Conditions before advent of Acharya
Towards the end of dvApura yuga, Lord vEdavyAsa classified the
Vedas and composed the brahmaSutras, MahAbhArata and 18 puranas
to help the virtuous grasp the import of the vEdas correctly and
unambigously. Through the Kurukshetra war and other incidents,
Lord Krishna had rid the earth of all bad elements. Dharma was
on an even keel.
Things had drastically changed by the turn of the thirteenth
century. Large parts of India were under muslim rulers. Hindus
were struggling to maintain their religion against the onslaught
of other religions. People were becoming confused due to the
multiplicity of doctrines from different religious leaders.
There were 21 commentaries on the brahmaSutras, each claiming to
represent the real intent of VedavyAsa and the true spirit of
Vedanta. Each new commentator began his work soundly criticising
all the previous commentaries.
According to the Sumadhva Vijaya (SMV) , an authentic biography
of Acharya Madhva, the gods were very unhappy at this sorry
state of affairs. They approached Lord ViShNu and asked him to
save sanAtana dharma (eternal and timeless vedic religion). Lord
ViShNu has a self-imposed rule not to incarnate in Kaliyuga, so
he directed Vayu to incarnate on earth and reestablish sanAtana
dharma. Vayu received the Lord’s command with devotion and
complete humility, like accepting a crown on his head. The
prayers of other gods were worn on his breast like a precious
necklace.