Advaita Makaranda of Lakshmidhara is a treatise on the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. The text consistsof 28 verses in anustubha meter. The author expounds the whole philosophy of Advaita so lucidly that it can be understood even by a person who has little exposure to the philosophy of Adi Shankaracharya. The text emphasizes the chief Advaita doctrine that it is brahma jnana (the knowledge per se), which is the cause of removal of bondage. The individual self is analyzed to be indestructible, essentially identical with the supreme self and hence ever realized. The idea that world experience is like that of a protracted dream projected in a prolonged state of sleep and the notions of heaven, liberation and the like are explained. The author tries to prove that ideas like the universe, individual self, disciple, teacher and even Ishwara (God) are the products of the illusion which appear in a state of avidya (ignorance) and the essential nature of the self (I) is that it does not have either a beginning or an end; it is self-luminous and absolute (verse 27). Lakshmidhara emphasizes that liberation dawns on a person by the direct experience of the Brahman arising out of the hearing of mahavakyas (verse 26).
Lakshmidhara seems to have flourished during the first half of the 15th century CE. He was the son of Narasimha and Simhala and disciple of Anantananda Raghunatha Yati. Some historians opine that he was the nephew (sister’s son) of Sayana and Madhava of Vijayanagara fame and flourished during the reign of Devaraya (I) in 1406 CE. Considering his other works, Lakshmidhara, the author of Advaita Makaranda, seems to be different from Lola Lakshmidhara who wrote a commentary on Saundaryalahari. One writer, R. Subrahmanian, in his book Suryavamsi Gajapatis of Odisha, says that Lakshmidhara migrated to Krishnadevayara’s court in 1520 CE from the court of Prataparudra Deva (which was situated at Cuttack in Odisha) and wrote Advaita Makaranda.
Commentaries On Advaita Makaranda
Vasudeva Sarvabhauma (1550 CE) the well known Navyanyaya scholar, wrote a commentary on this text. Because of persecution by Sultan Hussain Shah of Bengal, Vasudeva left Navadvipa and took shelter in the court of Prataparudra where he wrote his commentary. Rasabhivyanjika was written by Svayamprakasha who declared himself to be student of Kaivalyananda Yogindra to be a student of Kaivalyananda Yogindra and Suddhananda. He is identified with the teacher of Acyutakrishnanda Tirtha (1650 CE), the commentator of Siddhantalesha Sangraha. In the first verse of the commentator’s epilogue, Svayamprakasha informs us that the commentary has been written by him at the behest of Purushottama (purushottama sasanat). The word Purushottama stands for Jagannatha and the place is also named after that. The word sasana stands for a village endowed by the king for settling Brahmins; hence this text might have been written at Puri.
Panapatri of Goplaramakavi is another lucid commentary on the text. There is a small commentary (copied by Harisastri Bhide) in which there is no mention of the commentator and the manuscript is deposited at the Saraswati Mahal Library in Thanjavur. The other unpublished commentaries authored by Vamsidhara, Purnananda Tirtha and Harirama are found catalogued.