Sri Vidyaranya Mahaswami

Sri Gurubyo namaha

Sri Vidyaranya Mahaswami

                                

Words cannot adequately express our indebtedness to Acharyas who guide us to atma gnanam (Self-realization) which is the ultimate purpose of life and the destination of every spiritual aspirant. In this article, we will remember and pay our homage to His Holiness Sri Vidyaranya Mahaswami who was the twelfth Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham from 1377 to 1386 A.D. His name shines as a jewel among the Acharyas who have adorned this revered Muth.  His contributions to the Muth, as well as to the society at large, are enormous and led to revolutionary changes at the political, religious and social levels. Below is a brief summary of this great Jagadguru’s life and accomplishments.

Sri Vidyaranya was born around 1300 A.D. and soon blossomed into a scholar of the highest calibre. Before assuming the pontificate, he acted as the counsel for Harihara and Bukkaraya and helped them repel the Muslim invasion of Southern India by providing valuable tactical advice to them. He was the chief architect of the Vijayanagara kingdom and acted as the Asthana Guru for the rulers of this kingdom over several decades.  He strengthened the Sringeri Sharada Peetham by expanding its authority and procuring land and property donations. He also built temples at Sringeri and Hampi and established Muths to spread the message of Adi Sankara. He was arguably the greatest exponent of the advaita philosophy of Adi Sankara. Based on his profound erudition and mastery over the scriptures, he unified the disparate philosophical systems in Hinduism.

Sri Vidyaranya wrote a large number of excellent treatises which number over thirty and cover an entire spectrum of topics, ranging from medicine (vaidya sastra), astrology (jyotisha sastra), logic (vyakarana sastra) and Vedanta. Following Adi Sankara, he wrote detailed commentaries (bhashyam) to all the four Vedas.  His work called sarva darsana sangraham is noted for its in-depth analysis of each of the sixteen systems of philosophies, such as Carvaka, Buddhism, Jainism, Shaivism, Samkhya, Yoga and Advaita Vedanta. By logical arguments, he established the supremacy of Sankara’s advaita philosophy over all the others. This is particularly significant since, at that time, much confusion prevailed among scholars as well as the public regarding the relative merits of these disparate philosophical concepts. Sarva darsana sangraham brought clarity to this muddled vision and established, once and for all, the supremacy of Sankara’s advaita philosophy. Some of the other works of Sri Vidyaranya are: madava vruti which is based on Panini’s sutras  relating to Sanskrit grammar; anubhuti prakasam, which, through short stories, brings out the essence of the Upanishads; jivanmukti vivekam and drukdrisya vivekam which deal with the means to realize the Brahmam through jnana; jaiminiya nyayamala vistaram, which is based on Sage Jaimini’s sutra; Sri Sankara digvijayam, an account of Sankara Bhagavadpada’s history and glory; and, Upanishad dipika, a commentary on many Upanishads.  We learn that Sri Vidyaranya arranged to make many palm leaf copies of his works and got them distributed to various Muths; he also hid them in mountain caves and underground so as to preserve them against any onslaught by enemies. It is said that some of these were dug out during the time of British rule in India.     

  

Among the works of Sri Vidyaranya, ‘Panchadasi’ deserves a special mention. It is an authoritative and exhaustive treatise par excellence on Advaita philosophy. (This work is said to be a combined effort of Sri Vidyaranya and Sri Bharathi Thirtha, who was his brother in his purvasrama and was also his predecessor in Sringeri Sharada Peetham.)  It is an expansive elaboration of the earlier, relatively shorter works of Adi Sankara, namely, Tatvabodha, Atmabodha and Vivekachudamani, all of which address the topic of Self-realization and the required qualifications of a mumukshu, i.e. one who is seeking liberation from the cycle of life and death.  Panchadasi, as the name implies, contains fifteen prakarana-s or topics, containing a total of 1571 slokas. The first five topics are termed viveka panchakam, the next five deepa panchakam and the last five, ananda panchakam. These terms are symbolic of the three characteristics of brahmam (Supreme Consciousness or Awareness), namely, sat, chit and Ananda. Briefly, Panchadasi deals with concept of Brahmam as Absolute Awareness or Truth and the Jagat and Jivas as manifestations of this Awareness.  It also describes the means to get liberated from the bondage of karma and the resulting birth-death cycle. Like Sankara’s bhashyam  to Vedavyasa’s Brahmasutram, Panchadasi presents arguments for and against each of the advaitic tenets, before deriving conclusions in support of Advaita. It is difficult to find such an open-minded approach in some of the other religious and philosophical schools of thought. Reading and understanding Panchadasi is an important requirement for any serious practitioner (sadaka) of Self-realization. Detailed commentaries (bhashyams) on Panchadasi have been written by Achuta Swami, Sadananda and Ramakrishna Pandit. A commentary in Tamil by Kuppuswami Raju is also available (reproduced as a Sri Gnanananda Niketan Publication, 2007.)   

I would like to conclude with a quote cited in the web page of Sringeri Sharada Peetham (http://www.sringeri.net/jagadgurus/sri-vidyaranya), where additional information on this great Acharya and saint may be found:

अविद्यारण्यकान्तारे भ्रमतां प्राणिनां सदा ।
विद्यामार्गोपदेष्टारं विद्यारण्यगुरुं श्रये ॥

To souls that wander in utter dismay in the dense woods of mental ignorance, He shows the path of true wisdom; Homage to the great Saint Vidyaranya!

-- V.S. Ananthanarayanan