadha', 'sudra tapasvi samhara', 'putana vadha' etc. In the first chapter of this work called 'sarvashatrarthanirnaya',, Srimadacharya has ,with quotations from several works,established that Narayana is the supreme Lord of this world, that He is full of auspicious qualities and without any blemish (gunaparipurna and nirdosa); he has also stated the three avataras of Vayu quoting the Balitha sukta, and given the gradation among other 'devatas' and almost all tenets of the shastras as established by him. The work is so large that it is not possible to give even a very small fraction of the knowledge it encompasses in a small endeavour like this. And so, it is best to conclude this quoting from the same: 'nirnaya;h sarvashastrAnAm sadrishtantO hi BhAratE' -- In Bharata the import of all the shastras is decisively stated with suitable examples (annecdotes). This statement applies equally to this work of Srimadacharya, the 'Mahabharata tatparya nirnaya'.
Sri Madhvacharya visited Sri Vedavyasa in upper Badari twice. When he met him a second time ,he was instructed by SriVedavyasa that he should write a 'nirnaya' on the 'Mahabharata' . On retuning from there, Srimadacharya composed this work ,which has no parallel in the history of scriptural works.
Sri Raghavendraswamigalu has composed a summary of the thirtytwo chapters of this work in thirtytwo slokas called 'Mahabharata tatparyanirnaya Bhavasangraha'.
Sri Raghavendra gurvantargata Bharatiramana Mukhyapranantargata Sri Hari:h priyatam.
As stated in an earlier posting Srimadacharya has stated that the Vedas have three meanings. He has illustrated this by writing a commentary on about forty hymns or 'suktas' from the Rig veda , starting with 'AgnimeelE purOhitam... ', expaining how this Sukta is primarily a prayer to Lord Vishnu. As in the case of all his works, he has,in this commentary also ,shown that the Vedas uphold the supremacy of Lord Vishnu, and the dependence of all the gods (devatas) on Him. Srimadacharya has explained the importance of 'Rishi, Devata and Chandas" in reciting Vedas. This work should be treated as the guiding principle for interpreting Vedic hymns.
Nrisimha Nakhastuti
This stotra , in two stanzas, was composed by Sri Madhvacharya with instructions that it should be recited before and at the close of reciting "Hari Vayu stuti' of Sri Trivikrama panditacharya,composed by him when he had the darshan of the three avatars of Vayu worshipping the Lord as Rama,Krishna and Vedavyasa at the sametime is well known to all Madhvas. The stotra is in praise of the 'finger nails' of Lord Nrisimha killing Hiranyakasipu and protecting the Devatas (and Prahlada). In the second stanza Srimadacharya ,by starting with the word 'Laxmikantha' and ending with 'Bhasita Brahmesha shakrotkarah' has stated that Narasimha is superior to all the devatas including Laxmi and He can destroy the world at His will.I have not given the sloka or its meaning as it is already given by Sri Srisha Rao (lis08 in the postings). Sri (late) P. Vishnutirtha, a well known pandit, has written the meaning of this stotra in detail,and the book runs into a few hundred pages(kannada).
There is hardly any Madhva who does not know 'Dvadasastotra'. It was composed by Srimadacharya when he brought the "krishna vigraha' which he got from some boat which he saved from drowning by hismiraculous powers. These metrical stotras are a feast to the ears and mind when sung with devotion. The stotras are mainly in praise of the Lord Sri Krishna ,and His manifestations as the ten avatars. Apart from it the stotras incorporate several points of philosophic import such as the Lord's powers of creation, and sustanance of the world. The import of the Bhagavadgita ,doing one's duty as service to God without any desire for fruit is stated in the song 'kurubhuxva cha karma nijam iyatam'.The last song with the lines 'Ananda Tirtha parananda varada' indicates the intense devotion of Srimadananda tirthabhagavatpadacharya for his beloved Lord who is 'Anandamaya' "
"PreenayamO VAsudEvam devatAkhanada mandanam PreenayamOVasudEvam'.
As the name indicates it is Srimadacharya's injunctions for the right procedures to followed in a day from morning to night by a Vaishnava. A Vaishnava should, as soon as he wakes up pray to Lord Vishnu, and at the close of the day, before retiring to bed, should pray to the Lord. In between ,he should observe austere practices. The procedure for washing the teeth, taking bath (preferably in a river or natural source of water) by reciting 'purusha sukta','Aghamarshana sukta' etc. have been clearly stated in this work. Then follows 'sandhyavandana', 'pooja' , taking food,study,teaching,rest,evening pooja etc. which have all been clearly stated for the guidance of his followers by Srimadacharya in simple language in about forty slokas.If anyone is fortunate to be able follow the procedures and ausreities stated in this work, he shall be following Srimadachaya's exhortation in the 'dvadasastotra'- SANTATAM CHINTAYET ANANTAM ANTAKALE VISHESHATAH, and that is the duty of a true Vaishnava.
' Prithvee manadalamadhyastA:h PoornabodhamatAnuga:h VaishnavA:h VishnuhridayA:h tAnnamasyE gurUn mama'
The ocean of the nector called SriKrishna, that is what this work is about. Srimadacharaya,wrote this work by selecting verses from various authoritative works(Mahabharata,puranas etc.), as a kindly blessing to a devotee who aksed him for 'upadesa'. There are about 240 slokas in it. The importance of devotion to the Lord is stressed by quoting verses like
"srirAmarAmarAmEti manOrAmEmanOrAmE sahasranAmatattulyamRAmanAmavarAranE"
which was preached to Parvati by Shiva. The superiority of Sri Narayana over other gods is also thus established. One important part of this work is the stress on Ekadasi Vrata dealt with here in about 70 slokas. Following it is the efficacy of 'saligramatirtha', which ,the Acharya states, is more gratifying than taking bath in all the sacred rivers. Thus the work is devoted to extolling the greatness of the Lord whose incarnation as Krishna and his praise is in every breath of our Acharya and who leads us to take atleast a drop in the ocean of "krishnamrita' if we follow the path he has shown us.
'kallu sakkare kollirO neevellaru kallusakkare kollirO Khulla lOchana Sri KrishnananAmavemba Kallu sakkare kollirO'
This small work by Srimadacharya gives the procedure to be followed on Krishna jayanti((Krishnashtami) ,the rituals to be followed that day starting from taking bath repeating the mantra given here and the method of 'puja' to be done and other details such as 'tarpana' . Following these instructions with fasting on that day is a must for all Vaishnavas.
'KrishnAya VAsudEvAya dEvAya paramAtmane Pranatah klesha nashAya GovindAya namO nama:h'
This work contains information regarding some technically important procedures in the worship of the Lord. This work contains extracts from a larger work existing on the topics dealt with herein.The important things dealt with in this work include:
1. The procedure for the 'upadesa' and practice of important 'mantras' like 'Narayana Ashtakshara mantra, Krishna shadakshara mantra,Vasudeva dvdashakshara mantra, Shiva shadkshra mantra ' etc.(about 70 mantras are included).
2.procedure for construction of Temples, sizes of idols of dieties, charecteristics of temple architecture,size of the 'garbha griha'etc.
3.Procedure for construction of 'yagna kundas' etc. for purpose of conducting 'yagnas' .While it is a practice to include practice of sorcery etc. in tantra' 'granthas by other writers , Srimadacharya has exclude them from his work , and laid stress only on the aspects which please the Lord.
This work is an exclusive piece of fine poetry. In a small work of only 75 to 80 slokas ,Srimadacharya has pleased 'Sattvikas' interested in good poetry full of 'alankaras',at the same time telling the story of Sri Krishna, as in the Bhagavata and his kindness towards the Pandavas(who represent all sattvic souls).. It is like a condensed version of the tenth canto of the Bhagavata. One should read through it to enjoy its sweetness.
The procedure for a person to take 'Sanyasa' is detailed in this work of about 30 slokas. The 'karmas' to be performed prior to taking 'sanyasa', the 'upadesa' to be given by a senior pontiff , the oath to be taken for protection of 'vaishnava dharma' are clearly explained by Srimadacharya in this work for the guidance of those who shall be placed as the protectors of the 'Vedic dharma'.
MADHVESHA KRISHNARPANAMASTU
With this I have completed writing short notes on twentyseven of the thirtyseven works of Sri Madhvacharya. The remaining ten are commentaries on ten upanishads which are given in my submission ''Sri Madhvacharya's Works- 1'' as 'upanishadprasthana'. I do not intend writing about them as it is not possible to write on any upanishad in a few lines. Also, I find that this work has already been done earlier under the title 'Essentials of Upanishads' and can be studied.
Other works
One stotra in praise of Sri Krishna called 'Kanduka stuti' in two stanzas is stated to have been written by Sri Madhvacharya as an young boy before taking 'sanyasa'. It is in a metre reciting which is adjusted to the beat of a ball played continuously on a floor( 'puta' in kannada). Apart from the thirty seven works given in the 'granthamalika stotra' of Sri Vyasaraja, two works have been mentioned in the introduction to Sri Sumadhvavijaya, translated by Sri V. Prabhanjanacharya.
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