This is generally believed to
be the last of Madhwacharya’s works. Just like the Rg Bhashya, here too Madhwacharya
shows himself as being conversant with the Vedic language and its idiom.
Here too Madhwacharya takes
us to the supreme Being who he calls Vishnu and the underlying thread of this
work is the glorification of Vishnu.
There is an interesting legend
behind the composition of this work.
Madhwacharya had come to a
temple in Ucchabuti near Ujire.
Today, Ujire is a small
town near Dharmastala and it is situated in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina
Kannada district.
When Madhwacharya and his
disciples went to the Janardhana temple,
some of the seers assembled there questioned him on certain aspects of Vedic
Mantras and procedures. They thought that as Madhwacharya was a monk, he might
not know details about Vedic sacrifices, their meanings and details.
Others accused Madhwacharya of
only propagating Tattvajnana as he was not well versed in the karmakanda of the
Vedas
Madhwacharya, however,
stunned the gathering when he easily outsmarted the gathering and defeated them
in the argument. He easily tackled all the queries that the seers put to him and
gave them convincing answers about several aspects.
The seers accepted defeat and
requested him to explain Mahaa Naamni Mantras of Aitreya Aranyaka. Madhwacharya
then explained to them the meaning and significance of Mahaa Naamni Mantras. He
then wrote them in the form of a book which he called Karma Nirnaya.
This book is also known as Kandartha
Nirnaya. This work too gives us a totally new interpretation of the Vedas just
as the Rg Bhashya did. Scholars say the Karma Nirnaya is only next to
Visnutattva Nirnaya in its extent. It deals with many sacrificial hymns that
are generally recited in connection with the Prstha Stotra of the Naiskevalya Sastra,
says BNK Sharma, a scholar.
It also deals with the
concept of Karmakanda in conjunction with the Brahman. Madhwacharya interprets
the Karmakanda in the light of supremacy of Vishnu.
He takes on the theory of
Nirguna Brahman and attacks it, saying how can God be without attributes or form.
This comes in the opening section where he says Vishnu is Saguna or a supreme
being with attributes.
To Madhwacharya, the Brahman is immortal,
imperishable, eternal, and thus the basis of the impersonal Nirguna. He
says this is clearly stated in the Geeta. For him, the personal form
indicated is generally Narayana or Vishnu.
Madhwacharya then cites several
passages in the Vedas investing several attributes to the Brahman. He says the denial
of
attributes to the Brahman in
some scriptures must be interpreted only in terms of Prkritic attributes.
He also refutes the concept
of Nirvisesa preached by Shankaracharya. How can a Brahman have no
characteristics or nirguna of its own, he asks. Shankara had preached that the
Brahman has no individual or personal characteristic. Madhwacharya here says
there is a personal characteristic as there is a difference between the Creator
(Vishnu or Paramatma) and the created (Atma).
Madhwacharya says Nirvisesatva
cannot be negative.
The gathering accepts these
arguments and then proceeds to question the Acharya on the Mahaa Naamni Mantras,
their meaning and how Upasargas or prepositions should be joined to those
Mantras.
Madhwacharya says that prepositions
like pracetana, pracetaya, aayaahi, pibamatsva, kratuccanda ritham, bruhat,
sumna aadehi No vatso should be added to the riks “adhatanyam jatere
prema” and others to get the correct meaning of the mahaa naamni riks.
Madhwacharya then goes on to record the
meaning of Mahaa Naamni riks in this book.
He says even works dealing
with karmas are actually
hymns in praise of Vishnu. He,
therefore, chooses a mantra in the Mahaanaamni meter which apparently praises
Indra and explains its significance with reference to Vishnu.
He then goes on to interpret the
entire Mahaanaamni hymns word by word. He concludes the work with this
Mangalacharana sloka
namo nArAyaNAyAja
bhavazkroSNa rUGmu khaiH |
sadA vandita pAdAya
zrIpAya preyase -dhikam ||
The
English meaning says “I prostrate at the lotus feet of Narayana who is very dear to Madhwa and one who
is worshipped by deities like Brahma, Rudra, Indra, Surya and others.
The Acharya tells us here
that is very important to know and understand the etymological meaning of a
word in addition to the traditional one. He then goes on to say that if Vedas
are interpreted etymologically, it can give us the ultimate meaning of Vedas.
He says,
“rUDhiyOgau vinA
kashchinnairvArthO vEdagO bhavEt|
tatrApi yougikO mukhyaH sarvatrAsti sa vaidekE||”
tatrApi yougikO mukhyaH sarvatrAsti sa vaidekE||”
Here, he says the
etymological meaning should be taken. He asks people to follow the
epistemological meaning (yOgArtha) along with the regular meaning of usage
(rUDhArtha). He rates the epistemological meaning as more important than the
other.One of the best commentaries on this work is by Jaya
Theertha. The first however is by Narahari Theertha.
By the way, the Lakshana
Granthas (2), Khandana Traya (3),
Tattva Granthas (4) along with Karma Nirnaya are collectively known as Dasaprakaranas.
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