Acharya traya    

Ramanujacharya

Shankaracharya

Madhwacharya

Shankaracharya

788 - 820 A.D

"One of the greatest philosophers and savants of Bharat, who in his short life span of thirty two years, breathed new life into Hinduism, by his erudite interpretations of the scriptures and by establishing four spiritual centers in the four corners of the country, to uphold the essential unity of the holy land of Bharat".

  Shankara  propounded  Advaita philosophy (Monism). According to him “ The difference between God and man is one of degree. Ultimately they are one and the same. That which is within the man is called ‘Atman’ and that which embraces the universe is known as ‘Brahman’. ‘ The Brahman alone exists; all the rest is Maya (illusion). The individual soul (Jeevatma) is Brahman alone and nothing else.”

Born in a Namboodari family at Kaladi in Kerala, Shankara also known as Adi Shankara and Shankara Bhagavatpada, wrote commentaries on the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita, Brahma sutras, and Vishnu Sahasranama. He wrote several manuals of which, “Vivekachudamani” and ‘Upadeshasahasri’ are renowned.  Besides, he produced over thirty devotional songs (Stotras), in praise of Ganesha, Shiva, Parvati, Rama, Krishna and Hanuman. Of these the ‘Bhaja Govinda Stotra’ on Krishna and ‘Soundarya Lahari’ (containing one hundred stanzas) on goddess Parvati, are very captivating. He established four ‘Mathas’ one each at Sringeri in the South, Badrinath in the Himalayas,  Dwaraka on the West coast at Puri on the East coast.

  Vaishaka Shukla Panchami, (fifth day in the second month of the Hindu Lunar calendar) which falls in either April or May, is celebrated as Shankara Jayanthi.

“ The life of Shankara makes a strong impression of contraries. He is a philosopher and a poet, a savant and a saint, a mystic and a religious reformer. Such diverse gifts did he possess that different images present themselves, if we try to recall his personality. One sees him in youth, on fire with intellectual ambition, a stiff and intrepid debater another regards him as a shrewd political genius, attempting to impress on the people a sense of unity; for a third he is a calm philosopher engaged in the single effort to expose the contradictions of life and thought, with an unmatched incisiveness; for a fourth, he is the mystic who declares that we are all greater than we know. There have been few minds more universal than his”.
 Dr S.Radhakrishnan.

  “ In his short life of 32 years, Shankara achieved that union of sage and saint, of wisdom and kindness, which characterizes the loftiest type of man produced in India”.
                         Will Durant.                            

Ramanujacharya

1017 – 1137 A.D

Chief exponent of the Vishistadwaita  (combination of monism and dualism) philosophy, and a great social reformer, he preached the oneness of mankind.

Vishishtadwaita teaches that god himself is the highest reality as well as supreme value. God the  merciful can be realized through the Bhakti marga (devotion). He is the teacher, the friend, the father, the mother, the child and even the beloved.

It was the Alwars, the Vaishnava devotees of Tamilnad, who lived between the sixth and the ninth centuries of the Christian era, who widely popularized the Sri Vaishnava religion. They devoutly worship Sri Rama and Sri Krishna, the incarnations of Vishnu. The devotees worship Mother Lakshmi, the Devine consort of Vishnu. The twelve Alwars, were drawn from all castes of the Hindu religion.  ‘Some of the Alwars worshipped by Brahmins, were in fact born as Shudras, which demonstrates the broad mindedness of the Brahmin class’.(R,G).

  The tradition of Acharyas (teacher, Guru) began after the Alwars. Among them Yamunacharya was the first. The next in succession was Ramunajacharya.

Ramunaja was born in 1017 at Sri Perambudur, about 30 miles from Chennai, to Keshava Perumal and Bhudevi who lived in a temple. Ramanuja was a very bright child with an inquiring mind and phenomenal memory. He was married at age sixteen.  Trapped in a incompatible marriage, he renounced and took Sanyasa, in the presence of lord Varadaraja.  He thus became ‘Yatiraja’.

After residing and enhancing his spiritual knowledge at Kanchi, Srirangam  Tirupathi, Kashmir and other places he returned to ‘Srirangam’ in Tamilnad  where he presided over the religious order.

  Later, under threat of life from a Chola king, who would not accept any God other than Shiva, he came to Karnataka and lived there for twenty years. He was instrumental in building the famous  ‘ Chaluvanarayana’ temple at Melukote, and other temples. Later under favorable circumstances he returned to Srirangam  where he attained eternal bliss.

 Besides writing great commentaries on the Brahma Sutra (called Sribhashya) and the Bhagavadgita, Ramanuja wrote ‘ Vedantasara’, Vedantadipa’ and ‘Vedarthasangraha’.

Madhwacharya

1238 -1317 A.D

The saint who propounded the  ‘Dwaitha philosophy’ (Dualism), and installed the idol of Sri Krishna  at Udupi, in Karnataka. His followers regard him, as the incarnation of Vayu, who manifested in previous lives as  ‘Hanuman’ and  ‘Bhima’.  

Dwaitha philosophy, unlike Shankara’s Advaita, makes a distinction between, ‘Atman’ and ‘Brahman’ (Dualism) and rejects all notions to reduce the world of souls and nature to illusion (Maya). The individual soul is dependent on God, since it is unable to exist without the energizing support of the universal spirit.

Madhwa was born in a small village of Pajaka near Udupi, to Nadillaya Narayana Bhatta and Vedavati and was named Vasudeva at birth. He was a child prodigy who could recite from the Vedas at age seven and was initiated into  ‘sanyaasa’ at age twelve.  Given the name of ‘Poornaprajna’, by his Guru Achyutaprajna., later he was installed as the official head of the Vedantic seat and given another name of Anandatirtha. Madhwa became his religious name.

  The Acharya wrote the famous ‘Prasthanatraya’ – commentaries on the Gita, the ten Upanishads and the Brahmasutras. His other works are, ‘Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya’ ‘Krishnamrita Maharnava’, ‘Tantrasara Sangraha’ and ‘Tithi Nirnaya’ (a unique work on mathematics). The Acharya was proficient in music also, and wrote   “Dwadasha Stotra”.

After leading a fruitful life of 79 years, Madhwacharya left for Badrinath, on the ninth day of Magha maasa Shukla paksha, of the Pingala nama Samvatsara (1317 A.D). None saw him afterwards. This day is observed as Madhwa-Navami, when people pay homage to the great Acharya.