The extant works of the Dvaita founder-philosopher, Madhvacharya, called the Sarvamūla Granthas, are many in number. The works span a wide spectrum of topics concerning Dvaita philosophy in specific and Vedic thought in general. They are commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavadgita, Brahma Sutras and other works. The list of works are enumerated below.
Madhva, of the view that the Gita is as much a part of the religious canon as Upanishads or the Vedas, has authored two commentaries on it. His first work, Gita Bhashya is expositional while the latter, Gita Tatparya, is polemical in nature. According to Madhva, the Gita contains the distillation of the ideas expressed in the Upanishads and the Pancharatra, hence a vital part of the Vedanta tradition.
Gita Bhashya
This preliminary commentary on the Gita is the earliest example of Madhva's style which is characterised by its terseness and brevity. He quotes from a variety of rare sources and scriptures and is not an exhaustive commentary on the Gita as it concentrates only on a few verses. Madhva establishes the importance of Karma Yoga or the path of duty, which had been previously relegated to a footnote in Advaita. According to Madhva's view, the ultimate knowledge or the Aparoksha Jnana can be attained through a combination of dispassionate discharge of one's duties, acquisition of scriptural knowledge and the unconditional devotion to the higher entity. Though, according to Madhva, Bhakti represents the final and ultimate step towards transcendence, Karma and Jnana aid in "cleansing the consciousness" of the spiritual aspirant. He also takes an approach, unique to his time, that the rituals prescribed in the Vedas for rewards are not to be taken literally. He views them as mere objects of attraction for the general population that would subsequently propel them towards deeper meaning underlying the superficial performance of rituals.
Gita Tatparya
This later work of his marks a stylistic transition from the previous work in that brevity and formality of his other works are replaced by poetry and elegance. To substantiate his views, he quotes from a diverse array of sources including a non-extant text called Brahmatarka, which has led to significant speculations among the scholars about its authenticity and existence. Gita Tatparya amplifies the claims of the previous work as well as deals with the rival schools of thought, mainly that of Adi Sankara and Bhaskara. Madhva argues in favour of the reality of experiences by basing the validity of a particular experience on the pramanas or "channels of knowledge acquisition". The pramanas Madhva accepts are pratyeksha, anumana and shabda with Sakshi serving as the ultimate arbiter. Jayatirtha's Nyayadipikaserves as a commentary to Gita Tatparya.
Commentaries on the Brahmasutras">Brahma Sutras">Brahmasutras
