Appayya Dikshitar lived around the sixteenth century and records show that he was multi-faceted and multi-talented in philosophy, the sastras, literary graces, poesy and so on. He is believed to be an incarnation of Siva. Hailing from a family well-versed in the Vedanta tradition, he easily mastered the scriptures early in life. Inspired by Adi Sankara’s exposition of Advaita siddhanta, Appayya Dikshitar naturally imbibed its core values and spirit and has restated the authority of the acharya’s credo at a time when other systems of philosophy had emerged around the Advaita system. The epithet ‘Advaita Stapanacharya’ is thus equally applicable to him.
In a discourse, Sri R. Krishnamurthy Sastrigal drew attention to not only the depth of his profound sastra jnana, but also his thorough mastery over other branches of learning such as other sciences, metaphysics, poetics and alankara sastra. His works sparkle with his wisdom even as they stand out for his unbiased stance which is devoid of any prejudice. He has explained in detail not only Adi Sankara’s bashya on the Brahma sutra, but also those of others such as Ramanuja and Madhava that expound the philosophies of Visishtadvaita and Dvaita. He gives an impartial explanation of these schools of thought. He always maintained that all systems of thought would merge in the ocean of Advaita, the storehouse of all philosophies. He also would often state that all Gods are one, and hence accept that he has no preference over the gods or the philosophies. But he also proclaimed that Siva is his Ishta devata.
His other great forte is his devotion and he shows that when wisdom is aligned to devotion, the efficacy of spiritual sadana is confirmed. His many hymns on various deities are powerful statements of faith and have stirred many to the path of devotion. They contain the essence of sastra jnana as well.
