ajAti vAda

large numbers of sannyAsins from kshatriya and vaiSya communities to the daSanAmI
orders, in order to form a group of martially trained ascetics to protect the people. This
most probably reflects historical fact. Armed nAga sannyAsin warriors, tracing their
origins to madhusUdana sarasvatI, and affiliated with the daSanAmI akhADas, were a
component of almost every Rajput army in northern India, till fairly recent times.
Tradition also recounts that viTThaleSa, the son of vallabhAcArya of the SuddhAdvaita
pushTimArga school, studied under madhusUdana sarasvatI, who thus forms a crucial
link between advaita vedAnta and many vaishNava sects in the north.
In the 18th century, sadASiva brahmendra and upanishad brahmendra were very
important teachers in southern India. sadASiva brahmendra was a disciple of
paramaSivendra sarasvatI (author of Siva gItA vyAkhyA and dahara vidyA prakASikA)
and grand-disciple of abhinava nArAyaNendra sarasvatI, who wrote many upanishad
dIpikAs. sadASiva wrote AtmavidyAvilAsa, advaitarasamanjarI and other popular
works. [16] Numerous legends are reported about his saintliness, the miracles he worked
and the height of his brahman realization. His simple kIrtanas are meant to teach advaita
values to even the most illiterate person, and are very popular in Carnatic music today.
He passed away in Nerur in Tamil Nadu, where annual ArAdhanas are held at his
samAdhi-sthala. The sannyAsins in sadASiva brahmendra's lineage lived and taught in
the extreme south of India, and were widely known, but their maTha affiliations, if any,
are not known.
rAmacandrendra sarasvatI, disciple of vAsudevendra sarasvatI, was popularly
called upanishad brahmendra. He was the first author in the advaita tradition to write
commentaries on all the 108 upanishads listed in the muktikopanishad. His
commentaries are considered to be authoritative, and are quite popular among sannyAsin
communities in the south. In the tradition of samanvaya used in the brahmasUtras, he
harmonizes the various doctrines found in these texts, and weaves their extensive
religious lore into the consistent philosophical framework of Sankaran advaita.
upanishad brahmendra lived and taught in Kancipuram in the south. He established hiw
own maTha at Kanci, which continues to this day, under the leadership of illustrious
sannyAsins. Tyagaraja, the great composer in Carnatic music, was a disciple of
upanishad brahmendra.
The 20th century: In the 20th century, there has been an enormous amount of activity in
terms of publishing manuscripts, translating works of the advaita masters, and writing
commentaries in English and in Indian languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali. The "neo-Vedantin" groups have contributed
immensely towards bringing a greater awareness of advaita philosophy to the West and
the common man in India. The list of people is too large to mention, so here I only
mention those who have composed philosophical texts in sam.skRta in the traditional
style. I also exclude Indian and Western academic scholars and philosophers, who were
non-dualists, whether due to an interest in traditional advaita vedAnta or otherwise. This
is because I believe that while these other authors are contributing a lot to the interest in
advaita philosophy, those who carry on the work of writing sam.skRta commentaries and