The Life of Madhusüdana Sarasvatî: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

What a difference eight centuries can make! Ûaõkara (8th century CE) was the founding preceptor of the Advaita (or Nondualist)
Vedånta; Madhusüdana Sarasvatî (16th–17th century) was perhaps that tradition’s last great expositor, at least in the classical period. The latter’s reputation in the tradition as an advocate and defender of the truth of Advaita is second only to that of the former. Both came from Vaishnava backgrounds,3 both seem to have taken to the monastic life at an early age. Yet the attitude of Ûaõkara toward the spirituality of bhakti was far different from that of his 16th-century successor.