Sripad Madhvacarya

According to the Sri Kurma inscriptions of Narahari Tirtha, his direct
disciple, Sripad Madhvacarya was born between 1238 and lived for 79
years, until 1317 A.D. This is confirmed in the Anu-Madhva-Carita.
According to the authorized biographies compiled by his disciples
shortly after his passing away, Sripad Madhva was born in the village
of Tulunada, which is located about 8 miles to the southeast of the
city of Udupi in Karnataka. He came from a family of sivalli-brahmanas
and was the son of Madhyageha Bhatta and Mother Vedavati devi.

In his Caitanya Caritamrta commentary (CC Madhya 9.245), Sripad
Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada comments: "Sripada Madhvacarya took
his birth near Udupi, which is situated in the South Kanara district
of South India, just west of Sahyadri. This is the chief city of the
South Kanara province and is near the city of Mangalore, which is
situated to the south of Udupi. Near the city of Udupi is a place
called Pajaka-ksetra, where Madhvacarya took his birth in a
sivalli-brahmana dynasty as the son of Madhyageha Bhatta, in the year
1040 Sakabda (A.D. 1118). According to some, he was born in the year
1160 Sakabda (A.D. 1238).

In his childhood Madhvacarya was known as Vasudeva, and there are some
wonderful stories surrounding him. It is said that once when his
father had piled up many debts, Madhvacarya converted tamarind seeds
into actual coins to pay them off. When he was five years old, he was
offered the sacred thread. A demon named Maniman lived near his abode
in the form of a snake, and at the age of five Madhvacarya killed that
snake with the toe of his left foot. When his mother was very much
disturbed, he would appear before her in one jump. He was a great
scholar even in childhood, and although his father did not agree, he
accepted sannyasa at the age of twelve. Upon receiving sannyasa from
Acyuta Preksa, he received the name Purnaprajna Tirtha. After
traveling all over India, he finally discussed scriptures with
Vidyasankara, the exalted leader of Srngeri-matha. Vidyasankara was
actually diminished in the presence of Madhvacarya. Accompanied by
Satya Tirtha, Madhvacarya went to Badarikasrama. It was there that he
met Vyasadeva and explained his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita before
him. Thus he became a great scholar by studying before Vyasadeva.

By the time he came to Ananda-matha from Badarikasrama, Madhvacarya
had finished his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. His companion Satya
Tirtha wrote down the entire commentary. When Madhvacarya returned
from Badarikasrama, he went to Ganjama, which is on the bank of the
river Godavari. There he met with two learned scholars named Sobhana
Bhatta and Svami Sastri. Later these scholars became known in the
disciplic succession of Madhvacarya as Padmanabha Tirtha and Narahari
Tirtha. When he returned to Udupi, he would sometimes bathe in the
ocean. On such an occasion he composed a prayer in five chapters.
Once, while sitting beside the sea engrossed in meditation upon Lord
Sri Krsna, he saw that a large boat containing goods for Dvaraka was
in danger. He gave some signs by which the boat could approach the
shore, and it was saved. The owners of the boat wanted to give him a
present, and at the time Madhvacarya agreed to take some gopi-candana.
He received a big lump of gopi-candana, and as it was being brought to
him, it broke apart and revealed a large Deity of Lord Krsna. The
Deity had a stick in one hand and a lump of food in the other. As soon
as Madhvacarya received the Deity of Krsna in this way, he composed a
prayer. The Deity was so heavy that not even thirty people could lift
it. Yet Madhvacarya personally brought this Deity to Udupi. Eight of
Madhvacarya's sannyasa disciples became directors of his eight
monasteries. Worship of the Lord Krsna Deity is still going on at
Udupi according to the plans Madhvacarya established.

Madhvacarya then for the second time visited Badarikasrama. While he
was passing through Maharashtra, the local king was digging a big lake
for the public benefit. As Madhvacarya passed through that area with
his disciples, he was also obliged to help in the excavation. After
some time, when Madhvacarya visited the king, he engaged the king in
that work and departed with his disciples.

Often in the province of Ganga-pradesa there were fights between
Hindus and Muslims. The Hindus were on one bank of the river, and the
Muslims on the other. Due to the community tension, no boat was
available for crossing the river. The Muslim soldiers were always
stopping passengers on the other side, but Madhvacarya did not care
for these soldiers. He crossed the river anyway, and when he met the
soldiers on the other side, he was brought before the king. The Muslim
king was so pleased with him that he wanted to give him a kingdom and
some money, but Madhvacarya refused. While walking on the road, he was
attacked by some dacoits, but by his bodily strength he killed them
all. When his companion Satya Tirtha was attacked by a tiger,
Madhvacarya separated them by virtue of his great strength. When he
met Vyasadeva, he received from him the salagrama-sila known as
Astamurti. After this, he summarized the Mahabharata.

Madhvacarya's devotion to the Lord and his erudite scholarship became
known throughout India. Consequently the owners of the Srngeri-matha,
established by Sankaracarya, became a little perturbed. At that time
the followers of Sankaracarya were afraid of Madhvacarya's rising
power, and they began to tease Madhvacarya's disciples in many ways.
There was even an attempt to prove that the disciplic succession of
Madhvacarya was not in line with Vedic principles. A person named
Pundarika Puri, a follower of the Mayavada philosophy of Sankaracarya,
came before Madhvacarya to discuss the sastras. It is said that all of
Madhvacarya's books were taken away, but later they were found with
the help of King Jayasinha, ruler of Kumla. In discussion, Pundarika
Puri was defeated by Madhvacarya. A great personality named
Trivikramacarya, who was a resident of Visnumangala, became
Madhvacarya's disciple, and his son later became Narayanacarya, the
composer of Sri Madhva-vijaya. After the death of Trivikramacarya, the
younger brother of Narayanacarya took sannyasa and later became known
as Visnu Tirtha.

It was reputed that there was no limit to the bodily strength of
Purnaprajna, Madhvacarya. There was a person named Kadanjari who was
famed for possessing the strength of thirty men. Madhvacarya placed
the big toe of his foot upon the ground and asked the man to separate
it from the ground, but the great strong man could not do so even
after great effort. Srila Madhvacarya passed from this material world
at the age of eighty while writing a commentary on the Aitareya
Upanisad. For further information about Madhvacarya, one should read
Madhva-vijaya, by Narayanacarya.

The acaryas of the Madhva-sampradaya established Udupi as the chief
center, and the monastery there was known as Uttararadhi-matha. A list
of the different centers of the Madhvacarya-sampradaya can be found at
Udupi, and their matha commanders are (1) Visnu Tirtha (Soda-matha),
(2) Janardana Tirtha (Krsnapura-matha), (3) Vamana Tirtha
(Kanura-matha), (4) Narasinha Tirtha (Adamara-matha), (5) Upendra
Tirtha (Puttugi-matha), (6) Rama Tirtha (Sirura-matha), (7) Hrsikesa
Tirtha (Palimara-matha), and (8) Aksobhya Tirtha (Pejavara-matha). The
disciplic succession of the Madhvacarya-sampradaya is as follows (the
dates are those of birth in the Sakabda Era; for Christian era dates,
add seventy-eight years.): (1) Hansa Paramatma; (2) Caturmukha Brahma;
(3) Sanakadi; (4) Durvasa; (5) Jnananidhi; (6) Garuda-vahana; (7)
Kaivalya Tirtha; (8) Jnanesa Tirtha; (9) Para Tirtha; (10) Satyaprajna
Tirtha; (11) Prajna Tirtha; (12) Acyuta Preksacarya Tirtha; (13) Sri
Madhvacarya, 1040 Saka; (14) Padmanabha, 1120; Narahari, 1127;
Madhava, 1136; and Aksobhya 1159; (15) Jaya Tirtha, 1167; (16)
Vidyadhiraja, 1190; (17) Kavindra, 1255; (18) Vagisa, 1261; (19)
Ramacandra, 1269; (20) Vidyanidhi, 1298; (21) Sri Raghunatha, 1366;
(22) Rayuvarya (who spoke with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu), 1424; (23)
Raghuttama, 1471; (24) Vedavyasa, 1517; (25) Vidyadhisa, 1541; (26)
Vedanidhi, 1553; (27) Satyavrata, 1557; (28) Satyanidhi, 1560; (29)
Satyanatha, 1582; (30) Satyabhinava, 1595; (31) Satyapurna, 1628; (32)
Satyavijaya, 1648; (33) Satyapriya, 1659; (34) Satyabodha, 1666; (35)
Satyasandha, 1705; (36) Satyavara, 1716; (37) Satyadharma, 1719; (38)
Satyasankalpa, 1752; (39) Satyasantusta, 1763; (40) Satyaparayana,
1763; (41) Satyakama, 1785; (42) Satyesta, 1793; (43) Satyaparakrama,
1794; (44) Satyadhira, 1801; (45) Satyadhira Tirtha, 1808. After the
sixteenth acarya (Vidyadhiraja Tirtha), there was another disciplic
succession, including Rajendra Tirtha, 1254; Vijayadhvaja;
Purusottama; Subrahmanya; and Vyasa Raya, 1470-1520. The nineteenth
acarya, Ramacandra Tirtha, had another disciplic succession, including
Vibudhendra, 1218; Jitamitra, 1348; Raghunandana; Surendra; Vijendra;
Sudhindra; and Raghavendra Tirtha, 1545.

To date, in the Udupi monastery there are another fourteen
Madhva-tirtha sannyasis. As stated, Udupi is situated beside the sea
in South Kanara, about thirty-six miles north of Mangalore.

Most of the information in this purport is available from the South
Kanara Manual and the Bombay Gazette."

From Bhaktivedanta Vedabase


There are literally hundreds of incidences, stories, to be relished,
but here we have just placed a few to give a taste of the nectar to be
had in "The Life and Legacy of Sripad Ananda Tirtha - Madhwacarya" by
Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa that is waiting to be published.

Lamenting, and in separation from such detailed pastimes, let us
continue on. When he was only 12 years old, Madhvacarya left home but
his mother insisted that she would leave her body if their only son
left. So Madhva then blessed them to have another son, he was born and
then after taking his parents permission went off to the ashram of
Acyutapreksa, his sannyasa-guru.

Madhva's sannyasa name was Purnaprajna Tirtha. His deep study of the
scriptures was unparalleled, and had convinced him of the uselessness
of the Advaita interpretation of Vedanta. He was inspired to revive
the original and pure interpretation of Vedanta which promotes
personal theism. He was to do this on the basis of a profound and
innovative interpretation of the scriptures, for which he was to
become famous. This interpretation is known as Dvaita-dvaita-vada, or
pure dualism.

After his initiation, Purnaprajna spent some time in the asrama of
Acyutapreksa where he carefully studied the Vedanta commentaries of
different acaryas, beginning with the Istasiddhi of Vimuktatman. But
soon, Purnaprajna's expertise in scriptural argument and his
determination to establish personal theism as the conclusion of
Vedanta grew to the point where he could defeat Acyutapreksa in
argument. Recognizing Purnaprajna's superior scholarship, Acyutapreksa
made him the head of his asrama. Purnaprajna was also awarded the
title Ananda Tirtha, by which he is often referred to in various
scriptural literatures.

After he became the temple authority in the asrama of Acyutapreksa,
Purnaprajna began training disciples, preaching his interpretation of
Vedanta and defeating many scholars from different schools of
philosophy, including Buddhists, Jains, Advaitins, and various
impersonalists, agnostics, logicians, and the practitioners of
materialistic religion. His success in defeating all opposing scholars
inspired him to tour South India in an attempt to preach the
philosophy of personal theism and devotion to Visnu far and wide. At
this time, he had completely formulated all the details of his
philosophical system, but had not yet committed his system to writing.

His tour of South India was quite extensive: it took him from Udupi to
the southernmost tip of India (Kanyakumari), and from there to
Ramesvaram, Sri Rangam, and many other important holy places of
pilgrimage. Wherever he went he debated the prominent scholars of the
impersonal school, smashing their interpretations of Vedanta with his
brilliant advocacy of dualistic theism. His scathing criticisms of
Sankaracarya's impersonal Vedanta met with stiff opposition, but no
one could overcome him in scriptural argument or logical debate. It is
said that when Madhva was at Kanyakumari he was challenged by a great
impersonalist scholar of the Sankara school to write his own
commentary on Vedanta if he disagreed with the teachings of the
master. At that time, it is said that Madhva promised to write his own
Vedanta commentary, fully elaborating the proper conclusions of
personal theism. At Sri Rangam he also expressed a certain degree of
dissatisfaction with the conclusions of Ramanuja's visistadvaita-vada,
in that he felt it did not go far enough to refute the dangerous
speculative philosophy of Sankaracarya. This further added to the
young Madhva's firm determination to someday compose his own
commentary incorporating his own unique interpretation.

After completing his South Indian tour, Madhva decided to tour North
India as well. With his resolve to complete his own Vedanta commentary
growing day by day, he was eager to begin the work. But Madhva wanted
to have the blessings of the author of Vedanta, Vedavyasa himself,
before beginning such an ambitious project. He set out for North India
and the Himalayas in order to achieve the benedictions of Vedavyasa,
for it was said Vyasa, being immortal, still resided in his asrama at
Badarinatha, although he never made himself visible to mortal eyes.

After a long journey by foot, Sripad Madhva finally arrived at the
Anantamatha at Badarinatha. There he remained for seven weeks,
absorbed in fasting, prayer, and devotional meditation. Inspired from
within, he hiked further up to Badarikasrama, in upper Badari, where
Vyasadeva has his hermitage. There he met Vedavyasa and explained his
commentary on Bhagavad-gita to Vyasa himself, who approved. When he
met Vyasa, he was given eight Shalagrama-silas which are known as
Astamurti. After discussing the scriptures with Vyasadeva, Sripad
Madhvacarya's understanding of their inner meaning became even more
profound. He remained at Badarikasrama for some months until he
finished composing his commentary of Bhagavad-gita, whereupon he
returned to the Anantamatha. At that time Madhva's companion Satya
Tirtha wrote down the entire commentary. At this time, Madhva also
wrote his commentary on Vedanta.

Bidding farewell to Badarinatha, Madhva began the long journey home.
On the way, he again met with and defeated many scholars of various
philosophical schools. He traveled through Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, and
Andhradesa.

Bhavishya Purana and Navadwip Dham Mahatmya depict how he went to
Navadwip and mystically met and discussed with Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, who residing in His eternal abode was due to appear some
250 years later to preach a similar message to Madhva, and so he, the
Supreme Lord discussed with Madhva to prepare for His own divine
appearance in due course.

Madhva-vijaya describes how when Madhva reached Ganjama, on the banks
of the river Godavari, he met two prominent scholars, who were
well-versed in all the important scriptures: Sobhana Bhatta, and Swami
Sastri. After converting them to his school, these scholars became
renowned as important followers of Sripad Madhva. They became famous
at Padmanabha Tirtha and Narahari Tirtha and are regarded as the
principle acaryas of the Madhva school after Madhva himself. Narahari
Tirtha is famous for his commentaries on Madhva's Gita-bhasya and
Karma-nirnaya. He was the Prime Minister of Kalinga between 1271 and
1293. Padmanabha Tirtha wrote commentaries on many of Madhva's works,
including Madhva's Brahma-sutra-bhasya, his Anuvyakhyana, and his
Dasa-prakaranas. He was the first commentator on many of the major
works of Madhvacarya.

After converting Sobhana Bhatta and Swami Sastri, Sripad Madhvacarya
journeyed through Andhrapradesa, Maharastra and Karnataka arriving at
last in Udupi. Upon his return to Udupi from North India, Madhva
confronted Acyutapreksa, who had refused to accept his ideas
previously. Now the roles were reversed guru became disciple and
disciple became guru. Some say that Madhva converted Acyutapreksa from
Sankara's Vedanta to the cause of Vaisnavism and accepted him as a
follower, but they do not know the full picture behind the gurus who
remained in hiding in which Acyutapreksha came in the line of for fear
of attacks by the mayavadis. There were over four hundred years of
gurus and disciples who couldn't dress as Vaishnavas, but instead had
to go undercover as impersonalists. (full documentation is in Jaya
Tirtha Charan dasa's "The Life and Legacy of Sripad Ananda Tirtha -
Madhwacarya")

As a result of Madhva's success in defeating opposing scholars and
gurus, his reputation spread, and enthusiasm grew for his new system
of Vedanta philosophy. As his commentaries on Bhagavad-gita and
Vedanta gained wider and wider acceptance, followers and new converts
began to join his camp from all over India, attracted by his
charismatic personality, invincible logic and scriptural knowledge,
and his inspired faith.

While he stayed in Udupi, it was Madhva's regular habit to bathe in
the ocean. One day, he was sitting on the beach absorbed in
contemplation upon Sri Krsna. At that time, he spotted a ship, bound
for Dvaraka, that was about to founder on a sand bar. He signaled the
ship to safety, and it was able to safely approach the shore. The
captain of the ship wanted to bestow some present upon Sri
Madhvacarya, and he accepted a large chunk of gopi-candana-tilaka. As
it was being presented to the acarya, the large chunk of tilak broke
in half, revealing a huge deity of Balaram. This deity was installed
in the temple on the beach at Malpe, and Madhva carried the rest to
the temple tank and submerged it there where it was revealed that
there was also a beautiful deity of Lord Krsna. (These deities were
originally carved by Vishvakarma and given to Rukmini Devi, Krishna's
consort in Dwaraka, to worship prior to His leaving this world.)
Everyone was astonished to find a Krsna deity within the block of
tilak, but Madhvacarya was not unaccustomed to miracles and accepted
it as the Lord's grace. At that time he composed some beautiful
prayers glorifying Sri Krsna, and soon after that the Deity was
installed at the temple in Udupi where it remains today. The Deity
weighed so much that even thirty men had difficulty moving it. Madhva,
however, was superhumanly powerful - it is said that he was an
incarnation of Vayu, and managed to personally carry the Deity to
Udupi.

After installing the Deity of Krsna in Udupi, he revised the system of
Deity worship, establishing a strict regimen of ceremonial ritual and
proper conduct among his followers, imposing among other things the
rigorous observance of fasting on Ekadasis.

Having achieved such great success at home, it was time for Madhva to
one more travel afar. He began a second pilgrimage to North India,
where he once again visited Badarikasrama. The Madhva-vijaya, written
by the son of one of Madhva's disciples describes how Madhva used his
sharp wits, his knowledge of many languages such as Turkish and
Persian, and his courage to overcome great obstacles in his preaching.
While on his North Indian tour, Madhva and his disciples arrived at a
place in the province of Ganga Pradesh where political tensions
between Hindus and Muslims prevented them from crossing the river. The
Hindus were on one side of the river and the Muslims on the other
side. No one dared cross, and no boat was available. Madhva and his
followers, without regard for the Muslim soldiers who guarded the
crossing, swam across the river. The entire camp was placed under
arrest. Madhva himself was taken before the Muslim King, Sultan
Jalal-uddin-Khilji, who demanded an explanation. When Madhva was
finally allowed to speak on his own behalf, he spoke in high class
"chaste Persian", addressing the king at length on devotional theism.
Seeing the intensity and saintly purity of Sripad Madhvacarya, the
Sultan's heart was softened. So impressed was he with Madhva that he
wanted to offer him land and money, but Madhva set the example of
renunciation by humbly declining the Sultan's offer.

Where wit would not help, Madhva would sometimes use his superhuman
strength to save a situation. Once his traveling companion and
sannyasi disciple Satya Tirtha was attacked by a fierce Bengal tiger.
Fearless, Madhva went to the rescue. After wrestling the tiger away
from Satya Tirtha, he sent it away with its tail between its legs.
Another time, while walking on pilgrimage through a dangerous part of
India, he was attacked by murderous dacoits, but he easily held them
off.

Madhva was a multi-faceted personality who lived a long and healthy
life. He was a natural leader who believed in physical culture as well
as intellectual, moral, and spiritual culture. He took part in many
athletic activities, such as wrestling, swimming, and
mountain-climbing, which served him well in the Himalayas. As he came
from a family of brahmanas that had descended from the warrior
brahmana and incarnation of Godhead, Parasurama, he was tall, strong,
and robust. It was reputed that there was no limit to his bodily
strength. The Madhva-vijaya records how a strongman named Kadanjari
who was said to have the strength of thirty men once challenged
Madhvacarya to a contest of strength. Madhvacarya placed the big toe
of his foot firmly upon the ground and asked Kadanjari, the famous
strongman, to see if he could lift it. Straining with all his brawn
again and again, the mighty Kadanjari was unable to move even the big
toe of Madhvacarya. According to Trivikrama Pandita, Madhvacarya was
endowed with all the thirty-two bodily symptoms of a great
personality. He had a deep, sonorous, and melodic voice and was an
expert singer. His recitation of the verses of Srimad-Bhagavatam was
regarded as being especially sweet.

In this way, Madhva traveled extensively throughout the whole of
India. He returned to South India after having visited Badarinatha,
Delhi, Kuruksetra, Benares, and Goa. After this, his travels were
mostly limited to those provinces of South India near Udupi. After
Sankaracarya, who had also traveled extensively, he was the second
important Vedanta acarya to travel throughout India, and his broad
preaching campaign had a lasting effect. Gradually, his following
grew, as great personalities from all parts of India accepted him as
guru. The Madhva-vijaya mentions that he had disciples from many
lands, and his present day followers still include the speakers of
eight different languages - Tulu, Kannada, Konkani, Maratha, Telugu,
Southern Saurastri, Bengali, and Hindi.

After returning to Udupi, Madhva once again immersed himself in
prolific literary activity. He wrote commentaries on the ten major
Upanisads. He wrote ten major philosophical treatises, the
Dasa-Prakaranas, as well as what many consider his most important
work, the Anu-Vyakhyana. He wrote a summary of Mahabharata called the
Moksa-dharma, and he also commented on Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Madhvacarya's dedication to the Lord and his deep scholarship made him
a feared and hated enemy of the followers of Sankaracarya, who had a
vested interest in maintaining their position as the only bona fide
Vedantists. It has been said, "Of all the plagues with which mankind
is cursed, ecclesiastical tyranny's the worst." The tyranny of the
acaryas of the Srngeri-matha founded by Sankaracarya led them to
attack Sripad Madhva with every means at their disposal. They employed
various means to harass the followers of Madhva. They tried to prove
that Madhva did not come from any authorized disciplic succession.
Finally they challenged Madhva to a debate.

The Sankarites chose as their champion pandita a highly learned
scholar named Pundarika Puri, who was famed for his erudition and
expertise in argument. In the debate with Madhva he was humiliated. In
arguing with Madhva Pundarika was like a schoolboy facing a professor.
Aching for vengeance, the defeated pandita arranged for one of his
cohorts, a sannyasi named Padma Tirtha, to steal a priceless
collection of ancient Sanskrit scriptures from the library of Sripad
Madhvacarya. The books were later recovered with the help of King
Jayasimha of Kumla.

After Jayasimha Raja recovered the books of Madhvacarya, an audience
was arranged between the Jayasimha and Madhva. The pandita, Trivikrama
Pandita, a resident of Visnumangala, was the foremost authority on
impersonal Vedanta in the land of Kumla and an expert poet. They met
in the temple of Kudil. At the end of the day's discourse, Trivikrama
Pandita had failed to defeat Madhva, but he refused to surrender. The
debate was continued on the following day. The next day, Trivikrama
Pandita used all of his learning, his wit, and his power of argument
in an attempt to embarrass Madhva, but after exhausting himself was
again unable to defeat him. This went on for fifteen days, when
Trivikrama Pandita, his intellect spent, his doubts destroyed,
recognized Sri Madhva as his guru. He surrendered to the lotus feet of
Sripad Madhvacarya and was accepted by him as a disciple. Madhva
ordered him to write a commentary on Vedanta. Trivikrama Pandita's
commentary is called the Tattva-pradipa. His conversion was a turning
point in Madhva's preaching mission. After his conversion, Trivikrama
Pandita's own brother and seven other important scholars took sannyasa
from Madhva and became the first directors of the eight Madhvaite
monasteries in Udupi. Trivikrama Pandita's son, Narayanacarya, later
wrote the Madhva-vijaya.

In the final years of Madhva's life, he wrote further commentaries on
the scriptures, including the Nyaya-vivarana, the Karma-nirnaya, the
Krsnamrta-Maharnava, and others. By this time, Madhvacarya was growing
old. He had completed what he set out to do. He had preached his
message far and wide, elaborated his philosophical system in numerous
commentaries, and had many trained missionaries who could carry on his
work with great energy. He had written original works of such a
profound character that they would continue to influence devotional
theism well into the 20th century. He had established the worship of
Krsna in Udupi and had given sannyasa to expert scholars and veteran
preachers such as Padmanabha Tirtha, Narahari Tirtha, Madhava Tirtha,
and Aksobhya Tirtha, who would succeed him in promoting the
philosophical ideals of pure dualistic theism. As he finished his
commentary on the Aitareya Upanisad, on the verge of his eightieth
birthday, Sripad Madhvacarya passed away from this world and entered
the eternal Vaikuntha realm with Srila Vyasadeva at Uttara Badri on
the ninth day of the full moon in the month of Magh (corresponding to
January-February) in the year 1317.

The essential principles of Sri Madhvacarya's teachings - where they
run parallel to the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu - have been
summarized by Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Prameya-Ratnavali. These
points are as follows:

shri madhvah praha vishnum paratamam akhilamnaya vedyam ca visvam
satyam bhedam ca jivam hari sarana jusas tartamyam ca tesham moksham
vishnv-anghri-labham tad-amala-bhajanam tasya hetum pramanam
pratyaksadi trayam cety upadisati hari krsna-caitanya chandra

Shri Madvacaharya taught that:

1. Krishna, who is known as Hari is the Supreme Lord, the Absolute.

2. That Supreme Lord may be known through the Vedas.

3. The material world is real.

4. The jivas, or souls, are different from the Supreme Lord.

5. The jivas are by nature servants of the Supreme Lord.

6. There are two categories of jivas: liberated and illusioned.

7. Liberation means attaining the lotus feet of Krishna, that is,
entering into an eternal relationship of service to the Supreme Lord.

8. Pure devotional service is the cause of this relationship.

9. The truth may be known through direct perception, inference, and
Vedic authority.

In his Caitanya Caritamrta commentary, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada comments, "For further information about Madhvacarya, one
should read Madhva-vijaya by Narayana Acarya."

We obviously do not have time or space to include all of Madhwa's
wonderful pastimes on this page, what to speak of go into each pastime
in detail as I have in my manuscript. Then that would only be a part
of Madhwa's pastimes, as he appeared as the Triple incarnation of
Vayudev called Mukhyapran; first as Hanuman; then as Bhima; then as
Madhva.