Tomorrow, the 1st of February, Magha Shuddha Navami, is Madhva Navami. It was on this day that Sri Madhvacharya left Udupi for Badarikashrama where he is still serving the lotus feet of Lord Veda Vyasa.
On this occasion, I am uploading a small collection of shlokas extolling Sri Madhvacharya. You can read it in Kannada, English and Devanagari scripts.
Recently, I got hold of an excellent book titled “Prana Tantra” written by Sri Sagri Raghavendra Upadhyaya. In that book, I found a stotra on Sri Madhvacharya composed by Sri Trivikrama Panditacharya.
I found that stotra extremely powerful. The same can be downloaded in Kannada, Devanagari and English scripts from the mantras page.
I found a stotra extolling the three avataras of Mukhya Prana – Hanuman, Bhima and Madhva, in one of the stotra books by Sri Vyasanakere Prabhanjanacharya. I am uploading the Kannada and Devanagari transliteration of the same.
You can download it from the mantras page.
Tomorrow, along with Vijaya Dashami, is also the auspicious occasion of Sri Madhva Jayanti. It was on Vijaya Dashami day that Mukhya Prana took avatar as Sri Madhvacharya. He was born in Pajaka, close to Udupi in 1239 AD.
On this great occasion, I wish all readers of this blog a very happy Vijaya Dashami and Madhva Jayanti. I am uploading the Kannada and English transliteration of Madhva Nama, a Dasara Pada by Sri Sripadaraja Swamy. This is a very famous composition in simple Kannada and extols the virtues of Mukhya Prana and the three avatars of Hanuman, Bhimasena and Sri Madhva. In Madhva tradition, it is a practice for people who have not had Upanayana Samskara to chant the Madhva Nama instead of Vayu Stuti. It is believed to bring the same benefits to the devotees.
The documents can be downloaded from this link.
I have also uploaded the Kannada and Devanagari transliteration of the Narayana Sukta (along with intonation). You can download the same from the Suktas link.
|| Sri Krishnaarpanamastu ||
Sri Hariprasad Alur, one of the readers of this blog, has kindly sent a set of very nice photographs of Pajaka, and of Yantroddaraka Prana Devaru. With his kind permission, I reproduce the photos below.
Today is the auspicious day of Madhva Navami, the day when Sri Madhvacharya left Udupi for Badari in order to stay with, and serve, Sri Veda Vyasa. It is believed that he is in Badari even to this day. It is a very important festival for Madhvas and grand programs are held in Udupi, Pajaka and other places.
According to some sources, this day occurred in 1317 A.D. Others attribute it to Magha Masa – Shukla Paksha- Navami – Pingala Samvatsara. This occurs on Sunday, January 19, 1318 A.D (and not 1317). In either case, it has been nearly 700 years now since Sri Madhvacharya proceeded to Badari.
On this auspicious ocassion, I am happy to let people know of a small project that I have undertaken during the past two months. It has been a while since I have been dreaming of building a comprehensive portal on Vishnu Sahasra Nama – the thousand glorious names of Lord Vishnu. Finally, I was able to get started with the work and the result is
http://vishnusahasranama.wordpress.com/
The goal of this portal is to build a comprehensive site on the great Stotra. It will have a separate page (and possibly more than one page) for each of the thousand names. In addition, it will have various resources connected with the stotra such as downloadable texts, audio files and so on. The portal will also give the meanings of the various names. The eventual aim is to provide multiple meanings to each of the names, as explained by the various Acharyas. In fact, Sri Madhvacharya has made it clear that there at the least, 100 meanings for every single name in the Vishnu Sahasranama!
I have managed to complete the pages for the first 100 names and thought it would be a good enough milestone to let people know. I have also put together some “meta data” pages which explain the idea behind the project, the to-do list items, pointers to resources on the net, some guides and so on. There is also a “random post” link on the portal. Clicking this will take you to a random page on the portal. I think this is a very good way of reading about a particular name – whenever one has time. “One Nama a day – keeps all evil away” 🙂
Please go through the portal and let me know your feedback and suggestions. Since the work is very much in initial stages, it becomes easy to incorporate feedback and implement the same for all pages.
Best wishes to all on Madhva Navami.
|| Sri Krishnarpanamastu ||
Sri Bannanje Govindacharya has been awarded the Padma Shri for 2009 for his contribution to “Literature and Education”. This is a proud moment for all Madhvas. Sri Bannanje Govindacharya is one of the greatest Madhva scholars of this generation. His books and lectures are an outstanding source of information and inspiration to all Madhvas. He also has an excellent research mindset and has done amazing work in bringing out several unique facets of Sri Madhva’s philosophy.
He was also the consultant for the movie ‘Madhvacharya’ directed by Sri G V Iyer.
Truly a deserving award for Sri Bannanje!
Throughout Tulu Nadu, there are many holy places tied to Sri Madhvacharya. Many of these are mentioned in Sumadhva vijaya, the hagiography of Sri Madhva. They are scattered throughout Udupi and Mangalore districts of Karnataka and Kasaragod district of Kerala. One day, I hope to cover all these places and provide details of them. But here is a small introduction to some of the places.
Of course, I have not covered Udupi and Pajaka here but they are very well known and a must visit also.
I hope this small writeup will be beneficial to Madhvas. It would be good if we plan to visit these places whenever we are visiting Udupi, Dharmasthala or Kukke. The rich religious, cultural and historical significance of these places will then start spreading.
Recently, my uncle conducted the Sama Veda Samhita Yaga at our home in Nellitheertha. On that ocassion, we had requested the junior pontiff of the Pejavara Adhokshaja Matha of Udupi, Sri Sri Vishvaprasanna Theertha Swamiji to come home. He agreed and we got the opportunity of performing Pada Puje to him.
Sri Swamiji also had brought home the idols of the Matha, Sri Vittala and did a puje at our residence. In the above photo, you may notice that the silver stand used to keep the Saligramas is mostly empty because the Saligramas had been kept near the Yagna Kunda.
After the Puje, Sri Swamiji gave a very useful talk to all of us highlighting some of the necessary practices that every Madhva should undertake. This was followed by Mantrakshate to all of us.
Sri Swamiji, under the guidance of his Guru – the great Sri Sri Vishvesha Theertha Swamiji, is running many projects for the community’s welfare. He is running a Go-Shale and also a Vedic School. More details can be obtained from the Matha website.
The matha is doing some excellent work in the Go-Shale protecting hundreds of cows in the region. The website also has details on how one can contribute to the project. I am sure many will find this a worthwhile cause to donate and help protect cows.
Sri Madhvacharya once demonstrated “Laghima Siddhi” or the ability to become light on will by sitting on the back of a very small kid and going around the Prakara of a temple. The kid did not even as much as feel the presence of Sri Madhva on his back!
Anandatirtha Prathishtana 