Srimad Ananda Tîrtha: The Guru

The Guru
The guru is Brahma, the guru is Vishnu, the guru is deva Maheshvara. Clearly the guru is the supreme Brahman, to
that Shri Guru hail - traditional tantrik couplet
Because the guru gives mantra to a disciple and because she or he embodies the spirit and life of that mantra in an
unbroken lineage to the Rishi who first perceived it, she or he is held in the utmost regard in the tantrik tradition.
According to the 13th chapter of the influential Kularnava Tantra, there is no difference between devata, mantra and
guru. "Devata in truth is the same as mantra; mantra in truth is the same as the guru. The fruit of the worship of the
devata, mantra and guru is the same." (Ram Kumar Rai translation).
Liberation cannot be obtained by reading the Vedas or studying the shastras (sacred texts), the same Kaula tantra
says. Only knowledge (jnana) gives liberation and that depends on the grace of the guru, who is one with Shiva and
Shakti. "If the guru first mentally awakens the pupil and then reveals to him this high knowledge of Kula, then both
enjoy direct companionship of Yogini and Vira and even cross this worldly ocean effortlessly." (Kularnava Tantra,
II. 39-40).
But a Kaula guru may behave in a different way from a disciple or the ordinary world expects, because she or he is
liberated. "One may be like a child, a madman, a king, or like one in a swoon, independent minded, like a lord hero,
like a Gandharva, or like a naked person, a tridandin or like one who sells Veda for cash. Effulgent One, the way to
be is to act howsoever one wills, knowing both Akula and Devi's Kula." (Kaula Jnana Nirnaya, XII. 3-6.)
This tradition of the "crazy" guru is embedded deep in the lore of the tantriks and the Nathas and has its value in
shaking the conditioning of someone who aspires to be a Kaula, the tradition avers. For similar reasons, some
elements of the tantrik tradition in India, such as worship in cremation grounds, the consumption of pig flesh and
some sexual practices, were intended to rattle orthodox tendencies in tantrik pupils. (For a full exploration of this
topic, see Holy Madness by Georg Feuerstein, Arkana 1992).
While orthodoxy appeared to regard women as inferior to men, the Kaulas took a different approach. Initiation from
a female guru is held in the highest esteem, as she is Shakti on earth. The female guru is Ananda Bhairavi and the
male guru Ananda Bhairava, together in sexual union, drinking the intoxicating wine of consciousness which is bliss
(ananda) itself. Below, we find a meditation (dhyana) and an armour (kavacha) devoted to the Stri or female guru,
ascribed to the Brahmayamala. The armour in the first translation is made up from the vidya (mantra) of the female
guru. After this is a short hymn (stotra) to the male guru from the Matrikabhedatantra, in which his identification
with Shiva is plain. The bija or root mantra of the guru, illustrated left, is Hskphrem.
Srimad Ananda Tîrtha

Srimad Ananda Tîrtha, also known as Sukha Tîrtha, Pûrnabodha, and Pûrnapragnya, is the founder of the doctrine of
Tattvavâda. He is the last of the great Achâryas of Vedanta, and is also the 22nd commentator on the Brahma-Sûtra
of Veda Vyâsa. His doctrine asserts, as has already been noted elsewhere, that the differences are eternally real, and
that hence there is more than one absolute real, and that Hari (Vishnu) is the only entity praised in the Shrutis and
their adjuncts. Thus, he always identifies the Brahman of the Upanishads with Vishnu, and forcefully argues against
the dichotomy of Shrutis (tattvâvedaka / atattvâvedaka) as claimed by Sri Shankarâchârya, saying that such
arbitration of apaurusheya scripture is unacceptable both logically and spiritually. He also emphasizes that it is
important to understand and specifically reject other schools' precepts, and hence devotes much time to nitpicking
analyses and denunciations of other doctrines.
Srimad Ananda Tîrtha is commonly identified with Madhva, the third avatâra of Mukhya PrâNa, the god of life, as
given in the BaLitthâ Sûkta of the Rg Veda. The first two avatâra-s are as Hanumân and Bhîmasena, and the third is
Madhva, who came down to Earth as a sanyâsî, in order to avoid decimating the forces of evil (as he had done on
the previous two occasions, and as he would have done again -- upsetting the flow of Kali Yuga in the process -- if
he were not a sannyâsî). Srimad Ananda Tîrtha himself makes the claim to being Madhva in several instances, one
of which is in the Vishnu-tattva-vinirnaya verse given on the cover page of this section. It was recognized in his own
time, and it has been documented, that he had all two-and-thirty shubha-lakshaNa-s that define a rju-tâttvika-yogî,
including the prescribed height of six-and-ninety inches ("shaNNavati angulo.apetam") quoted in the Mahâbhârata-
Tâtparya-Nirnaya.
However, he is firmly set against the notion of accepting doctrines because they come from prophets or claimed
gods -- he refuses to accept that it is possible to derive a meaningful spiritual system based on any but the
apowrusheya texts (the Vedas/Upanishads/Shrutis) and their adjuncts (the Iti-hâsas, PurâNas, etc.). He also
dismisses claims that only part of the Vedas are useful, and claims that even the so-called karma-kâNDa portions of
them are only meant to worship Hari.
The earliest and most authentic biography of Srimad Ananda Tîrtha is the Sumadhva-Vijaya, a.k.a. Madhva Vijaya,
by NârâyaNa Pandita, the son of his close disciple Trivikrama Pandita. There are other English biographies by C. M.
Padmanabhachar, C. N. Krishnasvami Ayyar, S. Subbarao, and C. R. Krishnarao, among others, but these are not
truly independent efforts, since they draw very deeply upon NârâyaNa Pandita's work.
Madhva was known as Vâsudeva, as a child, and was born in response to a prayer by some brâhmana-s of the
Bhâgavata sampradâya, as a result of which Vishnu, who Himself does not incarnate during Kali Yuga, ordered His
chief aide Mukhya PrâNa a.k.a. Vâyu to go to Earth, and rescue the mumukshu-s from the unrelenting deluge of the
illusionist schools. Therefore, Vâyu was born in Pâjaka-kshetra, near Udupi (in modern Karnataka state), to
Madhya-geha Bhatta. Even as a child, he was extraordinary in every respect, and repeatedly astounded his teachers,
and performed several miracles, a notable one being when he freed his father from the clutches of a loan shark, by
giving him a handful of tamarind seeds which satisfied the latter completely. He also killed the demon MaNimanta,
who attacked him in the form of a snake, by crushing the snake's head under his toe.
At the age of eight or thereabouts, he announced to his parents his intention to take up sanyâsa, and on noting their
distress at this pronouncement, promised to wait until another son was born to them. Finally, at the age of eleven,
upon the birth of a younger brother (who many years later joined his order as Vishnu Tîrtha) he was ordained into
sanyâsa, whence he was given the name Ananda Tîrtha by his guru Achyutapreksha Tîrtha, a.k.a. Achyuta-pragnya
Tîrtha. Soon afterward, when his guru attempted to educate him, he astounded the former by his knowledge. It is
said that when his guru tried to teach him the noted Advaita text IshhTa-Siddhi, he pointed out, to Achyutapreksha
Tîrtha's amazement, that there were 30 errors in the very first line of that work, where its author Vimuktâtman pays
obeisance to himself by saying something like: "The only truth is the soul's empirical knowledge. In the presence of
this truth the world appears to be an illusory play. The essential soul manifests itself as I, you and everything..."
It was this profound knowledge of all subjects that earned him the title of "PûrNa-pragnya," for "the one of complete
wisdom." The initially discomfited but finally greatly pleased Achyutapreksha Tîrtha soon gave up trying to educate
the master, and himself made a full conversion to Tattvavâda, under the name Purushottama Tîrtha.
Srimad Ananda Tîrtha is known for his skill at debate and repartee, which were amply evident when he roundly
trounced all opponents who dared take him on. One early convert to his school was Shobhana Bhatta; after losing to
Madhva in debate, he accepted the latter as his Guru, and was given sanyâsa under the name Padmanâbha Tîrtha.
Two other noted opponents whom PûrNapragnya defeated in debate and converted to ardent devotees, were
Trivikrama Pandita, and Shyâma Shâstri -- the latter accepted sanyâsa as Narahari Tîrtha.
Madhva made two trips to Badarikâshrama, the abode of BâdarâyaNa a.k.a. Veda Vyâsa, and on the first, obtained
the imprimatur of BâdarâyaNa Himself for his Bhâshya on the Bhagavad Gita, when the latter made the correction
"vakshyâmi leshataH" ("I state infinitesimally"), in place of "vakshyâmi shaktitaH" ("I state as best as
I can"). He also founded the Krishna temple at Udupi, when he rescued by his spiritual power a ship in distress on
the high seas, and got from its captain the apparently useless gift of a large mound of gopi-chandana mud that had
been used as the ship's ballast, and which broke open to reveal the long-concealed icons of Krishna, Durga, and
Balarâma. This is believed to be the occasion when he composed the Dvâdasha Stotra, a set of twelve stotra-s in
praise of Vishnu that is collectively counted as one of his seven-and-thirty works.
There are many notable incidents on record involving Srimad Ananda Tîrtha, and it is futile to hope that a short
piece like this one can capture even the essence of his mission correctly. However, in brief, two of them are the ones
where he lifted and displaced a boulder weighing tons that was obstructing some construction; an inscription
("Anandatîrthena eka-hastena sthâpitâ shilâ") made on the boulder at the time attests to the event
to this day. On another occasion, he led some disciples to a spot where he showed them the long-buried weapons of
the PâNDavas, including the great mace he had wielded to telling effect as the mighty Bhîmasena.
Visual evidence, if one may call it that, of Srimad Ananda Tîrtha being Madhva, the avatâra of Vâyu, was obtained
by Trivikrama Pandita when the latter had the great fortune to observe the three forms of Vâyu worship
simultaneously -- Hanumân worshipping Râma, Bhîmasena worshipping Krishna, and Ananda Tîrtha worshipping
Vyâsa. On that occasion, Trivikrama Pandita composed the Hari-Vâyu Stuti, also called just Vâyu Stuti
("shrimadvishhNvaN^ghrinishhThâ atiguNa gurutama shrimadânandatîrtha ..."). Madhva
himself validated the Vâyu Stuti by adding the mangalâcharaNa shloka-s, called Narasimha- nakha stuti
("pântvasmân.h puruhûta vairi balavan.h ..."), to be chanted in the beginning and at the end of the
Vâyu Stuti. This very short work of just two shloka-s is counted as one of his thirty-seven grantha-s.
Srimad Ananda Tîrtha disappeared from amidst an audience, after giving a lecture on the Aitareya Upanishad, on the
ninth day of the shukla paksha in the month of Magha in 1317, and now is permanently in Badarikâshrama, where
he serves his master Bâdarâyana in person

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The Guru

Srimad Ananda Tîrtha

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