Śrī Rājīva uvāca:-
[Śrī Rājīv spoke]:-

[Aum. My best salutation goes to Shri Guru Datta and then to Śrī Madhvācārya. O Guru Datta! Please explain the three philosophies of the three divine preachers called Śrī Śaṅkara, Śrī Rāmānuja and Śrī Madhva. Finally, tell me which philosophy should be followed by human beings for their spiritual welfare.]

[O Datta! I heard that You have correlated the three divine philosophies of Śrī Śaṅkara, Śrī Rāmānuja and Śrī Madhva. How did You do the correlation? I am becoming very anxious to hear the correlation of the three philosophies.]

Śrī Datta Bhagavān uvāca:-
[God Śrī Datta spoke]:-

[All the three divine preachers are one only, who is called as Guru Datta. God Brahmā incarnated as Śrī Madhva, God Viṣṇu incarnated as Śrī Rāmānuja and God Śiva incarnated as Śrī Śaṅkara.]

[The original sequence of God Brahmā (Śrī Madhva), God Viṣṇu (Śrī Rāmānuja) and God Śiva (Śrī Śaṅkara) was reversed while they incarnated on the earth. This means that Śrī Śaṅkara came first, Śrī Rāmānuja came next and Śrī Madhva came last. Śrī Śaṅkara spoke about the incarnation of God like Rāma, Kṛṣṇa etc. Śrī Rāmānuja spoke about climax devotees like Ādiśeṣa, Lakṣmaṇa etc. Śrī Madhva spoke about divine servants of God like Hanumān, Bhīma etc. Out of these three, Śrī Madhva became very close to all the human beings on this earth. Śrī Madhva became very near and dear to all souls by preaching the spiritual path to all the ordinary human beings.]

[The example for Śrī Śaṅkara's Monism is Krishna, who is a human soul born to Vasudeva. But, He is the ultimate unimaginable God. This is the monism of Śrī Śaṅkara. God Viṣṇu always lies on Ādiśeṣa without separation (Apṛthak Karaṇam) and is like a limb, like an eye. Seṣa means limb. Here, the actual limb shall not be taken. ‘Without separation’ means that none can separate him from the devotion of God Viṣṇu. Limb is a part of the whole body and hence, Śrī Rāmānuja told that such special devotee like Śeṣa is a part of God. Hence, both Śrī Śaṅkara and Śrī Rāmānuja are also correct in their specific examples.]

[In the philosophy of Śrī Madhva, all the human souls are embraced, which were left by Śrī Śaṅkara and Śrī Rāmānuja. He said that the soul is the servant of God and the soul shall always serve God. The ideal example of the soul in the service of God is Hanumān, projected by Śrī Madhva. Śrī Śaṅkara dealt with only one example in the generation, which is the human incarnation. Śrī Rāmānuja dealt with a very few number of climax devotees. Śrī Madhva dealt with all the leftover ordinary human beings.]

[The followers of Śrī Śaṅkara and Śrī Madhva quarreled unnecessarily by superficial knowledge and did not care for the internal knowledge of examples. A follower of Śrī Śaṅkara said that the soul is God. A follower of Śrī Madhva said that the soul is not God. The quarrel started between the two followers due to the absence of deep enquiry. In the first case of the follower of Śrī Śaṅkara, the soul referred was God Krishna. In the second case of the follower of Śrī Madhva, the soul referred was an ordinary worldly-bound human being. Now, there is no quarrel between the two philosophies. Monism of Śrī Śaṅkara is correct in the case of God Krishna and dualism of Śrī Madhva is correct in the case of an ordinary human being.]

[You should not argue that Śrī Śaṅkara told that every soul is God. He told it in the case of atheists, who never accept a separate God other than themselves. Śrī Śaṅkara has to tell inevitably that (i) every soul is God and hence, atheist agreed since there is no God other than him. Then, Śrī Śaṅkara told that (ii) the soul exists for which atheist agreed. Then, Śrī Śaṅkara told that (iii) since soul is God, God exists. Atheist agreed to this and said that God exists. Like this, with the help of three statements (Jñāna Yoga), Śrī Śaṅkara turned atheist into theist. Then, Śrī Rāmānuja came and turned the atheist-converted-theist into a theoretical devotee (Bhakti Yoga). A white lie (Arthavāda) was told by Śrī Śaṅkara for a good purpose of converting atheist into theist. Finally, Śrī Madhva came and turned the theoretical devotee into practical devotee (Karma Yoga), which is the final step to achieve salvation from worldly bonds and subsequently to reach God.]

[When Śrī Śaṅkara came, the entire country was filled with atheists (Pūrvamīmāṃsakas and Buddhists). Hence, He has to deal with them in the above inevitable way only. No other way is useful other than this way. Every Divine Preacher out of the three Divine Preachers knows the entire path of Jñāna Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga, which means every Divine Preacher is omniscient (Sarvajña). All the three Divine Preachers divided the total path into three equal parts like three parts of a road are taken by three contractors to lay down the concrete road. All these three divine preachers are the divine trinity of God (God Brahmā, God Viṣṇu and God Śiva).]

[Till recently, in our tradition, at the beginning of every ritual, everybody was conducting a worship called “Matatraya Tāmbūlam” in which all the three divine preachers were worshipped by submitting three tāmbūlas (betel leaves with betel nuts) reciting the Vedic hymn “Trīṇi trīṇi vai devāḥ.” In the modern times, due to the increase of ego, this part of the ritual suddenly disappeared!]