Mankind is ignorant about the true nature of God, of man, and of the Universe and their relation to one another. So the ever merciful Lord Sri Vishnu deputed Sri Vayu to be born on earth to fulfill. His mission, namely to show man the way to reach Him, and to get rid of the misery and ignorance. Smruthis, Sruthis and Puranas extol Hanuman, Bhima and Madhwas as the three incarnations of Sri Vayu. Sri Madhwacharya himself has openly declared in about 10 of his 37 works that he is such. There is a saying which tells that there is no Guru equal to Sri Madhwa. There is no sastra equal to the divine words of Sri Madhwa and there in no person to equal him in knowledge, power and action in the three worlds.

Sri Madhwa was born in 1238 on the Vijayadasami day at a place called Pajakashetra near Udupi. His father was Madhya-geha Bhatt and mother was Vedavathi. The child was called Vasudeva. After his Upanyanam he studied the Vedas under a guru; and at sixteen years of age he was initiated into Sannyasa by Achutapreksha and bore the name Poornaprajna, meaning completely enlightened and wrote all the thirty seven works under the name, Ananda Theertha. The tradition holds the view that he was the messenger of Lord Narayana. As Hanuman he served Sri Rama, and as Bhima he served Sri Krishna and as Madhwa he served Sri Vedavyasa. Sri Madhwa, by his scholarship and powers of debate won many a dispute. He converted Adwaitins, including his guru Achutapreksha.

Sri Madhwa's life and work were authentically written by Sri Narayana Pandithacharya a contemporary to Sri Madhwa in a book called Sri SumadhwaVijaya. It has been acclaimed as an authoritative work and accepted by one and all. It is a great composition, a Mahakavya. Tradition says that daily recitation of Sri SumadhwaVijaya brings fortune, health, spiritual knowledge and bliss.
Madhwa's works can be divided into different classes; ten Upanishads, two works on the Gita, four works on the BrahmaSutras, ten independent philosphical tracts, a work on Mahabharata and one on Bhagavata, and one on the daily rites. The rest seven are (Stotras) hymns in praise of God. The one Dwadasa Stotra is in twelve little chapters. They all total up thirty-seven in number.

Sri Madhwa's philosophy is unique and is based on the authority of the Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Pancaratra Agamas. The unique feature of his interpretation is that he harmonizes all the passages in the light of a single principle that they adore and glorify the infinite auspicious qualities of Lord Narayana, who is the supreme Reality. This is the first gem among the nine gems of his thought. The second most important thought in Sri Madhwa's philosophy is the infinite plurality of souls. He proclaims that five-fold differences are eternal. The souls are different from one another, as well as from God and the world. The world is different from the souls. The different aspects of matter differ among themselves. This is the celebrated Panchabheda. This difference persists even in moksha. Even after release souls are graded in respect of their perfection. The souls are also of the nature of gunas. So they are in the nature of prakriti. Another important doctrine is that the world according to Sri Madhwa is real. It is the creation of God and  not created by man. If man created it why are we not perfectly happy? He insists on bhakthi as the method to attain the Lord. It is supreme attachment to the Lord based on the complete understanding of the greatness and the supremacy of the Lord which transcends all kinds of love. This kind of amala bhakthi alone secures moksha.

The philosophy he preached was previously known as "Tattwavada". Now it is known as "Dwaita". He lived seven hundred years ago. He boldly said to a Muslim King: "By whatever name you may call Him, God is One". He maintained that one's religious nature is not decided by birth but by his nature and personality. The Acharya's knowledge, scholarship and achievements made him a great savant. Among the galaxy of Acharyas of our country, three stand out: Acharya Shankara who preached Advaita (Monism), Acharya Ramanuja who preached Vishishtadwaita (a blend of Monism and Dualism), and Acharya Madhwa who preached Dwaita (Dualism).

"This world is an illusion; only God is true," said Shankara.

"God is the soul of the universe; hence this body is also real," said Ramanuja. "This universe is a playful creation of God. Let us not try to diminish it by denouncing it," said Madhwa.

In old texts, Acharya Madhwa's Dwaita philosophy - is described as 'Tattwavada'. He maintained: "This world is not an illusion. God is not a magician. He signifies the duty of truth. This world should be considered as a school to understand God's greatness."

Information courtesy Sri Bananje Govindacharya