Madhva

Madhva was a South Indian philosopher and theologian, based at Udupi in present-day Karnataka, who founded the Dvaita (dualist) school of Vedānta. Writing commentaries on the Brahma Sūtras, the Upaniṣads and the Bhagavad Gītā, he argued against Śaṅkara's Advaita that the difference between God, selves and the world is real and permanent. His school stands alongside Advaita and Rāmānuja's Viśiṣṭādvaita as one of the major Vedānta traditions.

Key ideas

• Reality includes five real and eternal differences: between God and selves, God and matter, self and self, self and matter, and matter and matter.
• God (Viṣṇu) alone is independent; selves and the world are real but wholly dependent on God.
• The world is not illusion: against Advaita, perception of plurality is veridical.
• Liberation comes through devotion and God's grace, and liberated selves remain distinct from God.

Major works

• Brahmasūtra Bhāṣya (commentary on the Brahma Sūtras)
• Anuvyākhyāna
• Gītā Bhāṣya (commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā)

In the conversation

• Debate Rāmānuja’s question ‘whose ignorance?’ is the objection Advaita never answered Govinda Prasad Upadhyaya · 6 replies