Sri Sri Sri Tadepalli Raghavanarayana Shastry Garu-part-7

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Dear Members,

 

(Tadepalli Garu)

 

Last part we saw how Tadepalli Garu evaded Nagaraja.

 

In Tadepalli Garu's 90 years of sacred existence in Andhra, He spent 80 years doing intense worship and japa of Sri Balatripura Sundari.His emnated a rare aura and varchas which came out of such arduous austereties.

 

Once, Tadepalli Garu had gone for KasiYatra(the Hindu ceremonial visit to Kasi once a year).Unbeknownst and unseen to others Mother Ganges showed Her hands adorned with gold bangles and asked Him alms! She asked, "What gift did you bring for me?"

Shastryji was flabbergasted! He could not see Her form or Her face, just Her hand popping up from water with divine auric vibrations!

 

He could not believe His eyes.He managed to take out the "Dharba-mudi"(a ring made from Dharbagrass used for Tarpana,shraddha,Ganga Kriyas,etc) adorning his ring finger in Her hand!

 

Then He came to the bank and while doing the Devatarchana He found the same "Dharba-mudi" in the Samputi.He was now concerned as to why the ring came back to Him? He wondered whether it was a mere hallucinative experience and that the ring had gone nowhere and remained in the Samputi? or whether He committed some ApacharaM(irreligious act) or some Anouchityam(inappropriate act) and incurred the displeasure of Ganga Bhavany?

 

So He went into a meditative trance and invoked Divine Mother Ganga humbly seeking clarification.

 

 

 

Mother Ganga Devi came before Him and said, "When I asked for a gift why do you give that 'Dharba-mudi', do you want me to wear that 'Dharba-mudi' ring as an ornament from you? That can be used by your for doing Shraddha(cleansing of the ancestral manes) and for Pithru-tarpana and not as an adornment(Abharana) for me."

 

He replied, "Amma! I did not bring anything for you. Im a poor brahmin and whatever I had at that time without any thought I gave it to you('Analochita kriyamuga' were the exact Telugu words He used)"

 

She replied back, "What will I do with this? I need the ornament your wife has brought for me, bring that!"

 

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ............> Slowly Shastryji got up from the trance,He went and asked His wife Srideviamma.She had indeed brought an ornament('Kaasula Golusu') for Ganga Bhavany! but she forgot all about it.

 

He immidiately went to the banks of Ganga and prayed with all His heart to Bhavany and then offered the 'Kasula Golusu' to Gangambika.

Such was the closeness of various deities and the great Srividya Upasaka Tadepalli Raghavanarayana Shastry Garu.

('Aa dampathulaku devathalaku unna chanuvu alaantidhi!')

 

 

 

 

 

In a similar vein a lot of such miraculous stories abound in the narration of Sri Cheruvu Satyanarayana Shastry Garu's Granthas about this Srividya adept.

 

 

 

Another incident is where Tadepalli Garu once started one night on a journey to Narsapuram from Bheemavaram.That night lot of dacoits(murders and plunderers) came to loot Him.He calmly looked at them and asked them "Will all of you do a Puja to Ammavaru(Divine mother) with me? After that you can take whatever you want from me." The dacoits were perplexed.They looked at each other and finally relented. They all sat and did the Ammavari-puja. After the Puja was over the dacoits said, "We are blessed. We will not loot hereafter wayfarers, please accept us as your disciples."

 

He replied with tears in his eyes, "You dacoits are better than modern people.I show just a small love to you and you leave everything and come behind me in search of God. How many can do that tell me? Indians in America(don't forget Shastryji lived during our times and entered samadhi in 1990) forget our culture and lead artificial lives fooling themselves that they worship Gods and do meditation but they are just fake, you are the real people, nearer to God.You are innocent people who have been led astray by poverty, embrace Jaganmatha, She is your true mother. Follow the Puja I have taught you all will be weal with you."

 

All of them did not know what to say and fell at the feet of this son of Divine mother.

 

This incident has been written in great detail by Sri Gatti Lakshminarasimha Shastry Garu in his novel "Agnipareeksha'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another sacred personage who knew Tadepalli Garu's divinity was none other than Sri Sri Sri Chandrashekerendra Saraswathy('Periyawal/Peddayana') of Sri Muttam Kancheepuram.For His Andhra devotees who used to visit Him reverentially, He used to say, "When you have a sun glowing in your region(meaning Tadepalli Garu) why do you come to warm yourself in the sun in other regions.It is like disrespecting Him.In Chandavollu there is Sri Lalitha Parabhattarika Devi in the most splendorous form as in : Tadepalli Raghavanarayana Shastry Avargal.Every Thursday a mere darshan of Him will releive your problems and also if you are staying you must meet Him if you do not want to incur the displeasure of Bhavany." This warning cum proclamation was made by Paramacharyal Himself.

 

 

 

 

 

Shastry Garu did not do penance(japa) or Puja for just Himself but for the soceity as a whole.He did not care for Kula-matha Bhedas(differences as to caste,creed or religion) and He did not do it for power or pelf.He used to do which no one else did, which was transferring the power of His austerities to make the suffering people happy.One can bless but to actually sit down and transfer the shakthi and show an instantaneous result was just his holy act of compassion.People's happiness was His happiness.

 

This was the mark of a true Srividya Upasaka which made Him dear even to the Gods above.

 

He had given initiations and guided thousands in the region in the path of Srividya upasana.He catered to the needs and initiated not just people of a higher caste but also Shudras much to the chagrin of orthodox brahmins and other higher castes in the region.

 

In this context, we shall see what happened to a Shudra by name Uyyuru Lakshminarasimha Rao who had come to learn something from Him, next part. For now, we shall concentrate on the charming Lotus feet of Divine Mother and meditate...

 

 

 

Sarvamangala Rajarajeshwari Preethi!

 

Yours Yogically,

 

 

Shreeram Balijepalli

Hreem Rajarajeshwari Paradevatha!

Purity, Powers, Parabrahmam...

 

 

 

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