shrI vaadhiraaja mamgalaaShtakam -1

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|| shrI vaadhiraajO vijayathE ||

 

|| shrI vaadhiraaja mamgalaaShtakam ||

 

shrImath thoulavamamdalE sumapurE kumbhaasithO$dhUrathO

vaaNyaam raamabuDhaath suthassamabhavath vaagIshathIrThaashiShaa |

kEdhaarE$ShtamavathsarE yathipadham chaalaabhi vaagIshwaraath

ashwaasyaanuga vaadhiraajagururaat dhadhyaath sadhaa mamgalam ||1||

 

( Note Baraha 2000 is used to transliterate the sanskrit words)

 

In this first shloka the author mentions about the birthplace and

initiation into sanyasa. Let us try look into the names mentioned

here: thoulavamamdala, sumapura, kumbhaasi, raamabuDha,

vaagIshathIrTha.

 

The region where shrI vaadiraaja was born is mentioned as " thoulava

mamdala " i.e the region where kings belonging to 'thulu' language and

culture, were ruling. Thoulava kings had their capital in the 'tulu'

speaking region but their kingdom was covering adjacent non-tulu

speaking areas also.

 

Generally the West coast area of Karnataka, i.e. land to the west of

Western Ghats, is called as 'thoulava mandala'.

 

This area is also called 'parashurama kshetra'. Shri Vaadhiraaja

thIrTha mentions about this in his travelogue work " thIrTha prabandha " .

Though initially it was all under one rule, later on it was split into

many small kingdoms and there are many legendary stories about various

kings of this dynasty.

 

The village where Shri Vadiraja came to earth is presently known as

Hoovinakere. The author mentions this as " Sumapura " means 'town of

flowers'. In olden days there used to be a big pond, always full of

water and this place was capital of florists, hence the name

'hoovinakere' i.e pond of flowers. Now there is small pond, not in a

very good condition.

 

Recently one devotee has come forward to renovate the pond and make it

useful for 'thIrTha snana'.

 

The author mentions about the nearby town " kumbhaasi " as major landmark

for those who are not very familiar with this part of the country. (It

is nearly 28 kms north of Udupi,8 kms south of Kundapur on national

highway NH17 running from Kanyakumari to Bombay. For map, please visit

the link http://www.geocities.com/bgkvarna/photos/Udupidistrict.gif)

 

Kumbhaasi is one of the seven holy places in south India. The famous

shloka goes as follows.

 

rUpyapITam kumaaraadrih kumbhaasi cha DhvajEshwarah |

krOda gOkarNa mUkaambaa sapthaithaah mOxadhayakaah ||

 

Meaning: udupi, subrahmaNya, kumbhaasi, kOtEshwara, shankaranarayana,

gOkarNa, kOllUru are seven holy places. All of these are in Parashurama

Kshetra, in the west coast of Karnataka. More details about

'kumbhaasi' can be found at

 

/message/1045

 

In the second line author mentions about the parents and the Guru who

blessed the couples with great son.

 

It was almost 150 year, after shrI Acharya maDhva has disappeared

(1317 A.D) from the eyes of people. By then, shrI Acharya maDhva had

established 8 maThas and arranged for the regular pooja of shri kRuShNa

at udupi in turn of two months. The tradition of 'balasanyasa'

(initiating into sanyasa at the age of eight), continuing the line of

these eight pontiffs, was started then onwards and is being continued.

shrI Vishnu thIrTha (shrI Acharya's own brother in earlier part of

life), was the first pontiff of one of these maThas who had spent most

of his time in subramanya and established that maTha also. shrI Vishnu

thIrTha is still doing " tapas " in the mountain " Kumara Parvatha " , near

Subramanya. His disciple anirudhdhaa thIrTha continued at subramanya

maTha and other disciple shrI Vyasa thIrTha headed the maTha at

Udupi. Hence the present sOde maTha was earlier known as vishNu thIrTha

maTha. The 19th pontiff in this lineage was shrI vaagIsha thIrTha who

was a great devotee, scholar and was well known at that time. By the

grace of Lord Hari, he could foresee the future and had gathered a big

crowd of disciples. He spent most of his time in kumbhaasi and

established a maTha there also, popularly known as " kumbhaasi maTha " .

The stage was all set for the 'avathar' of shrI vaadhiraaja swamiji.

 

The pious couples, shrI raamaachaarya and gowrI dhEvi in the

hoovinakere, were well known for their simple, pure and devotional

life. shrI raamaachaarya used to worship Lord channakeshava and his

house was more like a temple filled always with a devotional spirit.

These couples, totally dedicated to spiritual practices and leading

very humble life, had only one daughter and were longing for a son.

They prayed God and performed many vrathas for many years. When the

right time came, they came to shrI vagIsha thirTha, served him for

several days and requested for his blessings. ShrI vaagIsha thIrTha,

who knew about 'avathara' of shrI vaadiraja swamiji, blessed the

couples with a son, with a condition that the child should be handed

over to the maTha. The couples, though happy to get a son, surprised

and worried about this condition. Then shrI vaagIsha thIrTha suggested

that if the child birth occurs inside the house then the couples

may retain him. The couples were happy thinking that baby would not

born outside the house. Later gowrI ( also caleed as Saraswathi

) became pregnant and developed immense interest towards pooja,

visiting temple, listening to hari kaTha etc, thus indicating the

presence of unusual baby.

 

On the holy day of " magha shudhdha saadhana dwadhashi " , in the year

1480, shrI raamaachaarya had finished all his pooja and was half way

through his parane (taking food at the early morning on dhwaadhashi).

He saw a cow eating the paddy crop in front of the house. Though he was

very careful all these days not to send wife outside, at that moment,

as per shrI Hari's wish, he asked his wife to get away that cow. When

Saraswathi came out to paddy field, she developed labor pain all of a

sudden and rested under a nearby tree. Shri Vageesha Theertha knew

this, well in advance and had arranged nurses to help her at that

spot. That was God's wish and Saraswathi delivered baby boy outside the

house in the paddy field. The baby was received in a golden tray, as

per the instruction of shri Vageesha thIrTha.

 

Thus was the miraculous incident how shrI Vaadhiraaja appeared on

this earth. The paddy field where Shri Vaadhiraaja born, is now called

as " gowri gadhdhe " . There is a small temple and a beautiful statue of

shri Vaadiraaja is installed there. Every year the paddy grown in this

field is being sent to sOde for shri Vaadhiraaja swamy Aradhana. The

house where raamaachaarya used to live is now fully renovated and a

nice temple is constructed there for Lord channakeshava.

 

(Please visit this link to see the photo of the temple.

http://www.geocities.com/bgkvarna/photos/photogallary3.htm)

 

It was quite evident at the birth itself, that the baby boy was

going to become a great saint. He was named as " bhoovaraaha " , after the

name of the main deity of shrI VishNu thIrTha maTha. The baby boy grew

drinking the milk offered as naivedhya to Lord shrI bhOvaraaha. Not to

say again that his childhood days were very very special and unusual.

His attitude and behavior were all like an elderly scholar and an

enlightened devotee. shri raamaacharya conducted his son's thread

ceremony at the very young age of 5 (normally it is done at the age of

8) and with heavy heart surrendered his son to ShrI Vageesha thIrTha.

 

shri Vidyaanidhi thIrTha, the disciple of shri Vageesha thIrTha

started educating " bhoovaraha " . As mentioned earlier, his school days

were very unusual and special. He showed great devotion to Lord and his

games were none other than performing Pooja and singing bhajans. He

learnt all shasthras and puraanas much much faster than any other

kids.

 

The parents, the place, the teacher all are really blessed to be in

contact with this great kid and serve him. As we go further we will

come across many incidents confirming that this young boy who was

nurished at this holy place is none other than shrI laathavya

chakravathy, next to shrI vaayu, in R^uju devathas.

 

 

The second part of the shloka will be explained in the next posting.

 

( Please pardon me for any mistake. I am not capable of narrating the

divine story of shrI vaadhiraaja, but trying to do a small seva)

 

shrI harih priyathaam

B.Gopalakrishna

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaskara,

 

The links in the previous posting may not work for some of you. Please

note the links as follows.( The closing brace has created problem )

 

http://www.geocities.com/bgkvarna/photos/Udupidistrict.gif

 

http://www.geocities.com/bgkvarna/photos/photogallary3.htm

 

Namaskara

B.Gopalakrishna

 

 

 

 

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