Chaturmasya jnAnArjane saraNi - Madhwa Vijaya (a Gist in English) by Eminent scholars - Sarga 10

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|| Sri Rama Krishna VedavyAsAya namaha ||

|| Sri Hanuma Bheema Madhwa MunibhyO namaha ||

 

namaste all,

 

Here comes the tenth installment in this series.

 

You can check the previous ones at the urls below:

 

 

 

Sarga 9 - MadhwaYuvaParishat/message/10621

IT_Madhva_Sangha/message/

/message/6773

 

 

 

 

|| shrI hari vAyu gurubhyO namaH ||

 

Madhwa Vijaya (a Gist in English) by sixteen Eminent scholars

Sarga 10, by Sri C Krishnaswami Rao

Book edited by Srimushnam V Nagaraja Rao

THE SUPERNATURAL AURA OF SRI MADHVACHARYA

 

Sri Madhva’s many supernatural acts are described in Sarga 10 of Sri Madhva Vijaya, by the biographer Narayana Panditacharya. Being a contemporary of Sri Madhva, he could have been very elaborate in his descriptions but his literary acumen & skill have enabled him to compress lengthy accounts into a few expressive words. Sri Madhva’s supernatural nature, occasionally revealeing itself like sparks coming from a hidden fire.

Great souls born on earth, have to divulge their real nature & stature to ordinary men around them, by occasional supernatural acts, characteristic of their inner nature & this Sri Madhva has done well, & he could do so, because he is actually God Vayu in essence, under the direction of Lord Narayana.

The biographer, Sri Narayana Panditacharya has given a clue to us to understand the nature of Sri Madhva as God Vayu, in essence, in shloka 6 of the tenth sarga, couched in words all containing the same letter “Na†throughout.

 

नाने नेना नेना नेनो नूनेन ननॠनà¥à¤¨à¥à¤¨à¤¾à¤ƒ

नाना नानो नूनंनाने नानू ननाऽनà¥à¤¨à¥à¤¨à¤ƒà¥¥

nAne nenA nenA neno nUnena nanu nunnAH

nAnA nAno nUnaMnAne nAnU nanA.anunnaH ||

 

Apart from being a beautifully worded verse, it gives a very succinct idea of the actual nature & personality of Sri Madhva. The verse means thus, “It is not that the Chief Prana (i.e. Sri Madhva) is not moving the entire world of living beings, in this universe. Actually, he does not make them move. Only God Narayana & Lakshmi are not moved by him i.e. are outside his influence. Keeping this in mind, let us now study the several supernatural acts of Sri Madhva, which being too many to recount in full, the biographer refers to only a few of them in their, as narrated by one of his followers.

 

After returning a second time from Badari-kashrama whereto Sri Madhva had gone to meet God Vedavyasa, & get his assent to proclaim the correct import of Mahabharata as intended by him i.e. by Vedavyasa, it so happened that Sri Madhva went to Chola Mandala. Chola Mandala according to Chalari Tippani. The text refers to Parashurama’s land. The actual place was probably near the border between Travancore state (now part of Kerala state) & the present Udumalpet Taluq in the Coimbatore district, where there is a tradition that Sri Madhva lifted a big boulder named after him as Madhva Rayar Parai & placed in its present position, as a bridge between Tranvancore & Udumalpet in the neighbouring province. Here one of his followers narrated many wonderful

acts done by his master during his travels to an eagerly awaiting audience. He said that once Sri Madhva met a ruler by name ‘Iswara Deva’ who in his enthusiasm to dig the ground with a pick axe; and when told by the latter, that the Raja might show him first how to dig the ground, the Raja started digging & continued to do so till the evening without stopping, having been inspired by the great Guru Madhva to do so, & he would not stop at all. This is no wonder because Sri Madhva, as the chief energizer of the entire universe, could make any person do anything at any time (verses 1-7).

 

When, in his North Indian trip, Sri Madhva approached the river Ganga, & found no boat to cross it, he instructed his followers to hold one another by hand tightly & follow him, himself holding the hand of the first member of his retinue, & safely crossed the river without drenching his or any one’s clothes but also overwhelmed the attaching forces of the Muslim ruler of Delhi who asked Sri Madhva later at his palace, how he managed to cross the river in the deep & fast flowing river, so well watched by his military guards. Sri Madhva replied in the mother tongue of the Muslim Ruler, in dignified tone, that Lord narayana helped him to do so. After this, the Muslim ruler presented costly presents & lands to Sri Madhva in appreciation of his prowess, personality,

intelligence & devotion to God. This feat of Sri Madhva is nothing compared to his crossing of the Southern sea near Lanka, in his former avatara as Hanuman. The biographer says that Sri Madhva by speaking to the Muslim Ruler in his own mother tongue, has set a model to all, as to how one has to adjust himself, in critical moments, to situations as they arise. (S1. 8-19)

 

The next incident referred to by the biographer Panditacharya, refers to a number of thieves trying to rob Sri Madhva, and his throwing before them his saffron colored cloth bundled up like a huge ball which appeared like a ball of gold, and the thieves fighting with one another and mutually killing themselves in their attempt to get possession of the rolled up saffron colored cloth ball. On another occasion when one hundred robbers came to attack Sri Madhva, his disciple Sri Upendra Thirtha, though only a Sanyasi who never handled a sword, became suddenly a hero in sword-fighting, being inspired by Sri Madhva and drove the robbers single-handed. On another occasion when Sri madhva was travelling in the Himalayas, his disciple Satya Tirtha was attacked by a tiger-like daitya, whom the

great Guru killed by a mere touch of his hand. On yet another occasion when some thieves approached Sri Madhva he and his disciples appeared like stone images and the thieves went away disappointed. But soon, the thieves saw Sri Madhva and his disciples moving on. Overpowered now by the divine personality of Sri Madhva, they all prostrated before him and went away. (S1. 20-23)

 

The next incident narrated by the biographer, is Sri Madhva’s journey to Badari to meet Vedavyasa and bringing therefrom 8 Saligramas sanctified by the holy presence of Sri Lakshminarayana. There, Sri Vedavyasa, in order that the true meaning of Mahabharata might be made known to people, ordered Sri Madhva to write ‘Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya,’ comprising the whole range of Puranas, Ramayana and Bharata, and illuminating his work with many esoteric meanings covering a wide range of Vedantic literature from creation to dissolution, the purpose and goal of human existence and God’s immanence, Leela, and His grace. (S1. 24-25)

 

Again, when Sri Madhva came southwards from Badari, after meeting Vedavyasa, he came to the river Ganga, and not finding any boat to ford the river , himself passed through the river undrenched, reached the opposite bank and enabled all his followers to cross it, through boats went from the opposite bank when they were all alone and dismayed at the situation, especially as it was dark then, forgetting that Sri Madhva was Hanuman and Bheema previously and could save them all. Soon after crossing the Ganga, Sri Madhva had discussions with pundits in Vedas and Vedanta philosophy under illuminating lamps, on the banks of the river and he appeared like Brahma in Deva Sabha. (S1. 26-33)

 

Then, when Sri Madhva was camping near Hastinapura somewhere near the banks of the Ganga, for Chaaturmaasya, spending his time in solitary meditation, Goddess Ganga, one day, gushed out of the earth and stood before him, reverentially, at a distance, in the form of a beautiful woman and prostrated before him. No wonder she did so, when even Saraswati feels gratified by revering Vayu, like that. (S1. 34-36)

 

Then, at Varanasi (Benares) Sri Madhva found some athletes proud of their strength and valor and challenged them, fifteen in all, to meet him in combat. They were all thrown down by him at one stroke. When challenged again, they said that his lings were hard and heavy like Meru-Parvata and that they might be pardoned. What wonder that he did defeat them all, when he is making the whole world to move and live and his body is extremely hard and impenetrable. (S1. 37-41)

 

On another occasion, a sanyasi by name ‘Indra-puri’ who wanted to defeat Sri Madhva by sheer ticklish arguments, asked the latter the meaning of the word Gnana i.e. knowlegewhen the latter was giving a discourse on ‘Karma and Gnana.’ Sri Madhva coolly replied to him, that if the questioner of the word Gnana, and if he had no gnana, he could not understand the meaning of the ‘Gnana.’ Then he went on proclaiming the value of Gnana and condemning Agnana i.e. Ignorance, as understood by Mayavadins and proclaiming Narayana as the abode of all excellences, and that through Gnana and devotion, one could get Divine Grace. (S1. 42-43)

 

At another time, Sri Madhva while taking his followers through the battlefield in Kurukshetra , showed them the place where he playfully fought with elephants and also the Gada (mace) used by him, as Bheema; and also showed them, including Satya Tirtha, the future Maricha doing bogus tapas, thus incidentally indicating that he was a Trikaalaghaani, knower of past, present and future. (S1. 49)

 

Next, while at Hrishikesh in the Himalayas, God Rudra appeared before Sri Madhva in the form of a Brahmin, and invited him for Bhiksha in the presence of several people, but soon after he came unseen, and announced the event to a resident of another place nearby in a dream, instructing him to offer Bhiksha to his Guru Sri Madhva well preparing some special items of food for him. (S1. 50)

 

Next, at a place called IShupaata in Parasurama Kshetra, Sri Madhva was invited by the ruler of the place, for a special Aradhana when he ate all the 1000 plantains served for him, just to test his capacity to eat. (S1. 51)

 

Then at Goa, Sri Madhva was invited for Bhiksha by a Brahmin by name Sankara, when he consumed 4000 plantains and drank 30 casks of milk. The ruler of the place, surprised at this, wanted Sri Madhva to stay on in this country, and kept guards all round, to prevent Sri Madhva from going away. But their plan was foiled as Sri Madhva disappeared from human vision and travelled elsewhere. (S1. 52)

 

In another place nearby, Sri Madhva was requested by the people to make the non-flowering trees in the locality, to flower and bear fruits. He sang a song which induced the residents to sleep and produced flowers and fruits in the areca-nut and other plants in the area. (S1. 53)

Thus Sri Madhva, who is equal to Brahma, performed his pilgrimage, seeing God directly and spontaneously everywhere in all His splendor and always shining like a moon, calm, soothing and full of ananda and amrita.

 

This, a follower and disciple of Sri Madhva narrated his several supernatural acts, fully illustrating the special attributes of Vayu, as described in Rig Veda etc., making his audience happy, purifying their minds, and making them more devoted to God Ladshinarayana and Vayu – who is Universal Guru (Vishwa-Guru). (S1. 54-56)

 

 

namO namO dayA sindhu

namO namO bhaktha jana bandhu

namO namO guNa sheela

namO namO bhAratI lOla

namO namO bhavyAnga

namO namO arigajasingha

namO namO jagadvyAptha

namO namO namitha janarAptha

namO namO sukha theertha

namO namO moolOka kartha

namO namO guru kula thilaka

pAlisu enna tamahara doora shOkha

sajjanarige

amita mOda

dAyaka

Sri Bhoo DurgA ramaNa Jagannatha viTala

bhkathAdhika

- Sri Jagannatha Dasaru on Sri avatAra thraya prANa dEvaru

 

bhAratIramaNa mukhyapraNAntargata shrIkR^iShNArpanamastu

 

 

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