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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.
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