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Madhusudana Sarasvati was an Indian philosopher in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
He was born in Bengal, and originally called Kamala-nayana Bhattacarya. He was educated in the Navya-Nyaya tradition in Navadvipa under the logician Harinama Tarkavagisa and Mathuranatha Tarkavagisa. He later became a monk and moved to Varanasi in order to study the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta.
Madhusudana wrote a total of twenty-one works, all involving the defence and exposition of Advaita Vedanta. Some of which are as follows:
1. Vedanta-kalpalatika - an original work on Advaita Vedanta.
2. Siddhanta-bindu -a huge commentary on the dashashloki stuti of Sankaracarya
3. Bhakti-rasayana - explains bhakti from the Advaita point of view
4. Gudartha-dipika - a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita
5. Advaita-siddhi - refutes the attack on Advaita Vedanta by the Dvaitin Vyasa Tirtha
6. Advaita-ratna-raksana - refutes Naiyayika Sankara Misras' attack on the Advaitic work Khandana-khanda-khadya of Sriharsa
7. Siva-mahimna-stotra tika – a commentary on Siva-mahimna stotra
8, Prasthana-bheda - describes the 18 branches of sastras.
9 Samksepa-sariraka-vyakhya - a commentary on Samksepa-sariraka of Sarvajnatma Muni, a famous abridgement of Sankara’s Vedanta-sutra bhashya
10. Atma-bodha-tika - commentary on the Atma-bodha of Sankara.
The largest and most respected word=k of Madhusudana is the Advaita-siddhi, which opposes the Dvaita Vedanta of Madhva and the arguments against Advaita given in Vyasa Tirtha's work Nyayamrta. Most Advaita teachers maintain that all the logical issues raised by the Dvaita school of Madhva have been more than sufficiently answered by Madhusudana.
The Advaita-siddhi has four sections. The first deals with the matter of how and why the world of duality is unreal. The second deals with Brahman, the sole reality. The third describes sravana (hearing), manana (inquiry into what one has heard), and nididhyasana (contemplation on the truth) and their efficacy in achieving liberation. The last section deals with liberation itself.
It is also interesting to note that Madhusudana boldly differs from Sankara in some of his interpretations of the Vedanta-sutras and the Gita.
