Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Namaskara to all Haribhaktaas. Sri Gopala daasaru Gurubhakti Personified Part 2 . Thus, with the guidance of the great saint Sri Gopala daasaa an amsha of Ganapati, the pandit Venkatataraamaachaar became a sanyaasi and obtained aparoxa. Vyaasa tatvagyaru also had the fortune of having the darshan of Mantralaya Mahaprabhu Sri Raghavendraswami in His dream which I shall explain in another messag. At a place called Manavi there lived an erudite scholar by the name Srinivaasaachaar. He was a pandit par excellence and would discard with disdain all the Haridaasaas saying that they did not even know to do the daily pooja perfectly as they were unaware about the myriad forms and various mantras to propitiate the almmighty. Once, by the will of providence the great saint and the amsha of Bhrigu Sri Vijayadaasaaru had camped near Manavi and had invited the pandit for partaking of Haripraasaadaa. But Srinivaasaachaaryaa simply scorned at the prospect of going to the feast and insulted the daasaa. When Sri Vijayaraayaru questioned about the abscence of the scholar it was told to Him that srinivaasaachaarya had stomach ache and hence could not attend the teertha prasaadaaa. The daasaru just nodded his head knowing the true reason for a great aparoxa gyaani he was. Here Gopala daasaru was shocked that His preceptor was insulted and could not console Himself. Shastraaas say that if even we hear about our Guru nindane we should atone for the sin. Since, Sri Gopala daasaaru had so much of respect for His Guru he fasted for three days to wipe the sin of just hearing His guru being insulted. What an example of Gurubhakti? In nowadays situation where students are taken to the habit of nick naming their preceptors and openly reprimanding their teachers and sometimes even holding demonstrations against them it is reallly difficult to understand these concepts. This Srinivaasaachaaryaa then suffered from a stomach ailment which apparently had absolutely no cure and went from pillar to post to cure himself of the stomachache. But in vain. He went to Sholinghur to pay respects to Sri Narasimhaswamy and Yogaanjaneyar(for those devotees who have not seen it and come to India please make it a point to visit this place which is around 1hour drive from Arakkonam. This place is also called Ghatikaachalam since the Lord stopped here fora period of a Ghatika to bless the sages assembled here and also the anjaneyaswami is in the yoga pose wiht shanka and chakra which is quite unique and this place is capable of driving out evil spirits and other ailments) and other places but of no avail. Finally, He decided to go to the place of His elder brother in previous birth and seek refuge at His feet. It was none other than Mantralaya Mahaprabhu who was Prahlada and Srinivasacarya is supposed to be the younger brother Sahlada. He did Seva for some time but unfortunately still the pain continued. So one day he decided to give up his life. But the Lord had sent Him to this earth for some other purpose and hence there was not possibility to exit the place before the completion of the same. The saint of Mantraalyaaa appeared in His dream and told him the cause of the ailment . Srinivaasaachaaryaa repented for having done apachaara to the daasashresta and wanted to make amends. Sri Raaghavendra Sripaadaru instructed Him to go and meet Sri Vijayadaasaru and get hisremedy. This event is a very interesting one if we analyse it. Sri Vijayadaasaru in His Bhrigu avataara had kicked the Lord on the chest and the Lord the abode of compassion had pardoned Him unconditionally whereas Here the same saint was insulted by another pundit and the Lord was unwilling to forgive Him. Indeed the Lord as He says in the ninth chapter of the Srimadbhagavadgeetha madbhakta sa me priyah. If we look at another angle the Lord sometimes to uplift a deserving devottee in order to bring down his excess punya during the course of the sadhana makes the devoteee to commit some unpardonable sin like in the above case and we have to take recourse in the same chapter the two shlokas:30 & 31 Apichetsuduraachaaaroo .......na me bhakta pranashyati// When Srinivasachaarya fell at the feet of Sri Vijaya Daasaru the latter again instructed Him to go to Gopala Daasaru and seek remedy for his ailment. Again perhaps satisfied by the gurubhakti of Sri Gopala Daasaru who did not eat for 3 days the saint asked so.! Srinivasacharya reached Uddanur and enquired about Sri Gopala Daasaru and got the reply that He will be at the temple. He did accordingly and found a man sweeping the temple and was clad in a very simple dress. He asked Him whereabouts of the Daasaara House. The person guided Him by giving directions and when He went there again they told them that the daasaru was at the temple. With the stomach ailment he was shuttling from the temple and the house. Finally he asked the person at the temple where he could find Sri Gopala daasaa and the saint revealed Himself to him. He prostrated and started to sing about the daasa in Mohana raagaa: " Gopaladasa Raaya Ninna Paada naan nambide nischaya............. The compassionate saint asked Him to come to the tank in the morning after the ablutions and promised to cure Him of his diesease. The next day the daasa made 2 bakri(roti or chappati from flour sans oil) and made abhimantrana of Dhanvantri in it with the following song Yenna binappa kelu dhanvantri .......... Dhanvantri devata with the kalasa of amrita sprinkled ambrosia (only to cure the sickness) on the bakri to be given to srinivasacharya and also explained the futility of the saints's efforts since srinivasacharya was destined to die the next day. Sri Gopala daasaru waited for the STD from Vijayadaasaru who could contact Him without anuy means of communication from where he was(wireless!!!!) for he could not avail of the trunk dialling facility. As soon as the guru spoke to Him he paid His obeissance to Him and told about the predicament. Sri Vijayadaasaru asked Him to give the aayur dana (40years of His life to srinivasacharya) and like ekalavya wihtout any hesitation aggreeed to His master's command. Again this concept may be incoherent to many students who are the symbol of disobedience and prefer to do just the opposite nowadays. One may imagine is this possible? If the Puru of the puranas could give His youth to Yayati and recently if Babur could give His life for Humayaun why could this not happen? Also, nowadays do we not find the trnasplantation of kedney,eyes,etc.... Thus the saint after making kshetraadana decided to go to Tirumala to have the last glimpse of Sri Venkatanaatha. He weeps siunging this song before the Lord for in the previous visits He used to say that he will come againg to get a glorious glimpse. Hogivenu baralare malalillie naagagirivaasaa eesa srisaa.... He goes back tio Uddanur to finish his sojourn on this earth. He calls His disciples and states His previous births as to what were the low births He had to take and How in this birth fortunate to have Sri Vijayadaasaru as His guru was able to know something of aparoxa and he was to take two more births one in the line of Vyaasatatvatgyanru and other to one of His own descendants. One fine day His tamboora string breaks and when his disciple sets about to repair it He prevents them to do so saying that it should be used for a new one. On a Saturday during the chitrabanu samvatsara,1762A.D.,pushya bahula ashtamai He asked for special pooja at the srinivasa templee of Uddanaur and after that asked His brother dasappa to bring darba to sit on it. After,sometime His another brother Varadappa hails Him going on a chariot with messengers of the Lord and wails and breaks up into a song. Annaa Bhaagannaa ni kannige mareyaagi Punya loka seridiye guruve........ Thus, Sri Gopala dasaru lived from 1722 to 1762 after happily donating 40years of his life on the orders of His guru. Really one has to search in the firmament of the saints frantically to spot such a great personality who was the epitome of Gurubhakti. Sri Gopala daasaantargat Sri Gopalavittala preetyartam Sri Krisnaarpanamasthu. Yours in the Service of Sri Harih. Dr. B. Basker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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