Question: I was reading the book by Pandit B.N.K. Sharma, “The teachings of Madhva in His own words”. I find that he has very strong arguments for reality of the world and individuality of souls (as different from each other). According to Advaita, differences are due to illusion, i.e. actually wood is same as rice which is same as iron etc. So isn’t it natural to expect that if someone is actually realised in Advaita, he must be able to subsist on air/wood or anything and not insist on having conventional food stuffs, e.g. rice etc. (Which are all illusory visons of the homogeneous Brahman). In general I find the Dvaita school to be quite a formidable counter philosophy to Advaita, what is the Advaitic defence to Madhva’s arguments. Do Advaitins have any counter questions to Dvaita?
Answer: The whole philosophy of Shankara and his followers do counter the arguments of Dvaita and all other schools. And the same with the Dvaitins. If you are really interested in, you should read the commentaries on Brahmasutras by Shankara and his followers as well as Madva and his followers.