Aksobhya Tirtha

Birth

Akshobhya Tirtha (Akshobhya means “the undisturbed”) is part of an important group of little known spiritual masters in the vaisnava lineage. 

The acaryas from Sripad Madhvacarya to Madhavendra Puri were a mystery for most of us. Fortunately, there are documents that exist on the lives and teachings of these great souls, and we will make a humble attempt to search them out and publish as much detail as possible for the benefit of humanity at large. Sri Aksobhya Tirtha is a logical beginning point because he is the Guru of one of the most important personalities of our line, Sri Jayatirtha.

 

From Sankaracarya to Madhvacarya

Aksobhya Tirtha was born in Karnataka, South India on 1238 DC. The documents in India are often given according to the Saka calendar, according to which the year of birth was 1159. Sakabda begins in 78 DC, so at the birthday of Aksobhya we must add 78 years. His birth name was Govinda Sastri.

Govinda was an intelligent young man and particularly attracted to philosophy. He began to study the popular monistic doctrine called Advaita-vada. Propounded by the great philosopher Sankaracarya, this doctrine based on the Upanishads concludes that there is no individuality on the spiritual platform and everything is one homogeneous consciousness which is the ultimate reality of existence.

When Govinda met Sripada Madhvacarya at Udupi, he could understand the superiority of the principles of Dvaita-vada, according to which there is a qualitative difference between the Supreme Soul and the individual soul. This understanding directly opposed Sankaracarya’s monistic viewpoint. Govinda renounced materialistic life and was initiated by one of Madhvacarya’s disciples, Madhava Tirtha.

 

 Who gave initiation to Aksobhya?

Some documents claim that Aksobhya was initiated directly by Madhvacarya. The Vyasa-raja Matha claims that Padmanabha, Nrhari, Madhava and Aksobhya were all direct disciples of Madhvacarya.

However, the three previous Acaryas of our line (Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura) dispute this claim and state that Aksobhya was a disciple of Madhava Tirtha (not to be confused with Madhva).

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura says:

aksobhyas tasya sisyo 

‘bhut tac-chisyo jayatirthakah

“Sri Madhava Vipra was a disciple of Sri Narahari, and Sri Aksobhya became the disciple of Madhava Vipra. Aksobhya’s disciple was Sri Jayatirtha. 

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati says:

nhara madhava-bamse, aksobhya paramahamse, sisya boli ‘angikara kore aksobhyera sisya jaya-tirtha name paricaya, tara dasye jnanasindhu tore

“The other two main disciples of Madhva were Nrihari Tirtha and Madhava Tirtha. Madhava Tirtha accepted the great paramahamsa Aksobhya Tirtha as a disciple. The principal student of Aksobhya Tirtha was known as Jayatirtha, serving whom was the main purpose of Jnanasindhu’s life.

Sri Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes:

“Padmanabha Acarya is the disciple of Madhvacarya, and Narahari is the disciple of Padmanabha Acarya. Madhava is the disciple of Narahari, Aksobhya is the direct disciple of Madhava, and Jayatirtha is the disciple of Aksobhya.

This is a section of the book “Brilliant As the Sun”(English).

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