Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
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‘krtaprayatnāpeksastu vihita pratiśedhāvaiyarthādibhyah' (II. 3. 42) God is not a heady despot. The Vedic commands and prohibitions are valid and meant for the jīva who is a valid kartā. At the same time God has his own just procedure. Madhvachārya cites Bhavisyatparva : Pūrvakarma prayatnam ca samskāram ca apeksya tu Ishwarah kārayet sarvam, tat ca Ishwarkrtam svayam. Anāditvāt adosascha pūrnasaktitvato Hareh20. God bases his motivation of jīva on his previous karma, his effort, his samskāra, which Jayatirtha aptly glosses as yogyatā21 the innate worth, and gets jīva into action. There is no infinite regress about the jīva's karma since it is anādi, beginningless (and not pre-determined by God). That is, God does not do anything unilaterally or arbitrarily but on the objective basis of the innate standing of each jīva. This particular scheme shows that jīva is not fatalistically compelled by karma into action. It is God who empowers the entire cluster of constituents of any action and makes it possible for jīva to perform. The jīva has to bear his cross but God enables him to do so. God also cannot be charged with partiality (vaisamya) or ruthlessness (nairghranya) when he moves a worthy or unworthy soul to appropriate course of action, since he works on the datum that lends itself to specific action. Michelangelo is reported to have said, 'I do not carve a figure. I am like a midwife. I only deliver a figure which is already embedded in the stone' 22 God simply facilitates the career of a jīva to evolve himself to his telos. In a sense the jīva is a kartā, but under the guardianship of God. In the latter sense you can even call him a non-doer as he cannot do anything unless he is moved by God. Similarly, God is the true doer, since they jīva is impotent without his impulsion. He is also a non-doer, since he is only a detached facilitator. All said and done God is the Unmoved Mover and the jīva is the nondoing doer.
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The construction of argument in a work like the Brahmasutra is necessarily an act of logical and metaphysical system-building. The deepest of convictions could sound sectarian and partisan. But Madhvāchārya's systematic defence of his intuitions permeates his entire oeuvre and becomes the backbone of a world-view which sees God as the sovereign providence and man as the willing agent in a cosmic purpose. Samples of his thoughts in his other works like Bhāgavata Tātparya Nirnaya, Mahābhārata Tātparya Nirnaya, Gītā Bhāşya and Gīta Tātparya show how he elucidates the great metaphysical tenets to focus the entire body of his thought on the ultimate destiny of the human soul on the one hand and the efficacy of the Divine purpose on the other.
Commenting on Śrīrimad Bhāgavata, XI.7.8, he writes:
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