Today is the appearance day of Sri Madhvacharya. We remember him every day in Guru Parampara. Madhvacharya is not an ordinary person. He is Hanuman. He is Hanuman in Tretayuga, Bhima in Dvaparyuga and Madhvacharya in Kaliyuga. The followers of Madhvacharya’s school of thought say, ram krishna veda-vyasatmaka lakshmi haygrivaya namah. The worshipable object of Hanuman is Ram, the worshipable object of Bhima is Krishna and the worshipable object of Madhvacharya is Vedavyas Muni. He is the direct disciple of Vedavyas Muni. Madhvacharya is an incarnation of Bhima. He is very powerful. His father’s name is Madhyageha Sri Narayan Bhatta and mother’s name is Vedavati Devi. His place of birth is Pajakakshetra in the village Udipi, which is North of one of the major cities in South Karnataka, Mangalore. About eight miles towards South-East corner of Udipi, a mountain named Vimanagiri is situated on the banks of the river Papanashini. The birth place of Madhvacharya, Pajakakshetra, is situated about one mile on the eastern direction of this Vimanagiri Mountain.

One day Madhvacharya was sitting on the sand. While Madhvacharya was deeply immersed in the remembrance of Sri Krishna, he saw a ship loaded with merchandise paraphernalia that was meant for Dvaraka, sinking in the sea water. As soon as he made some Mudras (signs or gestures) in order to make the boat float, that boat reached the shore safely. When the passengers of the boat requested him to accept something in return, he agreed only to accept some gopi-chandan that was on the boat. He took a huge portion of gopi-chandan and on his way (back), the piece broke at a place called Badabandeshwar and a beautiful Deity of Bala Krishna (little Krishna) was found inside. In one hand, Bala Krishna is holding the curd churning rod and in the other the rope used for churning.

At the age of twelve, he took sannyas (renounced order of life) from Sri Achyutapreksa without the knowledge of his parents. His sannyas name was Sri Purnapragya Tirtha. After the coronation ceremony, he was known as Ananda Tirtha and after he exhibited the pastime of an Acharya he was known as Sri Madhvāchārya.

Once Sri Madhvacharya told his father Madhyageha Sri Narayan Bhatta that he would refute the Mayavad philosophy of Sri Shankaracharya. Shankaracharya spread Mayavad by the order of Vishnu.

māyāvādam asac-chāstraṁ
pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate
mayaiva vihitaṁ devi
kalau brāhmaṇa-mūrtinā
(Padma Purana 6.236.7-11 and Caitanya Charitamrita Madhya 6.182)

Shankarji is saying to Parvati, “In Kaliyuga, I will take birth as a Brahmin and will spread Mayavad which will be called as covered Buddha-vad”.

Listening to Madhvacharya’s insolent statement, his dissatisfied father told him, "Sri Shankaracharya's philosophy is widely spread and respected in the entirety of India. I do not think that there is any capable person who could refute his philosophy. I consider your achieving this task as impossible as the staff in my hand becoming a tree and bearing fruits." After listening to his father's words Sri Madhvacharya addressed him, "My dear father! If I transform your staff into a tree and make it bear fruits, then will you believe?" Saying thus, the powerful Madhvacharya took the stick from his father's hands, threw it on the ground with great force and said, "O stick! If I can refute Mayavad philosophy then immediately transform into a tree and give fruits." Immediately the stick became a tree and gave very sweet fruits. Sri Madhvacharya gave the fruits to his father and others. Seeing such an uncommon incident, his father could understand that he is not an ordinary child, that he would become a greatly elevated soul gifted with transcendental power and believed that through him the Mayavad philosophy would be refuted. And truly, Madhvacharya had written 'Mayavad-shata-dusani' in which he had shown one hundred defects in the Mayavad philosophy.

sampradaya vibinamshcha mantraste viphala matah
athou kalau bhavishyanti chatvara sampradayane
sri brahma rudra sanaka vaisnava kshiti pavana
(Padma Puran)

“The Mantra which is not taken from a bonafide sampradaya (preceptorial channel) will be futile. In Kaliyuga there will be mainly four bonafide sampraday, namely, Sri, Brahma, Rudra and Sanaka.”

Our Param Gurudev demonstrated a great example in this regard. Before starting each of his discourses, he paid obeisance to Guru Paramapara. He teaches us that one cannot speak about the transcendental realm unless he gets the blessings from above.

Therefore, Mahaprabhu enacted the pastime of accepting a sampraday to establish a proper following for others. The special quality of Madhvacharya’s school of thought is: aradhya nitya—the worshipable object is eternal and also aradhaka nitya—the worshiper is also eternal. He refuted the Mayavad contention which says jiva brahma eva na parah—jiva is Brahma (Bhagavan). When there is the belief that jiva is Bhagavan, then bhakti cannot exist there. Madhvacharya showed one hundred faults in the Shankracharya’s Mayavad contention. Therefore, Mahaprabhu accepted Madva Sampraday. All Vaishnav sampraday accept the thought of aradhya nitya and aradhaka nitya. Sri Sampradaya’s Ramanuja, Brahma Sampradaya’s Madhvacharya, Rudra Sampradaya’s Vishnuswami, Vallabhacharya and Sanak (Kumar) Sampraday’s Nimbarkacharya. Mantras descend through these sampradayas. Mantra is without any effect if it is not accepted from a bonafide sampraday.

Today is appearance day of Madhvacharya. He is founder Guru (Mool Guru). He is extremely powerful. What can he not do? May he deliver us from Mayavad line of thought which is against bhakti and give us pure devotion. We pay innumerable prostrated obeisances unto the lotus feet of Madhvacharya and pray for his grace.