Anandanubhava is a prolific writer on Advaita during the 12th century CE. Anandanubhava is the author of three important works on Advaita Vedanata – ishtasiddhivivarana (a commentary on the Ishtasiddhi of Vimuktatman), Nyayaratna-dipavali and padartha-tattvanirnaya. In Nyaya, he wrote a commentary on the Nyayasara of Bhasarvajna. The fact that his works, Nyayaratna-dipavali and Padartha-tattvanirnaya was commented upon by Atmasvarupabhagavan, establishes the scholarly nature of his works.
Ishtasiddhivivarana and Padartha-tattvanirupana have so far
not been published. In Padartha tattvanirupana, Anandanubhava criticizes the
ontology of the Nyaya-Vaiseshikas and the Bauddhas, and establishes the
Advaitic viewpoint. Nyayaratna-dipavali, like Brahmasutra, consists of four
chapters, with the same names ascribed to them, i.e. samanvaya, svirodha,
sadhana and phala. In the first chapter,
the validity of Vedic cognitions is discussed. The viewpoint of Advaitins, that
Vedic testimony is an authentic source of knowledge, because it is apauruseya,
and that the validity of knowledge is intrinsic, is upheld with proper arguments.
Also, it is maintained that the blend of Brahman with maya is the material cause
of the world. In the second chapter, the so-called textual contradictions are
resolved, and different theories of error are discussed and criticized, upholding
the anirvacaniyakhyati. In the third, perceptuality of verbal cognition and place
of karma in the process of liberation and renunciation are discussed. The last
chapter elaborately sets out the nature of liberation, jivanmukta, and the
locus of avidya.