GREAT GURUS (3)

SRI Madhvacharya was born on Vijaya-daśami day of 1238 CE at Pājaka, a tiny hamlet near Uḍupi. Nārāyaṇa Paṇḍitācārya who later wrote Madhvacharya's biography has recorded the names of Acharya's (Ācārya) parents as Narayana Bhaṭṭa (Naduilaya in Tulu) as name of the father and Vedavati as Ācārya's mother. They named him Vāsudeva at birth. Later he became famous by the names Pūrṇaprajña, Ānandatīrtha and Madhvācārya (Note: In this article, Acharya is transliterated as Ācārya). Before the birth of madhvacharya ,when his parents had gone for a purchase in the market, a beggar climbed a dhvaja stambha and announced:-"Bhagavan vaayu deva is going to take birth in Paajaka kshetra to a couple".The prediction made by the beggar was discussed by the parents of acharya till they reached home. Even as a child, Vāsudeva exhibited precocious talent for grasping all things spiritual. He was drawn to the path of renunciation and even as a young boy of eleven years, he chose initiation into the monastic order from Acyuta-Prajña (also Acyuta Prekṣa), a reputed ascetic of the time, near Uḍupi, in the year Saumya (1249 CE). The preceptor Acyuta Prekṣa gave the boy Vāsudeva the name of 'Pūrṇaprajña' at the time of his initiation into sannyāsa.

A little over a month later, little Pūrṇaprajña is said to have defeated a group of expert scholars of tarka (logic) headed by Vasudeva-paṇḍita. Overjoyed at his precocious talent, Acyuta Prekṣa consecrated him as the head of the empire of Vedānta and conferred upon him the title of Ānanda Tīrtha.

During his lifetime, Madhvacarya wrote many important commentaries on the Upanisads, Bhagavad-gita,

Brahma-sutra, Mahabharata and the Bhagavata-purana. In addition, he wrote many original works that dealt with important aspects of his new doctrine. In all, he wrote 37 works. Not only did Madhvacarya’s powerful literary output help to establish his teachings during his own lifetime, it has inspired a vast literary tradition that continues to the present day.

The final years of Madhva were spent in teaching and worship. In the end he instructed his followers not to sit still, but to go forth and preach. His biographers tell how Madhvacarya disappeared one evening while reciting his favorite text, the Aitareya Upanisad. Gandharvas and other heavenly beings
gathered in the sky above him and showered flowers. They describe how he suddenly disappeared from underneath this mass of flowers and now he now resides, beyond ordinary vision, with Veda Vyasa at the high mountain hermitage of Badari.