[indiadivine] Q & A: Who is Sri Raghavendra Swami?

[Guest guest]

With all due regards to Mr Jahnava Nitai Das or

who-so-ever the administrator of this list is, I wish

to bring to your point that your statement below that

mentions " but practically no one knows or cares what

he actually taught. " is very mis-leading,

mis-informative and indicates an unfortunate lack of

awareness and knoweldge about our great Madhva Guru's.

 

On the other hand, I can perhaps competently say that

Mr. Prabhupada's teachings himself can be thought of

as being totally unheard of, or not cared by any

genuine Madhva believer or a devotee of Shri

Raghavendra Swamiji.

 

If you would really like to know what Shri Swamiji

taught or what his great works are and how many people

care about His teachings, just visit any nook and

corner of India where His Matha's are present, and the

rest will be history to you.

 

Best Regards

Sudhir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--- Indiadivine-admin wrote:

> -----------

>

> Stotras to Lord Narayana on audio CD: Vishnu

> Sahasranamam,

> Bhaja Govindam, Venkateswara Suprabhatam, Brahma

> Samhita,

> Govindashtakam, etc.

>

> Each CD for just $2.82 (set of six CDs for $16.95)

>

> http://stotras.wholesale-incense.com/

>

> -----------

>

> > Recently I visited a house who happen to be

> > my far relations and I saw a deity of Sri

> > Ragevendra Swamiji. I did not asked them

> > any questions at the time. I would like to use

> > this forum to find out if Srila Prabhupada

> > has mentioned anything about Sri Ragevendra

> > Swamiji.

>

> Regarding your question about Sri Raghavendra Swami,

> Srila Prabhupada

> does not mention him, but he is a bonafide acharya

> and saint of the

> Madhva sampradaya. Today he has become a popular

> guru in South India,

> but practically no one knows or cares what he

> actually taught. His

> true teachings are that we should all surrender

> completely to Krishna,

> as Sri Madhvacharya had taught before him. Their

> philosophy is based

> on nine " prameyas " or philosophical foundations,

> beginning with sri

> vishnu paratamam - " The vishnu-tattva is the supreme

> absolute truth. "

>

> Sri Raghavendra was the greatest author and preacher

> in the line of

> Madhva in the last 500 years. He wrote countless

> books establishing

> Krishna as the Absolute Truth. He gave special

> stress to the chanting

> of the names of Krishna, and in particular he

> recommended the chanting

> of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

>

> While he was present in the world, he performed many

> miracles,

> including bringing the dead back to life. After

> completing his

> preaching work, he chose to enter " jiva-samadhi " ,

> where a saint is

> buried in his samadhi while still living. Before

> entering the samadhi

> he told his disciples he would live physically for

> 100 years, in his

> books for 300 years, and in his samadhi for 700

> years. He ordered his

> disciples to place 1,008 shalagrama shilas on top of

> his head, and

> then cover him with dirt. Till this day Sri

> Raghavendra is still

> living within the samadhi in mantralaya. He has

> manifested himself to

> many people, including a British government officer

> who came to

> confiscate the ashram's lands. This instance was

> recorded by the

> British officer in the government gazette at the

> time.

>

> The scriptures establish Sri Raghavendra as a

> partial incarnation of

> Bhakta Prahlada, the great devotee of Sri Narasimha

> Avatara. You will

> find in Raghavendra temples, the utsava murti

> (festival deity) is not

> of Raghavendra, but of Bhakta Prahlada. The main

> " deity " will be a

> replica of his samadhi (called a Brindavana) with

> dirt taken from the

> original samadhi in Mantralaya. In front of this

> will be a deity of

> Bhakta Prahlada. They treat the samadhi as the body

> of Sri Raghavendra

> and bathe, dress, and apply twelve tilaks to it just

> as we do to our

> body.

>

> Devotees of Sri Raghavendra pray to him with the

> following mantra:

>

> pujyaya raghavendraya

> satyadharmarataya ca

> bhajatam kalpavrikshaya

> namatam kamadhenave

>

> Sri Raghavendra is like a kalpa-vriksha (a desire

> fulfilling tree) for

> he always takes care of his devotees' spiritual

> needs.

>

> Yours in service,

>

> Jahnava Nitai Das,

> Bhaktivedanta Ashram &

> Bhaktivedanta International Charities

> http://www.foodrelief.org

>

> -----------

> [ IndiaDivine Subscribers: 11,862 ]

> Archives: http://letters.indiadivine.com

>

> To or please visit:

> http://www.indiadivine.com/sub.htm

> -----------

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

http://mailplus.

[Guest guest]

vijith18 wrote on Monday, December 09, 2002

 

> With all due regards to Mr Jahnava Nitai Das or

> who-so-ever the administrator of this list is, I wish

> to bring to your point that your statement below that

> mentions " but practically no one knows or cares what

> he actually taught. " is very mis-leading,

> mis-informative and indicates an unfortunate lack of

> awareness and knoweldge about our great Madhva Guru's.

 

I guess the purport meant from the context is that a

great majority care for mundane benefits and do not

make much effort to read and understand his works.

 

> On the other hand, I can perhaps competently say that

> Mr. Prabhupada's teachings himself can be thought of

> as being totally unheard of, or not cared by any

> genuine Madhva believer or a devotee of Shri

> Raghavendra Swamiji.

 

Actually one of the biggest problems is while attempting

to put on the garb of " Madhva siddhanta " to Prabhupada's

teachings and making an attempt to put them along side

of Sri Raghavendra Swamy's teachings, many differences

like the following which are very critical are ignored.

 

1. Sri Raghavendra Swamy's teachings are strictly in

conformity with Madhvacharya's teachings, where as

Prabhupada's are not.

 

2. Sri Raghavendra Swamy never mentioned even the name

of " Caitanya mahaprabhu " . In other words, he did not

consider Caitanya as an incarnation at all, where as

Prabhupada did.

 

3. His works emphatically say that God is all complete

and there is no difference between one incarnation and

other, where as Prabhupada taught things like " While

Sri Krishna is 'God Head', Sri Rama is partial

incarnation " , etc.

 

There are other such differences.

 

> If you would really like to know what Shri Swamiji

> taught or what his great works are and how many people

> care about His teachings, just visit any nook and

> corner of India where His Matha's are present,

 

But still the unfortunate thing is a great majority comes

there for mundane benefits and do not make much effort to

read and understand his works.

 

Regards

Kesava Rao

 

> Sudhir.