Fwd: Guru Smaranajali (Sri. Vishwottama Theertha Swamiji - Sode Matha)

[Guest guest]

Very interesting and emotional article. Please

forward to all Bhaktas.

 

 

S. Venkatesh Bhat [bhats (AT) thehindu (DOT) co.in]

Monday, September 17, 2007 6:46 PM

 

Namaskara

 

The Guru smarananjali in memory of Sri Vishvothama

Theertha Swamiji of Sode Matha was held at Krishna

Vadiraja Kalyana Mantapa and at Lakshmi Hayagreeva

Temple in N.R.Colony on Sept. 11. Many interesting

facts about Sode Matha and about the Swamiji were

highlighted by Sri Pushkar Achar and his disciple Sri

Ramesh Achar. Musician R.K. Padmanabha too spoke and

sang a song in praise of Sri Vadiraja.

 

Sri Pushkar Achar said:

 

1) The work Swapna Vrindavanakhyana has many esoteric

details. It says that a monk of the Sode Matha with a

body of golden hue will inscribe the slokas of the

work in stone in Sode. Sri Visvothama Theertha fits

the description.

 

2) The work refers to four of five incarnations of one

soul who composed it:

as a dumb person, as a king in Kashi, as a brahmin in

Kashi ( his name is mentioned and he is said to be the

guru of one of Pushkar Achar's ancestors), and as Sri

Vishvapriya Theertha Swamiji of Sode Matha who lived

many years ago. One evening during the Brahma

Rathothsava in Udupi, the chariot caught fire. Sri

Vishvapriya Theertha Swamiji prayed to Sri

Bhootharaja even as all the devotees ran away from the

spot to avoid the fire. It rained immediately and the

fire was doused. Strangely the chariot

kept moving even though nobody was around to pull it.

Sri Bhootharaja pulled the chariot and blessed the

Swamiji.

 

3) Sri Vadiraja chose Sode as his brindavana spot

because it is the favourite abode of Lord Hayagriva.

The Trivikrama temple, Swamiji's pooja mandir and the

vrindavana area are equivalent of Vaikunta, Anantasana

and Shvetadeepa. The exact spot of Sri Vadiraja's

brindavana is where LordHayagriva resides.

 

4) Sri Vishvothama Theertha's guru Sri Vishvendra

Theertha told his disciple at the time of sanyasa

deeksha not to get concerned or worried about sudden

sounds of blowing of conch, pealing of bells etc at

odd hours even though no pooja is being performed in

the Sode Matha. It is said that celestials too

worship the idols of Sri Bhoovaraha and Sri Hayagriva

at a time of their choosing.

 

5) Sri Vishvothama Theertha often reminded Sri Pushkar

Achar that the latter's ancestors had written

commentaries on Swapna Vrindavanakhyana and

that he should give the copies to the Swamiji. This

despite Sri Pushkar Achar never having said anything

about the work to the Swamiji earlier. One

day Sri Pushkar Achar came to the N.R.Colony Temple at

around 11 p.m. with a copy of the commentary. All the

lights were out and the temple staff, on

being woken up, said Swamiji had retired for the day

and cannot be met. But to everyone's surprise Swamiji

came running down at around 11.15 p.m.,invited the

Achar inside, opened the pooja room and placed the

mansucript on a silver plate and performed

mangalarathi. Tears of joy rolled down his

cheeks all the while.

 

6)Swamiji visited Badari and then proceeded to

Vasudhara, the source of Saraswathi river about 6

miles from Mana, the last village in India. It is a

steep climb in the midst of a narrow rocky path.

Halfway through he felt tired and decided to return to

Badari base camp. Three bees, with golden

wings, appeared from nowhere and went around the

Swamiji. He immediately felt a fresh surge of energy

and climbed up to Vasudhara, performed pooja

and returned. The belief is that the bees are actually

gandharvas without whose blessing no one can go to

Vasudhara.

 

7) Swamiji wanted to visit the vrindavans of great

Madhva swamijis near Hampi and set out barefoot when

the river had receded. He asked Pushkar Achar to carry

the box containing idols of Sri Bhoovaraha and Sri

Hayagriva. Achar was thrilled and began his walk. He

took one step forward and five sharp thorns on the

river bed pierced his legs. He yelled in pain and

involuntarily put the other leg forward. Another five

thorns pierced his other leg. He could not put the box

down. He asked a matha boy to carry the box but the

boy refused because his legs too had been pierced by

thorns.

Surprisingly, the Swamiji was moving ahead barefoot

with speed. Pushkar Achar and the boy were amazed.

Then they simply prayed to the Lord and Swamiji and

moved forward. Achar says that till today he does not

know what saved him and what made him forget the pain.

 

8) Swamiji was about to enter a mutt for pooja in

Kundapura region when he saw a dog writhing in pain on

the ground. It had sores/boils all over its

body and its legs were weak. Swamiji felt sad and

thought of sprinkling theertha on the dog but changed

his mind. After pooja he could not take his mind off

the dog, came out and sprinkled theertha on it and

went away. After some hours he came out and saw the

same dog running around and chasing another dog all

over the road. The boils were gone except for one

shaped like a swastika in the middle of its body.

 

9) Pushkar Achar said Swamiji is like the Saraswathi

river, " gupta gamini. " He had enormous spiritual

powers and deep learning of Shastras and Ayurveda

and even took interest in " gandharva lipi. " But he

avoided the limelight. And was so humble that he once

asked Pushkar Achar whether he(Swamiji) would

be able to chant the Lord's name at the time of his

death. Pushkar Achar was shocked and said " Swamiji! I

should ask you this question, not the other way

round. " Swamiji chanted " Rama Rama " a couple of times

and left for his eternal abode. His jaw had lowered

considerably when he passed away, after

chanting " Ma. " Pushkar Achar said " Ra " burns away all

sins in the heart and " Ma " expels the sin. Obviously

Swamiji had expelled whatever traces he had

of such things and stood pure.

 

Musician R.K. Padmanabha said: " I was a nobody till

the 1990s. In 1992, I had a dream one night. I was

carrying a bag. Sode Swamiji and Pushkar Achar

appeared and placed a pair of padukas in it. The dream

ended. I was confused. I had not met the Swamiji at

all in my life and I had seen Pushkar Achar once

during a discourse. I then met the Swamiji. 'Who are

you' he asked me. I identified

myself. 'To which matha do you belong' was his next

question. I said " Sankara Mutt. " Then I asked him to

clarify the dream. Swamiji said " I don't know

you and I do not have the power to appear in your

dream. It must be Sri Vadiraja and Sri Bhootharaja in

our form and the placing of the padukas in

your bag perhaps indicates that you need to serve Sri

Vadiraja. Do what you want. "

 

R.K. Padmanabha continues: " Then I started to learn

about Sri Vadiraja. Amazingly my career took off like

a meteor. Then I composed 50 songs on Sri Vadiraja in

50 days. I owe everything in life to this great monk. "

Recently R.K. Padmanabha organised a big programme on

Sri Vadirja.

 

Amazingly, towards the end of Sri Pushkar Achar's

discourse, at around 8 p.m., one rose flower rolled

down from the decorated photograph of Sri

Visvothama Theertha and fell near the feet of Sri

Pushkar Achar. There was thunderous applause. Achar

placed the flower on the heads of all devotees.

He also said that he is always open and ready for any

discussion on the life and works of Sri Vadiraja

including his " R^juthva. "

 

Venkatesh Bhat

 

 

 

 

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