Sri Raghavendra Swami has entered alive the magnificent vrindavana at Mantralaya for the benefit of the entire mankind and even today, is the kalpavriksha- kamadhenu-chintamani for the devotees. He is most compassionate, fulfilling all the wishes and yearnings of the devotees and granting them their desired boons. He has attained…
This enormous world, created by the Paramatma who induces the noble souls to incessantly work for attaining liberation, is the truth. Doing, not doing, doing against, supporting etc. are all the marvels of the omniscient omnipotent Parameshwar. He is always, in all states, the most powerful of all. This knowledge…
Sri Raghavendraswami is the incarnation of the Karmaja demi-god, Shankukama. Collecting Tulsi leaves and flowers for the four-faced Brahmadeva’s pujas etc. was the daily duty of Shankukarna. One day while collecting flowers for the Puja, he was witness to a very strange scene. Can Brahmadeva’s puja itself be something ordinary…
In our historical Bharata’s southern parts, kingdoms like Kadambas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas, Cholas etc. were famous. Since they were followers of the Vedic faith, there was special recognition of Brahmins. They used to be invited into the royal courts and felicitated with high titles. The kings of Vijayanagar who had covered…
By the grace of Sri Venkatesha, Gopikamba came into the family way. Thimmanna Bhatta family’s joys knew no bounds. Since the baby in the womb was the blessing of SriHari, Gopikamba developed some uncommon wishes in that period. Despite there being hot tasty delicacies prepared at home, she would love…
The baby’s beautiful appearance had the power to attract and hold any onlooker’s sight and draw them close. The boy who was born by the blessings of sarvottama Lord Venkatesha was named Venkatanatha by his father. The wise ones were seen discussing among themselves that the boy must have been…
Thus after completing the primary learning with his brother-in-law, Venkatanatha came back to the Kumbhakonam Matha to continue further studies with the Kulaguru SriSudhindratirtha. His colleagues used to envy the special attention which Venkatanatha got from SriSudhindratirtha, impressed with his sharp intellect. The timetable of his study has been thus…
As years went by, the young Venkatanatha who had completed his studies, was married to Saraswati, a girl from a matching family of Kashyapa Gotra by his elder brother Gururajacharya. Intent upon avoiding being a burden upon elder brother Gururajacharya, the couple left under the pretext of Venkatanatha wanting to…
Even when Venkatabhatta, who used to live in penury and would eat one day and would be without food on another day, Saraswatidevi would maintain her appearance as if all was normal and always remain smiling. This is the sign of a divine human. Those who did not realise this…
Soon SriSudhindratirtha grew old. As he was contemplating on handing over the charge, one night his aradhya daivata SriMoolaramachandra appeared in his dreams and told him to ordain the eligible Sri Venkatabhattacharya into sanyas and to make him the Pithadhipati. When the Guru related this dream sequence to Venkatanatha, he…
It was not desirable to step into sanyasa in the presence of wife. So that her love does not come in the way of sanysashrama, SriSudhindratirtha decided to move the venue of sanyasa diksha, from Kumbakonam to Thanjavur, to the court of Maharaja SriRaghunatha Bhupal. Once this news spread like…
“Ramabhadra iva bhadrabhajanam” so saying Sri Sudhindratirtha had blessed Raghavendraswami. ‘Ragha- vendra’ means the same as ‘SriRamachandra’ the seion of Raghukula and hence like. SriRamachandradeva he too is avowed to work for the welfare of the world. Raghavendraswami, the term itself means the one who “absolves the sins and grants…
Awakening to the pleasant singing of the devotee Vandimagadha, he would first complete his suprabhata to the Parameshwar, then give an audience to the abject devotees eagerly awaiting him, before proceeding to the Kaveri river for his ablutions, duly applying mrittika etc. while chanting ashtakshara, shadakshara, dwadashakshara mantras. Later he…
While some time passed thus, a situation of anarchy developed in the Cholamandalam region and strife among the local chieftains led to unhappiness among the citizens and disregard towards religious activity. Moreover, due to failure of monsoon and poor agricultural production, people had to suffer the rigours of a famine….
For many years a devotee by name Venkanna used to help out SriSwami in his pujas by filling in water etc. with great devotion. Pleased with his devotion SriSwami asked him, ‘What do you want?’ To this Venkanna replied instantly, ‘I want mukti.’ SriSwami asked him to return after finishing…
A handsome youth used to serve SriGururaja with great devotion. A desire to get married arose in him. When he went to seek Guru’s blessings, the SriSwami was performing ablutions with mud. SriSwami picked up and gifted the youth a handful of mud,und sent him off saying, ‘Go! You will…
While SriSwami was at Kumbhakonam, three Brahmanas who had learnt about his greatness came from their village and were bathing in the Kaveri river. A worker was dipping SriSwami’s clothes in water on the river bank. He called out to the Brahmanas and said, ‘soon tasty food will be awaiting…
SriSwami on his journey came towards Gadag and went to Kiritgiri for the darshana of Veeranarayana. At the invitation of the Desai there, he stayed at their residence. It was peak of summer. Mangoes were everywhere in abundance. Desai brought in thousands of mangoes out of devotion. Mango juice was…
SriSwami was due to visit the village of Shirasangi. But the Desai there was a Veerashaiva follower who hated Brahmins. He was a staunch follower of Shiva and was extremely annoyed by Vaishnavas. He used to proclaim that Vedas and mantras are all falsehood and would snatch away the properties…
SriSwami’s greatness knows no limits. He ventured towards Pandharpur. On the way. the pregnant wife of one of the assistants went into labour pain. There was neither water nor a single tree where they could use the shade. So SriSwami through his mantra powers spread his own shati for shade…
SriSwami came to Kandanati while on his journey. There he was served devotedly by a bright young orphan boy by name Venakanna. SriSwami left the illiterate boy with a blessing, ‘Remember me when in trouble’, and continued on his journey. Eventually, that boy came across a great danger. In those…
Venkanna told his Nawab Siddi Masoodkhan of the greatness of SriSwami. Although he had heard of these great powers from several sources, the Nawab with his inherent cunning came forward to test them. He placed some meat and wine in a plate, covered it with cloth and kept it in…
The ever compassionate SriGururaja pacified the Nawab and said, ‘What will I, a sanyasin, do with your wealth and fiefdom?’ But the Nawab insisted that he desired to express his gratitude by gifting at least one village and consulted Diwan Venkanna on the matter. Venkanna explained the Nawab’s feelings to…
SriSwami felt a desire to spend his last days in Mantralaya. He constructed a temple dedicated to Sri Venkateshwara his family deity at Manchale. Diwan Venkanna also used to come in on and off to enquire about the good health of SriSwami. When SriSwami told him that the days of…
After SriSwami entered the vrindavana, devotees have been offering sevas to SriSwami all through the year unmindful of Ashadha, Bhadrapada, Shunyamasa etc. and have been rewarded with success. SriSwami is there inside the vrindavana even today but he is not visible to our physical eyes. Yet if we pray with…
On the banks of river Tunga-Bhadra is a village by name Bichhale. Earlier it was famous as Bhikshalaya. SriGururaja’s favourite disciple Appannacharya used to live there conducting classes and discourses. He heard the news that SriSwami would be entering vrindavana. He started for Mantralaya with an intention to see Swami…
Close to SriRaghavendraswamr s vrindavana we see another beautiful vrindavana. It belongs to SriVadindratirtha who happened to be the great-grandson of Sri Swami in his earlier ashrama. SriSwami had decided about this location for him much earlier. When Sri Swami entered the vrindavana, SriVadindra was a mere toddler of two’…
We have mentioned of several devotees having had a conversation with SriSwami in the following days. Amojig those was the famous SriVijayadasa, a great devotee of Hari and among the closest of devotees of SriSwami. Bom in a poor family and brought up in stark poverty, Sri Vijayadasa, who was…
Singing praises of the greatness of SriSwami in the vrindavana, composing stotras and continuing that tradition further was SriGopaladasa. He had proved his great charitable nature and detachment by giving away 40 years out of his life to SriJagannathadas upon the orders of his guru SriVijayadasa.
Sri Jagannathadasa was the one who had pleased SriGururaja with his intellect. He was the incarnation of Sahlad, the brother of Prahladaraja. Sri Jagannathadasa did not waste even a moment out of the 40 years that he had received as a gift from his guru, and has presented the noble…
The Britishers came to our country in the guise of business, stayed on, established the East India Company and effectively forced their control on the Hindus. Sir Thomas Munroe was a senior officer of that Company. He came to Mantralaya to appropriate the wealth belonging to the Mantralaya Matha upon…
SriSwami appeared in the dream of the archaka of Moolavrindavana SriRamacharya. He said, ‘My utsav vrindavana is in the Gadhwal province. Go, get it!’ When SriSwami ordered thus, SriRamacharya gathered SriSwami’s mrittika-mantra-akshata, prasad and some eatables to carry along for the journey and left for Gadhwal. There was something curious…
SriKrishnacharya was an incarnation of the divine. He was devoted to the Panchamukhi Hanuman. He had also shown the Brahmotsava of Tirupati Thimmappa. He used tp be fondly called as Appa with great respect by bfr devotees. When he bathed, the atmosphere around him would be charged with an intense,…
On the road from Mantralaya to Naguladinne, on the bank of Tunga-Bhadra is the Gurujala Kshetra. There is a special presence of a Saikat Linga of the Maharudradeva who disciplines the mind. It is said that when Sri Rama- chandra came this way in his vanavasa he rested awhile on…
There is an idol of Pranadeva installed by Sri Vyasaraja. On the hill, there is a Ranamandal Hanuman installed in the open. At the foothill is the SriMangaraya Sannidhan, the place where SriVijayadas ordained the Dasadiksha to SriGopaladas. The vrindavana of Sri Raghuprematirtha, the great vairagya-shikhamani who had given away…
One among the Dasachatushtaya, one who had obtained diksha directly from Purandaradasa, and who was the incarnation of Bhrigurishi – Sri Vijayadasa spent his last days in meditation at this place Chippagiri. He used to bathe at the well here and perform his anushthana. He had told the owner that…
At this place called Urukundi Iranna is the Ashwatha Narasimha sannidhana. Special pujas are held here in the months of Shravana and Kartika. Buses ply between Advani and Urukundi.
This is a responding place of Hanuman which was established by SriVyasaraja. It is about 10 Km further from Urukundi. People here say that Urukundi Hanuman responds with boons.
There is a Hanuman idol installed by Janmejayaraja. Every year in the month of Kartika beginning with the Shudha 9, Hanumaiv is offered Laksha Tulasi.
There is a Hanuman idol installed by Pandavas. This Kshetra is on the way to Urukundi from Advani.
The sannidhana of SriJagannathadas, the devotee of Narasimha, who was famous as Rangavalida Das, who had composed SriHarikathamrutasara, also known as Anusudha is at Manvi. It is said in history that Sri Harikathamrutasara was composed right here. The pillar against which Das used to rest is decorated in alan- karpuja…
This place is where sages like SriPadmanabha et al in the tradition of Srimadacharya have come together. It is said that there are 16 vrindavanas here. Some biographers have proved that over a period of time some vrindavanas have been destroyed. There is no doubt that placing devotion in the…
SriVijayadas was the son of Dasappa-Koosamma and suffered abject poverty. As if that was not enough he suffered more after getting married and in desperation went away to Kashi with an intention of drowning in Ganga waters. That was when Purandaradas showered grace upon him, appeared in his dreams, gave…
This place is where Mahalakshmi of Kolhapur appeared and stood on a grinding stone. The acharya here, who used to visit Kolhapur every year for the festival, had to discontinue the practice owing to his old age. The devi appeared in his dream and told him she would stay on…
This place is famous for the Narasimha in the Peepal tree on the bank of river Krishna. The appearance of a Narasimha Saligrama from the Peepal tree proved the presence of Narahari there. This place is said to respond to prayers. It can be reached from Raichur via Devadurg from…
This is the birthplace of SriGopaladas. Since it is close to Raichur, it can be reached by bus.
SriSudhindratirtha, the predecessor of Sri Ragha- vendraswami, had first ordained SriYadavendra. Being the senior, he had performed the sevas to SriMoolarama for a few days before he relinquished his status to SriGururaja, and stepped out in detachment. He stayed at Mudumale on the banks of river Krishna, in penance and…
SriJitamitratirtha was given to sitting on an island in the Krishna waters along with his disciples in discourse. Once, when the river was in spate, all the disciples came over to the bank. But SriJitamitratirtha stayed on in penance for one full week and returned only after the flood waters…
This is the place where SriGopaldas remained in the vicinity of Hanuman for 12 years, attained special powers after continuous chant of Gayatrimantra and became omniscient. This Kshetra is on the way to Aiji from Mantralaya via Yargera.
Srigopaladas had spent his lifetime here after getting diksha from his guru SriVijayadas, in propitiation of SriVenkateshwara. This place also falls on the way to Aiji.
