||Hari Sarvothama Vayu Jivothama||
||Sri Sri Vijayindra Tirtharigae Namo Namaha||
CHARAMA SLOKA
भक्तानां मानसांबोजभानवे कामधेनवे । नमतां कल्पतरवे जयीन्द्रगुरवे नमः ॥
bhaktAnAM mAnasAm bhoja bhAnave kAmadhenave | namatAM kalpatarave vijayIndra gurave namaha ||
Meaning: Sri Vijayindra Tirtha is like the Sun for the devotees who take refuge in him. His holiness is like divine cow Kamadhenu. His holiness is like divine Kalpavrksha.For such a great saint our sastanga namaskara is submitted.
Words from his shishya Sri Sudhindra Tirtha: “Sri Vijayindra Tirtha has no defects,he was a complete pandit in Vedanta,Sastras.He was shining with all victores.Oh foolish opponent!When defeating Sri Swamiji is an impossible venture,how can you think to win over such a great saint?”
Brief details about Sri Vijayindra Tirtha:
- Period:1517-1614
- Poovashrama name::Sri Vittalacharya
- Ashrama name::Sri Vishnu teertha
- Second Ashrama namaha::Sri Vijayindra teertha
- Ankitha::Vijayeendra Rama
- Asrama Grugalu::Sri Vyasarajaru
- Vidhya Gurugalu::Sri Vyasarajaru
- Danda badalavane::Sri Surendra teertha
- Shishyaru/Uttaradhikare::Sri Sudhindra teertha (“Gurugalu of Sri Raghavendra Swamin”)
- Brindhavana::Kumbakonam,Tamilnadu
- Punya teethi::Jesta bahula Trayodashi
- Samasthana period::1575-1614
400th year Aradhane of great Saint of Sri Madhva philosophy “Sri Vijayindra Tirtha” is celebrated all over our Bharatha desha especially at His Holiness moola brindhavana which is located at punya sthala ‘Kumbakonam’ on 25th June 2014. Readers must read my early article on his holiness Click here know more, before proceeding this article.
This article discusses about 64 arts which was known to His Holiness and describes how his holiness had proved them in different situation, I am detailing only few arts here as per the information which I have collected from different sources.
Doing smarane of Dhruva Maharaja – Sri Sripadarajaru :-
Sri Sri Padarajaru is one of the respectable and most powerful saint of Sri Madhva parampara. There are lots of articles written on his holiness and its available from web. You can go through the official website of Srigalu here. Just to give you highlight Srigalu did his studies under Sri Vibhudendra Tirtha of Tirunelveli. Srigalu had many disciples and one among them was “Sri Vyasaraja Tirtha”(who was the Vidya gurugalu of Sri Vijayindra Tirtha). Aradhane of Dhruva Maharaja – Sri Sripadarajaru is celebrated on 12th June 2014 at His Holiness Moola brindhavana,Narasimha Tirtha, Mulbhagilu,Karnataka. It is said even today that if we do smarane of this great saint in the early morning we will get food for that day as his holiness has not kept anyone hungry till date. Let us sincerely do smarane and get his holiness blessings. Charama Sloka: Tham vande narasimha theertha nilayam Sri vyasaraja poojitham Dhayantham manasa nrusimha charaaam SrIpadarajaram gurum.
Sri Vijayindra Tirtha -An Expert of 64 arts in Sri Madhva Sastra:-
The great Gem of Sri Madhva philosophy, Sri Vijayindra Tirtha was an Expert in 64 arts and his holiness had proved all of them not because to blow his own trumpet but to let us all know the importance of Sri Madhva sastra and to make people to believe Sastras/Vedas which makes one to attain the Salvation. I would like to give few instances of his holiness miracles below for your reference,
64 Arts explained with the miracles/contribution of Srigalu to the Society:
1. Kayagatwam[Knowledge in Sangeetha-music]:
The one who is well versed in Sangeetha sastra and further he should Sing the spiritual songs in the traditional way. Sri Vijayindra Tirtha was not only the author of 104 valuable works of Sri Madhva philosophy but also a great Haridasa who had written various dasarapadhas in the name of “Vijayindra Rama”. Some of them are ‘Yogi Vyasaraya emba Vichitra Megha’, ‘Moola rama Suladhi’,’Parabhomma Hariyu Nararoopava thalidha” etc.
2. Knowledge about Agamas &
3. Knowledge about Ithihasas
Sri Vijayindra Tirtha did have knowledge about Ramayana/Mahabharatha/Puranas/Vedas/Upanishads,Agamas etc. Srigalu had proved them in his debate with Advaita Saints Sri Linga Rajendra,Sri Appaya Dikshitar,Bhattoji Dikshitar etc and defeated them by proving Hari Sarvothamatva Vayu Jivothamatatva.
4. Knowledge of different Languages &
5. Knowledge to read/write different Languages
Sri Vijayindra Tirtha was an expert in Samskrita,Kannada,Tamil and other languages. It is said Sri Vijayindra Tirtha had written short poems/drama on Tamil language but unfortunately none is available to us now.
6. Weaving Pithambara
Once traditional weaver came to Kumbakonam to beat Sri Vijayindra Swamiji in the art of weaving Pithambara. Sri Swamiji accepted the game and finished weaving a beautiful pithambara in different threads by making “Lord Sri Lakshmi Narasimha” along with Prahaladha in the centre.Thus the Kashmiri weaver accepted the defeat and did namaskara to Srigalu.
7. Making Navaratna stones:
Once a leading gold smith Vinayak Joshi who has 30+ years of experience in making stones came to Kumbakonam to defeat Srigalu. The game was started and after 12 days of work the separate contribution of each of them were judged by experienced gold smith. It was decided that Srigalu was a clear winner by seeing his hand made red stones which contained Lord Sri Rama,Sita,Hanuman and Lakshmana. Vinayak Joshi did sasthanga namaskara and accepted his defeat. But still Sri Vijayindra Swami honoured him and respected his experience. These precious stones are still available at Mantralaya. This shows the greatness of Srigalu in making the stones as per traditional way. Please note the stones are still available at Mantralaya mutt and pooja is performed even till date.
8. Astrology: Prediction of future
Srigalu once defeated famous astrologer Sharma from Kerala and defeated him at kumbakonam in the presence of King of Thanjavur,Sivappa Naiker,Achutappa Naicker. In the toughest competition between the two(Srigalu &Sharma) the winner was our Srigalu.
Background: Sharma when arrived to Kumbakonam went to Srigalu and challenged him in the art of astrology. Srigalu happily accepted the same and it was agreed that whatever happens the next day must be recorded now itself in the palm leaf and it should be tightened and should be opened tomorrow before the presence of the people.
They both finished writing the prediction and sealed the bag. The next day, King of Thanjavur,Sivappa Naiker & Achutappa Naicker were present and they said they are gifting a village for Sri Mutt. They came to know about the challenge by the Astrologer and they decided to open the seal bag and read whatever it is written. They first read Sharma’s note on leaf and came to surprise that Sharma had written about the King’s gift of village to Sri Mutt. They had now opened the leaf writtened by our Srigalu and read it loud. Srigalu had written that King will gift a village to Sri Mutt and also said at the time of reading a person from Sharma’s village will enter and let us know that Sharma has been blessed with Baby boy. The same thing was happened and Sharma was really shocked and surprised to see the greatness of our Srigalu. The people who watched this event decided that Srigalu was a winner in this game.
9. Making Panchaloha Idols(Pratimas)
A sculptor by name Narasimha Rama was at Kumbakonam and requested Srigalu to accept this challenge of making idols. Sri Swamiji accepted the game. Srigalu in hours made different idols of Sri Sarangapani, Sri Rama, Hanuman,Garuda etc and defeated the traditional sculptor. Please note that Srigalu has made 104 idols which is available even today at Sri Mutt,Kumbakonam to your left when you enter Sri Mutt. There is a room which has all the precious idols which are made by our great Swamji.
10. Art of walking on the rope
Once a rope dancer came to Kumbakonam and challenged Swamiji in the art of walking on rope. The rope dancer walked on the rope in the height of 10 feet from the Earth easily and requested Swamiji to do so. Swamiji accepted the same and asked his shishyas to tie a planton tree fibre between the central kalasa of Gopura of Kumbheswara and Sarangapani temple. Sri Swamiji then walked between these two distantly l0cated temples on a fibre very easily and defeated the rope dancer. The crowd who watched this incident were happy to see the greatness of Swamiji.
11. Art of Magic-Tantrika:
Once a famous magician from Kerala challenged Sri Swamiji in the art of Magic. He drew seven circular lines and kept a lemon in the centre and told Sri Swamiji that it will be difficult to cross each and every line and also said he would accept the defeat if Swamiji takes the lemon from the centre. Sri Swamiji told it is shame if he participates in this simple game and called on of his shishyas to do so. Srigalu’s shishya with the blessings of Sri Swamiji started to focuss on the lemon. By crossinga circular line a deadly snake jumped on his shishya. Within a second Srigalu did meditation on Garuda and thus Garuda appeared and pulled the snake and flew away. Like this several things happened and it tried to make his shishya to fall but nothing was happened because of power of Sri Swamiji. His shishya tool the lemon and gave it to Magician. Sri Swamiji defeated the magician and told him not to follow such kind of silly tricks to the society.
Like this Sri Vijayindra Swamiji participated in the other arts like Vadya vidya(Playing Music instruments), Pustaka-vacana, vaijayiki vidya etc. Thus Sri Swamiji proved that he is a master of 64 arts, he did not do just for showing his skills and get a name but did it for making people to learn Madhva sastra properly and gain the blessings of Sri Hari Vayu Gurugalu.
Sri Swamiji was so humble and used to say everyone that whatever art he did it before everyone was because of blessings of his guru Sri Vyasaraja Tirtha and importantly Hari Vayugalu.
Let us do smarane of this great Mahan and invoke his blessings.
“Om Namo Vijayindraya ithyastakshara mantrathaha jathyathe bhavyathe vaapi yene’shtaartha siddhayae” -the one who does japa of 8 letters mantra”Om Sri Vijayindraaya”, that person will obtain all benefits and will be ever happy
Related artices about Sri Vijayindra Tirtha:
- Aradhane of Sri Vijayindra Tirtha: Click here
Let this great mahan bless us with Gyana/Bhakthi/Vairagya
Jai Sri Sri Vijayindra Tirtharigae!!
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About The Author
Haraye namaha
There is one Mruttika Brundavana of Shri Vijayeendra Gurugalu, about 250+ years old at Holagunda. This place in Kurnool District of AP is close to Bellary. Aradhane is observed here on a grand scale every year. The nearest railway station is Guntakal. One can reach here from Guntakal via Alur. Should anyone need more details, can either write to me or call Holagunda kshetra on 08523 – 289830
thank you very much p b s rao