Prephase

Srimad Ānandathērtha was a 12th century saint who re-established the Vēdānta doctrine of 'tatvavāda', the doctrine based on realism and theism. His 'tatvavāda' philosophy is mostly famous as 'Dvaita', the Dualistic Vēdānta. He is usually referred to as Madhvāchārya. However, his signature in many of his writings refers to him as "Srimad Ānandathērtha Bhagavad Pādāchārya".

Īśāvāsyopaniṣat Bhāshya is a commentary on Īśāvāsa Upanishad, the first of the ten primary Upanishads on which Madhvāchārya has written Bhāshya.

Madhvacharya is always cognizant of the hermeneutic horizon of these ancient texts and the possible bias the person may bring with their own current background, beliefs, cultural context, and historical situated-ness to the act of interpretation. Hence, he quotes extensively from the traditional texts that are considered being near to original texts hermeneutic horizon to establish his point of view. Such texts include Vedas, Pancharatra, and Puranas, which are considered as authentic by the classical Indian philosophical tradition. He gives more importance to the unbroken knowledge lineage than to interpret the words in isolation, as per our distorted current context.

It is always a pleasure to listen to Madhvāchārya. His superior rational intellect, crisp to the point commentary, his vast encyclopaedic breadth on Vēdic texts, and his unwavering devotion to Sage Vyāsa have always fascinated me. I hope you will enjoy studying this rendering of his work, as much as I enjoyed compiling it.

- Madhukrishna Sudhindra