Felicitation for Puthige Swamiji

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Harish

----- Forwarded Message ----S. Venkatesh Bhat <bhatsdhyana_sandhya Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 5:36:40 PM[Dhyana_Sandhya] Felicitation for Puthige Swamiji

 

NamaskaraHis Holiness Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji of Puthige Mutt, who isobserving chaturmasya in Bangalore, was felicitated at the PoornaprajnaVidyapeetha on Sunday August 19. It was a charming and sweet function.Prof A. Haridas Bhat, Principal of Vidyapeetha, who spoke first, said SriSugunendra Theertha Swamiji holds the record of being the youngest everswamiji in Madhva parampara to perform Paryaya pooja, at the age of around12. He also spoke of the Swamiji's intense study at Admar under the guidanceof Sri Vidyamanya Theertha Swamiji of Palimar Mutt.Prof D. Prahladachar, who spoke next, referred to the great lineage ofPuthige Mutt and of the contributions of the swamijis to society. SriUpendra Theertha, the first swamiji, single handedly thrashed dacoits whohad waylaid Acharya Sri Madhva and his entourage during their Badri yatra.In the last three centuries some of the swamijis of

the Mutt had won theadmiration of the Mysore kings for their scholarship and spiritual powers.In the first half of the last century, Sri Sudheendra Theertha Swamiji stoodout for his enormous spiritual powers and was looked at with admiration bySri Vidyamanya Theertha and Sri Visvesha Theertha Swamijis. Sri SudheendraTheertha's successor, Sri Sujnanendra Theertha, was an expert in bothshastras and ayurveda. His successor, Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji,charmed the entire spiritual world in his younger days itself with Paryayapooja, brilliance in studies and great service to his guru Sri VidyamanyaTheertha and earned the title of "preethi shishya" of Sri VidyamanyaTheertha even while in the company of three other fellow sanyasis andstudents. And now, His Holiness boldly carried the message of Sri Madhva toother countries also and won the admiration of the people there. He has alsobuilt temples in many

places in the country and started the gurukula inPuthige.Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji, in his speech, said the secret of hissuccess in life is guru bhakti. He was about to join the PoornaprajnaVidyapeetha at the age of nine when he was selected for the Puthige peetha.He realised very early in life that a great soul, Sri Vidyamanya Theertha,was around and totally surrendered to him. Sri Vidyamanya Theertha and SriVisvesha Theertha helped him perform Paryaya pooja at the age of 12! It wasan awesome experience, with the two great Swamijis helping him master theshastras, give discourses and even take on giants of the Advaita order suchas the Sringeri Swamijis during their visit to Udupi during his Paryaya.His ashrama guru lived only for a short time after he became sanyasi. ButSri Sujnanendra Theertha gave him a golden advice: Try to live like SriVisvesha Theertha, do whatever he does, just

follow in his footsteps. AndSri Sugunendra Theertha has been following that advice. He said he considersPejavar Swamiji as "Vishesa Theertha" as whatever Sri Visvesha Theerthadoes is special. He also said that he still considers himself as a studentof Poornaprajna Vidyapeetha because the institution' s contribution tophilosophy is enormous and unparalleled.Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji said that during his travel abroad, he foundthat many political leaders longed for spirituality but did not know how toobtain it. Even Vladimir Putin of Russia felt that economic prosperitywithout philosophical background is useless. It is time Madhva scholars andswamijis spread the message of Acharya Sri Madhva all over the world.Venkatesh Bhat

 

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