Madhva

Modern representation of Madhva

Madhva ( Sanskrit : मध्व Madhva [ mʌd̪ʱʋʌ ]) or Madhvacharya ( मध्व Madhvacarya [ mʌd̪ʱʋɑːtʃɑːrjʌ ] * by 1238; † around 1317) was an Indian philosopher and founder of the Dvaita school of Vedanta .

Life

Madhva was born near Udupi in what is now Karnataka , the son of a Brahmin . Details of his life can be found in the Madhvavijaya hagiography by Narayana Panditacarya, one of his followers. In mathas or monasteries that follow the Dvaita there are also others, e.g. Some epigraphic sources on his life exist.

According to tradition, Madhva is said to have been an incarnation of Vayu . He was both of an astute philosophical mind and of tall and strong stature. At an early age, against his father's initial will, he had become a sannyasin . He studied advaita, but was very dissatisfied with it. He decided to create his own religious tradition, based on his monotheistic view and including a new theology .

In debates in South India, which he held while traveling, he developed polemics against Advaita, and then began to make a literary career. His main work is the Anuvyakhyana , which refers to the Brahmasutras . Among his numerous writings are commentaries on the Mahabharata , the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita .

Madhva also traveled to northern India to hold debates and reached many converts in the process. He is said to have performed numerous miracles in his life. For example, he turned tamarind grains into coins, successfully fought fights with robbers and wild animals, crossed the Ganges without his clothes getting wet and his pupils, when the lamp went out at night while laying out a text, the lesson through light, which the Nails streamed from his big toes, continued. The lineage of the Madhva Gurus, of which he was the first, has continued for 700 years to this day. The Asta-Mathas, which were founded in Udupi by Madhva's followers, have also survived to this day.

Teaching

According to Madhva's teaching, there is an Eternal and Almighty God whom he identifies with Vishnu . According to Madhva, the concept of God in the Vedas is only applied to Vishnu and scriptures that contradict this are unauthorized. With such human terms, however, God's nature can never be fully described. He is eternal, not arose, imperishable, omniscient and merciful and showed people the way to salvation in the form of several avatars .

The devas are the souls of the dead who are born again as a result of good works in the heavenly worlds and are executive organs of the will of God, which also applies to Vayu and Lakshmi . They are also mortal and some of them could, after their death, descend again into lower levels of existence. Their worship is only justified if God is worshiped through them, since they are not beings to be worshiped alone, which must also be taken into account in the worship of images . The worship of the devas for their own sake, polytheism , was therefore an apostasy that occurred in Treta-Yuga from true faith, which did not yet exist in Satya-Yuga .

The teaching of Advaita, about the unity of souls and God, is also wrong. The souls are different and subordinate to God. God built the world out of them and primordial matter . There are three kinds of souls: those who are capable of salvation , those who remain in samsara , and those who have entered into eternal damnation .

Christian and Islamic Influences?

Due to the similarities of Madhva's teaching with that of Christianity and Islam, there are assumptions according to which he was influenced by members of both religions. However, the level of knowledge about the Christian communities during Madhva's lifetime is poor and Madhva's contacts with Christians are not known.

The Madhvavijaya , however, tells of a meeting between Madhva and Muslims. Accordingly, he is said to have told the Sultan of Delhi in fluent Persian that both worship the same one God of the universe and that he spreads belief in him. The Sultan was so impressed that he wanted to give half of the empire to Madhva, which Madhva refused.

The Indologist and religious scholar Helmuth von Glasenapp assumes that monotheism can also be derived from the Indian world of thought and that there is ultimately no reason to support the thesis that Christian or Muslim impulses influenced Madhva's ideas about the afterlife.

literature

• Denise Cush, Catherine Robinson, Michael York (Eds.): Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Routledge, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7007-1267-0 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Madhva in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Helmuth von Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Faith, Geistesströmungen des Ostens Vol. 2, Bonn 1923, Introduction p. * 3.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, Introduction pp. * 1-2.
3. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, Introduction pp. * 11-12.
4. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, Introduction pp. * 6-7.
5. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, pp. 28-29.
6. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, pp. 30–31.
7. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, p. 32.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, pp. 67-68.
9. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, p. 75.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, p. 71.
11. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, p. 85.
12. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, p. 14.
13. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, pp. 41–42.
14. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, Introduction p. * 30.
15. ↑ ^{a b c d} Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, Introduction pp. * 28-29.
16. ↑ Jeffrey Armstrong: "Difference is Real!". The Life and Teachings of Sri Madhva, One of India's Greatest Spiritual Masters , HinduismToday.com, July / August / September 2008.
17. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, Introduction pp. * 5-6.
18. ↑ Glasenapp: Madhva's Philosophy of the Vishnu Belief, Introduction p. * 34.