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on speaking strongly in Çréla prabhupäda’s service 4
The Vedic tradition, although not one of crusades, inquisitions,
pogroms, or jihads, has nevertheless always been (until relatively
recently) philosophically highly polemic. Why so was established
by Ädi-Çaìkara:
An opponent might say that indeed we are entitled to establish our
own position but there is no apparent point in a refutation of other
opinions, a proceeding that produces nothing but hate and anger. We
reply that there is a point: There is some danger that men of inferior
intelligence will look upon Säìkhya and similar systems as requisite for
perfect knowledge because those systems have a weighty appearance,
have been adopted by authoritative persons, and profess to lead to
perfect knowledge. They may therefore think that those systems with
their abstruse arguments were propounded by omniscient sages and,
on that account, might have faith in them. For this reason we must
endeavor to demonstrate the intrinsic worthlessness of such systems. 1
All great Vaiñëava äcäryas, particularly Madhva and his discipular
adherents, were unabashed in dismantling the faulty philosophical
constructs of their adversaries (primary among whom were Ädi-
Çaìkara and his followers). Madhva established, practically as the
modus operandi of his sampradäya, what Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta
Sarasvaté would later term “the chopping technique”—that a
devotee who is firmly grounded in service to the truth speaks
clearly and forcefully in a manner that offers no scope for
wrong conclusions; he thoroughly criticizes all mistaken ideas,
even those that have had longstanding wide acceptance among
respected persons. All of his refutations are backed by evidence,
to benefit others so that they can unmistakenly distinguish reality
from illusion and, without any lingering reservations, also apply
themselves to the service of the truth.
1 Brahma-sütra-bhäñya, Ädi-Çaìkara,
2.1.1.