Madhvacarya as Prophetic Witness

A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. The Journal of Inter­Religious Dialogue Issue 7 August 2011 www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 1 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. Editorial Board Stephanie Varnon­Hughes and Joshua Zaslow Stanton, Editors‐in‐Chief Aimee Upjohn Light, Executive Editor Matthew Dougherty, Publishing Editor Sophia Khan, Associate Publishing Editor Christopher Stedman, Managing Director of State of Formation Ian Burzynski, Associate Director of State of Formation Editorial Consultants Frank Fredericks, Media Consultant Marinus Iwuchukwu, Outreach Consultant Stephen Butler Murray, Managing Editor Emeritus www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 2 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. 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Swami Tyagananda, Director, Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Boston, Hindu Chaplain, Harvard University J. Abraham Velez de Cea, Associate Professor of Asian Philosophy and Religions, Eastern Kentucky University Burton Visotzky, Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies, Jewish Theological Seminary Matthew Weiner, Director of Programs, Interfaith Center of New York Leah Weiss Eckstrom, co-Founder, Foundation for Active Compassion Madhuri Yadlapati, Instructor of Religion, Louisiana State University Venerable Yifa, Nun, Scholar, and Writer, Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order Amos Yong, J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology, Regent University Barney Zwartz, Religion Editor, Blogger for the "Religious Write" The Age www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 5 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. Acknowledgements The Journal of Inter‐Religious Dialogue™ was started with the help of a generous grant from an anonymous donor in the Washington, D.C. Jewish community, to whom we express our profound gratitude. We are also grateful to Auburn Theological Seminary, which confers its non‐profit status upon the Journal as its fiscal agent and has generously provided it with office space and logistical support. In addition, we would like to thank our 2010 ‐ 2011 Donors’ Circle, which includes: The Henry Luce Foundation Dr. James R. Day Dr. Aimee Light Dr. Madhuri Yadlapati We would like to recognize as a partner organization the Ancient Philosophy Society. The Journal also acknowledges the significant contributions of our fiscal sponsor, Auburn Theological Seminary; Resolve Digital, for designing our website, and Mirah Curzer Photography, for providing us with images for our website and issue covers. 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Copyright Policy The Journal of Inter‐Religious Dialogue™ retains the full copyright to all articles it publishes, unless otherwise indicated within the text of the given article. www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 6 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. 15 August 2011 We were recently asked, “How is online dialogue really supporting in-person work for understanding and peace?” In this, our seventh issue, we are proud to share with you voices from around the globe. Once again, we hear perspectives that aren’t always highlighted or included in academic discussions here in the US, and provide a place and starting point for rigorous and sustaining conversations. In “Madhvacarya as Prophetic Witness,” Deepak Sarma invites us to consider the founder of the school of Vedantic school of dualism, Madhvācārya, as a prophetic witness. Christhu Doss provides a unique and needed perspective on Christian inculturation in “Uncapping the Springs of Localization: Christian Inculturation in South India in 19th and 20th Centuries.” Eric Hall argues against Masao Abe’s interpretation of the Christian notion of Kenosis in his “Kenosis, Sunyata, and Comportment: InterReligious Discourse Beyond Concepts.” Finally, Robert Hunt raises an important consideration of how modernity affects dialogue in “Muslims, Modernity, and the Prospects of Christian-Muslim Dialogue.” In this issue, for the first time, we have invited young religious thinkers from State of Formation to query and dialogue with Hunt’s paper. Their responses both model the best kind of dialogue, and continue the conversation—Karen Leslie Hernandez, Kari Aanestad, Ben DeVan, and Bryan Parys connect Hunt’s scholarship with their own places of experience and formation, bring even new and considered perspectives to Hunt’s ideas and thesis. As always, we welcome your sustaining discourse—your submissions, criticisms, and comments continue to build a movement of peaceful—but never complacent—dialogue. At the end of this issue, please find our Call for Submissions for Issue 9: Women, Feminism, and Inter-Religious Dialogue. We thank the writers and editors of this issue for bringing their scholarship and ideas to our forum. In the continued spirit of discovery and discourse, Joshua M. Z. Stanton and Stephanie Varnon-Hughes Founding Editors in Chief www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 7 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. Table of Contents Table of Contents for Issue 7 of The Journal of Inter­Religious Dialogue™ 9 Madhvā cā rya as Prophetic Witness, by Deepak Sarma 17 Uncapping the Springs of Localization: Christian Acculturation in South India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, by M. Christhu Doss 31 Spiritual Directions, Religious Ways and Education, by Joseph McCann 47 Kenosis, Sunyata, and Comportment: Interreligious Discourse Beyond Concepts, by Eric Hall 54 Muslims, Modernity, and the Prospects of Christian-Muslim Dialogue, by Robert Hunt 70 Dialogue in Practice: a Special Section of the Journal of InterReligious Dialogue 71 Response to Robert Hunt’s Essay:“ Muslims, Modernity, and the Prospects of Christian-Muslim Dialogue,” by Karen Leslie Hernandez 75 I am so much more than Lutheran: A Response to Robert Hunt, by Kari Aanestad 77 Dialogue Hard? A Response to Robert A. Hunt on Muslims, Modernity, and the Prospects of Christian-Muslim Dialogue, by Benjamin B. DeVan 81 Narrative As New Reality, by Bryan Parys 84 Call for Submissions, Issue 9 www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 8 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. Madhvā cā rya as Prophetic Witness, by Deepak Sarma Abstract Madhvācārya, the 13th century propounder of dualism, exemplifies a prophet whose prophetic witness was enacted in a kairos, which demanded his dualist response. The school of Vedānta that he founded was a radical corrective that urged the return to a theistic conception of the universe that was in accordance with the prescriptions of the śruti (the revealed canonical texts). I offer stipulative definitions of three terms and one phrase used in Catholicism, namely kairos, prophet, witness, and the combined, prophetic witness. I use these to show that he is a prophet, and a prophetic witness who acted during a kairos. 1. Introduction 2. Stipulation Terminology 3. The kairos 3.1 The Basic Theological Beliefs 3.2 Advaita Vedānta 4. Madhvacārya as Prophet 4.1 Basic Mādhva Vedānta 5. Concluding Remarks 1. Introduction In this paper I will argue that Madhvācārya, the 13th century propounder of dualism, exemplifies a prophet whose prophetic witness was enacted in a kairos, which demanded his dualist response.1 The school of Vedānta that he founded was a radical corrective that urged the return to a theistic conception of the universe that was in accordance with the prescriptions of the śruti (the revealed canonical texts). To do this I will first offer stipulative definitions of three terms and one phrase used in Catholicism, namely kairos, prophet, witness, and the combined, prophetic witness. I will use these as a heuristic template in which to place Hindu, specifically Mādhva, materials and to show that he is a prophet, and a prophetic witness who acted during a kairos. 2. Stipulative Definitions I will stipulate that kairos is a term that points “to a decisive moment, a moment of truth, a compelling moment in history which demands a radical response.”2 I will further stipulate that a prophet is someone who is “authorized by God, sent by God, and/ or given words by God.”3 A witness is one whose practices exemplifies and follows what seems to the practitioner to be the prescriptions of God. A prophetic witness is either a prophet who is witnessing or one who aspires to be like a prophet in her/ his witness and speaks against the prevailing beliefs and practices, imploring listeners to act in ways www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 9 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. more in accordance with God’s prescriptions. 3. The kairos The context within which Madhvācārya lived was certainly “a decisive moment, a moment of truth, a compelling moment in history which demand[ed] a radical response.”4 Madhvācārya (1238-1317 CE) was born of Sivalli Brahmin parents in the village of Pājakakṣetra near modern day Udupi in the Tulunadu area of southern Karnataka. Southern Karnataka was filled with a diversity of theologies and people. This pluralistic environment had a significant effect on Madhvācārya. His innovations included reminding potential adherents to stay true to the theism presented in the śruti (the revealed canonical texts) and also to maintain the varṇa (class) system which was the existing social system that he felt was being threatened by the prevailing heretical beliefs found in Advaita Vedānta. Advaita Vedānta appeared to Madhvācārya to be merely Buddhism in disguise. This time was a kairos, a decisive moment, a moment of truth, a compelling moment in history, which demanded a radical response. And this response was bhakti-yoga (the path via devotion), a radical devotionally oriented dualism that Madhvācārya argued was in accordance with śruti, upheld the varṇa system and therefore, that would eventually benefit the greatest number of people. But first, what was at stake? What were the basic theological beliefs? And what were the ones that Madhvācārya felt needed to be corrected? 3.1 The Basic Theological Beliefs The philosophical and religious traditions extant in medieval South Asia other than Abrahamic ones, all shared a belief in circular time. The universe was governed by this circularity as it is perpetually born and destroyed. This exhibited itself on the microcosmic level as the cycle of rebirth and the mechanism of karma, that one’s actions in earlier lives affected both the rebirth and events that are to occur in one’s future lives. The entity that was reborn is the jīva (enduring self) also known as the ātman. One accumulates some combination of puṇya (meritorious) karma, or pāpa (demeritorious) karma, popularly rendered in the West as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ karma, and is born again and again in saṃsāra (worldly existence). One manifests one’s prārabdha (latent) karma. That is, the accumulated karma manifests itself until it is depleted or until more is accrued. Though the traditions differed widely on the origins and precise function of these mechanisms of karma and saṃsāra, they all agreed that this system existed. They also all shared an interest in ending this seemingly endless cycle and this desire was their raison d’être. The state that sentient beings enter after being liberated from the cycle is called nirvāṇa in Buddhism and Jainism, and mokṣa among the Hindu traditions. The ontological status and characteristics of nirvāṇa and mokṣa differ vastly and each tradition of thought offered methods by which adherents could break the cycle and attain the desired end. It is believed that if one had the right cognitive habits and implemented them then one will eventually achieve mokṣa, if not in this lifetime then in future ones. If, on the other hand, if one’s beliefs and practices were incorrect then one would jeopardize one’s future births and compromise one’s chances of breaking out of the cycle of birth www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 10 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. and rebirth. The stakes were very high indeed. 3.2 Advaita Vedānta Madhvācārya’s chief rival was the Advaita school of Vedānta. The schools of Vedānta are commentarial traditions and each makes differing claims about the truth found in śruti and, therefore, the method by which one can obtain mokṣa. Each links the entirety of its doctrinal system to these interpretations. Each has prescriptions that must be followed by adherents and that conform to their doctrines. The Advaita School of Vedānta had many followers in the area, making medieval southern Karnataka a ferment of theological dispute. Temples, which were officiated by priests who followed ritual and other worship texts found in the Advaita canons, were built in the area, as were affiliated maṭhas (monasteries). According to the Śaṃkaradigvijaya, a hagiography of Śaṃkarācārya, the most important expounder of Advaita, Śaṃkarācārya (788-820 CE) visited southern Karnataka in the 9th century and disputed with scholars of local traditions.5 One of the four maṭhas established by Śaṃkarācārya himself was located in Sringeri, only about 50 km, from Udupi, the heart of Mādhva Vedānta. But what made Advaita Vedānta so heretical? What inspired Madhvācārya to bear prophetic witness against them? The Advaita School posits that the relationship between Brahman (considered the impersonal absolute in Advaita theology) and the ātman (self) is advaita (non-dual). Furthermore, the universe is not comprised of difference and different entities, as it seems. Knowing this, adherents can eventually obtain mokṣa (liberation) from saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and rebirth). According to the Advaita school, the only entity in the universe is thus Brahman (the impersonal absolute). Brahman is outside of language and it is beyond duality. Brahman is sat (being), cit (consciousness), and ānanda (bliss). Difference that one normally perceives is only apparent. Brahman is incorrectly superimposed upon. Thus, it appears as if there is a multiplicity of ātman (selves). This too is only apparent, as the ātman are mistakenly understood to be different from Brahman. The error, Śaṃkarācārya explains, is a result of māya (illusion) and avidyā (ignorance), terms that he uses interchangeably. Moksa (liberation), the goal of the Advaita School, is therefore, the realization that the ātman has a non-dual relationship with Brahman. The similarity between Śaṃkarācārya’s Advaita and Mahāyāna Buddhism has led many to speculate that it is merely a Buddhist position in disguise.6 Madhvācārya’s student Nārāyaṇa Paṇḍitācārya, characterized Madhvācārya and Śaṃkara as born enemies in his Madhvavijaya, a hagiography of Madhvācārya. In it he further describes Śaṃkara’s Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya as “composed by (demon) Maniman (born as Śaṃkara) on earth.”7 Dasgupta summarizes much of the Mādhva mythology that grew around Śaṃkara: [Śaṃkara]...really taught Buddhism under the cloak of Vedānta....The www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 11 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. followers of Śankara were tyrannical people who burned down monasteries, destroyed cattle and killed women and children...8 Śaṃkara, represented as an evil being that was on earth to preach heterodoxical doctrine, was frowned upon by the orthodox Indian philosophical community. His heterodoxy resulted from the implications of this position that members of all classes could achieve moksa. After all, Śaṃkara proposed jñāna-yoga (the path to mokṣa via knowledge) and this was not restricted and, at first glance, did not demand adherence to the varṇa system. His philosophy is thus very similar to the anti-class sentiment propounded in Buddhism. The Buddhists, of course rejected the authority of the Vedas, which made them heretical. Thus Śaṃkara is often cursed as heretical by the Mādhvas for his quasi-Buddhist doctrines. The following passage from Paṇḍitācārya’s Madhvavijaya exemplifies these accusations: In the place of the non-existent world (according to the Buddhists) this wicked Śaṃkara said that it is different from what exists and what does not exist. He called the (Buddhist) Relative Truths (samvṛti) Māyā (Illusion) and the Brahman attributeless for the substantiation of voidness. Alas! So this Śaṃkara became famous as a Bauddha in disguise.9 It is against this position and during this kairos that Madhvācārya acted as a prophetic witness. After all, the hierarchical world put forth in the Vedas was under threat. Ironically, those who were swayed by the anticlass flavor of Advaita Vedānta would, Madhvācārya believed, be accumulating pāpam (demeritorious karma) and would likely be born in situations even less efficacious and helpful for attaining mokṣa. Here an anti-hierarchical position was heretical, rather than the reverse. 4 Madhvācārya as prophet I have stipulated that a prophet is someone who is “authorized by God, sent by God, and/ or given words by God.” In this connection, Madhvācārya's travels took him to Mahābadarikāśrama, the home of Vyāsa, and author of the Brahma Sūtras, to meet the founder of the Vedānta tradition himself. Vyāsa is believed to be an avatāra (incarnation) of Lord Viṣṇu, the deity around which Mādhva Vedānta is centered.10 Under the guidance of Vyāsa, Madhvācārya is said to have composed his Brahma Sūtra Bhāṣya, a commentary on Vyāsa's Brahma Sūtras.11 An informative autobiographical statement made by Madhvācārya occurs at the end of his commentary on the Brahma Sūtras: Vāyu, whose three forms are described in the Vedas, who has the great radiance of a god, who is bestowed upon [us] and, in this way, visible [to us], whose first manifestation was as a messenger to Rāma, whose second was as [Bhīma,] the destroyer [of the Kaurava army] and whose third incarnation is Madhva by whom this bhāṣya (commentary) is made for the sake of [establishing the supremacy of] Hari [that is, Viṣṇu].12 As per my stipulative definition, Madhvācārya is certainly a prophet. Madhvācārya www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 12 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. himself has an unusual background as he proclaims himself to be the third avatāra of Vāyu, the wind God, who is also the son of Viṣṇu.13 In fact, Vāyu incarnated himself two times before he appeared as Madhvācārya. Hanuman, the monkey deity of the Rāmāyaṇa epic and Bhīma, one of the Paṇḍavas in the Mahābhārata epic, are the first and second incarnations. According to the stories found in these two texts, both assist Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, two avatāras of Viṣṇu, in defeating rākṣasas (demons), and others who threaten the stability of dharma.14 In his incarnation as Madhvācārya, Vāyu again assists Viṣṇu, though this time against a more insidious threat, namely Advaita Vedānta/ quasi-Buddhism. Vāyu, namely Madhvācārya, is thus a guide for bhaktas (devotees) on their journey towards Viṣṇu and has a dynamic position as a mediator between devotees and Viṣṇu. This self-identification further confirms his status as a prophet. What did Madhvācārya proclaim? How does it differ from his Advaita predecessors? 4.1 Basic Mādhva Ontology As stated in the Parama Śruti: ‘…the wise [recognize] that [the universe] is known and protected by Viṣṇu. Therefore it, [the universe,] is proclaimed to be real. But Hari [that is, Viṣṇu] alone is supreme.’15 This passage, taken from Madhvācārya’s Viṣṇutattva(vi)nirṇaya, summarizes the chief elements in Mādhva Vedānta. For Madhvācārya, the universe is unquestionably real, as are its components. Viṣṇu, who is Brahman and is the pinnacle of the Mādhva system, governs all things. Furthermore, correct knowledge of Viṣṇu and one’s place in relation to Him is the prerequisite for mokṣa (liberation). Viṣṇu is the facilitator of all entities and all possible events. The entire universe is manifested due to His activity and is utterly dependent upon Him. To reflect this dualism in ontology, Madhvācārya separates all of reality into svatantra (independent) and asvatantra (dependent) entities. The only svatantra entity is Viṣṇu while all other entities are asvatantra.16 All things, moreover, are in a hierarchical relationship with one another and with Viṣṇu, where Viṣṇu is at the zenith. This chain of command is known as Madhvācārya’s doctrine of tāratamya (gradation). The hierarchy pervades every aspect of the Mādhva system and can be found even in mokṣa. There is tāratamya in mokṣa because of the gradation in the devotion towards Viṣṇu.17 This is known as Madhvācārya’s ānanda-tāratamya-vāda (theory of a gradation in bliss).18 Knowledge of Viṣṇu alone is insufficient for attaining mokṣa. Madhvācārya writes: Bhakti (devotion) comes from knowledge of the greatness [of God] and is the strongest [in all circumstances when compared] to others. Mokṣa [is achieved] by this [bhakti] and in no other manner.19 Madhvācāṛya’s emphasis on bhakti as the only method for obtaining mokṣa distinguishes his position from ones in which knowledge alone is sufficient.20 Bhakti is www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 13 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. the central component in Madhvācārya’s soteriology. Not only is bhakti-yoga (the path to mokṣa via devotion) the sole method for obtaining mokṣa, but it also most accurately characterizes the experience of mokṣa. Fostering bhakti and becoming a bhakta is both the means and the ends of Mādhva Vedānta. Devotees must also obtain the grace of Viṣṇu in order to obtain mokṣa. Madhvācārya writes: Direct realization of the highest Lord [comes] only from grace and not [from] the efforts of the jīva.21 The jīva is utterly dependent upon Lord Viṣṇu as is exemplified in the need for Viṣṇuprasāda (grace). The reward of Viṣṇu-prasāda is a natural outcome of bhakti-yoga (the path to mokṣa via devotion). When bhaktas show their awareness of the hierarchy of the universe, namely the supremacy of Lord Viṣṇu, and act accordingly, then they are awarded for their submission. Madhvācārya explains: Hari [that is, Viṣṇu] is the master of all for [all] eternity. [All] are under the control [of the] Highest [One]. This tāratamya and the supremacy of Hari are to be known.22 It is thus essential to act according to one’s varṇa (class) lest one act against tāratamya. In his commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā, Madhvācārya reminds adherents that varṇāśrama-dharma (obligatory duty according to class and stage) must be performed.23 Madhvācārya, of course, held that these beliefs and practices were in accordance with those found in śruti and, indirectly, were dictated by God. He saw people being misled by Advaita Vedānta and sought to correct this and to return to a theistic conception of the universe. 5. Concluding Remarks In this short paper I have used Catholic categories to analyze the status and activities of Madhvācārya, a medieval Indian theologian. As per my stipulative definitions Madhvācārya seems to be a paradigmatic example of a prophet whose prophetic witness was enacted in a kairos. Madhvācārya derived his authority from God, namely Viṣṇu, and sought to remind people of the importance of tāratamya (gradation). This meant that people ought to know both their place in relation to Viṣṇu as well as to one another. In the latter case this meant that people ought to fact in ways according to their varṇa (class) and ought not to follow what appeared to be an anti-hierarchical and any-social-inequality stance put forth by Buddhism, via Advaita Vedānta. Deepak Sarma, an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Case Western Reserve University, has published in Indian philosophy, Hindu studies, method and theory in the study of religion, and bioethics. His chief focus has been the Madhva School of Vedanta. He has delved into comparative philosophy of religions, comparative theology, and served as the president of the Society for Hindu- Christian Studies. www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 14 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. Notes 1 Thanks to Alice Bach, Frank Clooney, Paul Griffiths, and Peter Haas for assisting me as I thought about this topic. Bonganjalo Goba, “The Kairos Document and Its Implications for Liberation in South Africa,” in Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1987), 314. 2 3 I am grateful to Frank Clooney for this language. Bonganjalo Goba, “The Kairos Document and Its Implications for Liberation in South Africa,” in Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1987), 314. 4 See the Padmapādatīrthayatrāvarnam and related chapters of Mādhava’s Śamkaradigvijaya. These chapters are descriptions of religious pilgrimages and travels undertaken by Śamkarācārya. 5 See, for example, King, Richard. Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: The Māhāyana Context of the Gaudapdīya-Kārikā. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. 6 Rau, D.R. Vasudeva, (ed. & tr.), Nārāyana Panditācārya’s Madhvavijaya, Śrimadānanda Tīrtha Pub., A.P., India, 1983, 5.17. 7 8 Dasgupta Surendranath. A History of Indian Philosophy, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.I, p. 52. 9 Nārāyana Panditācārya’s Madhvavijaya, Śrimadānanda Tīrtha Pub., A.P., India, 1983, 1.51. evamvidhāni sūtrani krtvā vyāso mahāyaśāh | brahmarūdrādidevesu manusyapitrpaksisu | jnānam samsthāpya bhagavānkridante purusottamah | BSB 0. 10 For further reading about the link between Madhvācārya and Vyāsa, see Sheridan’s ‘Vyāsa as Madhva's Guru: Biographical Context for a Vedāntic Commentator.’ In Texts in Context: Traditional Hermeneutics in South Asia. ed. J. Timm. 109-126. NY: SUNY PRESS, 1992. 11 yasya trīnyuditāni vedavacane rūpani divyānyalam bat taddrsatamittham eva nihitam devasya bhargo mahat | vāyo rāmavaconayam prathamakam prkso dvitīyam vapurmadhvo yattu trtīyakam krtamidam bhāsyam harau tena hi | BSB 4.4.23. 12 13 vāyum hareh sutam... | Chāndogyopanisadbhāsyam 3.15.1. tasmād balapravrttasya rāmakrnsnātmano hareh | antarangam bhīmastatkāryasādhakau | Mahābhāratatātparyanirnaya 2.34-35. 14 hanumāmś ca matam hi jñānināmetasmitam trātam ca visnunā | tasmāt satyam iti proktam paramo harir eva tu iti paramaśrutih | Visnutattva(vi)nirnaya. 15 www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 15 A forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. svatantram asvatantram ca dvividham tattvam isyate | svatantro bhagavān visnur | Tattvasamkhyāna 1. 16 17 tāratamyam vimuktigam | Anubhāsya 3.3. 18 yathā yathā ‘dhikāro viśisyate evam muktāvānando viśisyate | Brahma Sūtra Bhāsya 3.3.33. māhātmyajñānapūrvastu suddrhassavato ‘hidkah | sneho bhaktir iti proktastayā muktir na cānyathā | MBhTN 1.85. 19 20 Madhvācārya believed that the Advaita school holds that knowledge alone is sufficient. 21 paramātmāparoksyam ca tatprasādād eva na jīvaśaktyeti ... | Brahma Śūtra Bhāsya 3.2.22. sarvesām ca harirnityam niyantā tadvaśāh pare | tāratmyam tato jñeyam sarvoccatvam harestathā | Mahābhāratatātparyanirnaya, 1.79. 22 23 ato niyatam varnaśramocitam karma kuru | BGB 3.8. www.irdialogue.org To submit an article visit www.irdialogue.org/submissions 16