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Osho or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was born in 1931 in Central India. He was a charismatic and gifted speaker who became the leader of a worldwide new spiritual movement. It is said that at the age of 21 he attained enlightenment or Samadhi. At the time he was studying philosophy at the University of Saugar. On receiving a masters degree he taught philosophy at the University of Jabalpur for nine years.

As well as teaching philosophy he also began to attract disciples to follow his own eclectic mix of philosophy and religion. In 1966 he decided to leave his teaching post and give full attention to his role as spiritual Master. In 1974 he moved with his disciples to Pune, India. Here he established a new ashram in a comfortable setting of 6 acres. In 1980 he was attacked by a Hindu fundamentalist who disagreed with Osho’s unconventional stance on religion and spirituality. It is said that due to police incompetence the assailant was never convicted.

Due to failing health Osho decided to leave India for America where he would be able to receive better medical treatment. His disciples bought a large plot of land near Antelope, Oregon. Here they wished to build a large ashram and other buildings. There was often friction between the local townspeople and the ashramites. There was a clash of cultures and the local townspeople felt threatened by the influx of devotees. Because of this many building permits were denied. This led to ashramites trying to get elected directly to the town council. There were also allegations made that followers of Osho were involved in illegal activities such as spreading salmonella in a local restaurant. More seriously there were allegations of Murder made against some followers of Osho. Two were eventually convicted of the murder of Charles Turner who had tried to close the ranch.

This chapter finally ended in 1985, when Rajneesh was arrested in North Carolina as he allegedly was fleeing the U.S. On October 23, 1985, a federal grand jury in Portland, Oregon had secretly indicted Rajneesh, Sheela, and six others of his followers for immigration crimes. Two days later, a Wasco County grand jury returned indictments against Sheela and two others, charging them with the attempted murder of Swami Devaraj, the Bhagwan’s personal doctor. Rajneesh entered an “Alford plea,” also called a no-contest plea, and was given a suspended sentence on condition that he leave the country.

Osho claimed that he was poisoned in jail and January 19th, 1990, four years after the arrest, he died. He was 59. His ashes are placed in a magnificently reconstructed lecture hall, at his last home place, his Ashram in Pune, India.

  

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Baba Ramdev is a renowned Yoga teacher. Through the medium of television, he has taken the art of yoga to each and every household far and wide. He is the host of a program named ‘Divya Yog’ that airs on Aastha TV everyday, at 5 am in the morning. People from different parts of the country watch this program and have started doing yoga from the comforts of their home.

Early Life

Ramdev was born as ‘Ramkishan Yadav’ in Alipur, in the Mahendragarh district of Indian state of Haryana. After studying at school till the eight standard, he joined a yogic monastery (gurukul) in Khanpur village. There, he started learning the techniques of Yoga, along with the Sanskrit language.

Renunciation

After completing his period of study at the Gurukul, Baba Ram Dev renounced the world and entered into Sanyas (monastic living). It was then that he assumed the name of Ramdev. He went to Jind district and joined the Kalva gurukul. There, he started teaching Yoga to the villagers across Haryana. It is believed that some time later, he traveled to the Himalayas, spending a number of years there. Thereafter, he went to Haridwar and till date, the city serves as his base.

Initiation into Ascetic Order

Swami Ramdev was initiated into the ascetic order by Swami Shankerdevji Maharaj. After his initiation, he joined the order of swamis and started studying the ancient Indian scriptures. At the same time, he also practiced intense self-discipline and meditation.

Divya Yoga Mandir Trust

As a promotional vehicle for Yoga, Baba Ram Dev established the Divya Yoga Mandir Trust in 1995. In this project, he was accompanied by Acharya Karamveer and Acharya Balkrishna. The headquarters of the trust are at the Kripalu Bagh Ashram of Haridwar. Baba Ramdev teaches yoga mainly at this ashram.

  

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Sathya Sai Baba (born Sathya Narayana Raju with the family name Ratnakaram, circa 1926-1929) is a popular, controversial Indian guru who has millions of followers and hundreds of Sathya Sai Baba groups in many countries. When he was in his teens he claimed to be the reincarnation of the fakir Shirdi Sai Baba and subsequently took the fakir’s name. He says that he is an avatar (incarnation) of Shiva and Shakti and an embodiment of love with divine powers such as omniscience and omnipotence.

He is said to manifest vibuthi (holy ash) and small objects like rings and watches daily. He claims to materialize these objects out of nothing but refused to have his materializations investigated under controlled circumstances. His followers report many, sometimes spectacular miracles of many kinds that they attribute to the Baba. He preaches a foundation of five basic values: Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and Non-violence. He teaches the unity of all major world religions and says that they all lead to God. His followers and the organizations that he has founded are involved in many charity projects, providing free modern hospitals and water projects serving thousands in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the city of Chennai (Madras). In his ashram and around it there are various buildings including a University and a World Religions Museum. He has founded schools all over India.

Critics, including rationalist Sanal Edamaruku, ex-follower turned skeptic skeptic Basava Premanand and the pianist David Bailey claim that these materializations are done by sleight of hand, which they say can be verified with video movies available on the internet. They also claim that he has inappropriate sexual relations with young men and boys. Testimonies of these sexual molestations are available on the internet. Another point of criticism is the unresolved killings of four men in Sai Baba’s private quarters in 1993.

  

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Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (February 18, 1836 – August 16, 1886) was a Bengali saint. His early name was Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya. A devotee of the goddess Kali and a teacher of Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, which contain the beliefs of Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism, he preached that “all religions lead to the same goal.” He placed “spiritual religion” above “blind ritualism.”

Traditional biography
In India, people usually concentrate more on the teachings of saints and less on whether the dates of significant events related to them are historically accurate. But in the case of Ramakrishna, we have authentic accounts of his life and times. This was possible because many of his disciples were well educated and had a strong desire to present only the facts which could be verified from multiple sources. The main credit for collecting and recording such facts goes to Swami Saradananda, a disciple of the Master. He wrote an authoritative biography to sift the facts from the legends and stories which were growing around Ramakrishna. A new English translation of this by Swami Chetanananda is available.

Traditional account of his childhood
Gadadhar’s parents, Khudiram and Chandramani, were poor and made ends meet with great difficulty. Gadadhar was the pet of the whole village. He was handsome and had a natural gift for the fine arts. He, however, disliked going to school, not interested in earning money only. He loved Nature and spent his time in fields and fruit gardens outside the village with his friends. He was seen visiting monks who stopped at his village on their way to Puri. He would serve them and listen with rapt attention to the arguments they often had among themselves over religious issues.

Gadadhar attained the age when he should be invested with the sacred thread (Upanayana). When arrangements were nearly complete for this, Gadadhar declared that he would have his first alms as a Brahmin from a certain Sudra woman of the village. This was something unheard of! Tradition required that it should be a brahmin and not a sudra who would give him the first alms. This was pointed out to him but he was adamant. He said he had given his word to the lady and if he did not keep his word, what sort of brahmin would he be? No argument, no appeal, no amount of tears could budge him from his position. Finally, Ramkumar, his eldest brother and now the head of the family after the passing away of their father, had to give in.

  

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Sri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living movement to spread Vedic knowledge worldwide.

He was born on May 13, 1956 in Papanasam, Tamil Nadu, India. At age 4 Ravi could recite the whole Bhagavad Gita, and showed a gift for study of the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas. At an early age his father, R.S.V. Ratnam (“Pitaji”), sought out a worthy spiritual master for his son, and entrusted him to the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi’s first instruction was that Ravi (as Maharishi called him) should finish his eduction, leading to his attainment of a science degree. Subsequently Ravi joined Maharishi’s entourage. He spent much time teaching Vedic Pundits at Maharishi’s charity in Delhi, and organising Yagyas. Maharishi took Ravi to Switzerland where he spent seasons above Lake Lucerne. Often Maharishi would not start a meeting without Ravi being present, and in the eyes of many elevated him to the level of ‘favourite’.

In 1982 he went in to 10 days of silence. It is believed by some that he became an enlightened master around this time and cognised the Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique. Sri Sri then set up the Art of Living (AOL) organisation to spread the Sudarshan Kriya around the world. The Sudarshan Kriya has acclaimed health benefits (as documented on the AOL homepage – see links below), and has been taught in over 140 countries. Sri Sri and his delegate instructors also conduct the Hollow and Empty and Sahaj Samadhi Yoga advanced meditations that help create an awareness of inner silence and wellbeing.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar holds the distinction of being the only non-Western member of the Council of the Divinity School at Yale University in the US. He was also a guest speaker at the Millennium World Peace Summit during the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in New York. He is cofounder of the IAHV (International Association for Human Values), an international nonprofit organization in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The IAHV’s humanitarian service wing, 5H, focuses on providing health, homes, hygiene, human values, and harmony in diversity to needy communities. IAHV, 5H and the AOL have collaborated with several UN bodies in many humanitarian and social service programs all over the world.

  

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Mata Amritanandamayi, also known as ‘Amma’, ‘Ammachi’ or ‘Mother’ (born September 27, 1953), was born Sudhamani in the small village of Parayakadavu, near Kollam, Kerala and is a humanitarian and a revered saint.

Sudhamani was born to a family of fisher folks. Her schooling ended when she was nine and she had to take care of the domestic work full-time. From these humble beginnings started the journey of a young fisher woman on the path to ‘universal motherhood’, which took her even to the United Nations General Assembly, where she addressed the world. Even her own mother (Damayanti) and father (Sugunanandan) now address their daughter as Amma. Other aliases are ‘Her Holiness’ and the ‘Divine Mother’. She has also been called ‘Beloved’, a ‘Mahatma’, ‘Mataji’, and the ‘embodiment of the primordial, supreme consciousness, the Paramatman’.

Rise to fame
Also known to her followers as ‘Ammachi’, she is a devotee of Krishna. Her devotees claim that she had many mystical experiences as a child. Since 1981, she has been teaching spiritual aspirants all over the world. She founded a worldwide organization, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, which is engaged in many spiritual and charitable activities.

International events
1993, Chicago: speech at the “Parliament of the World Religions” 100th Anniversary
1995, New York: address at the Interfaith Celebrations at the 50th Anniversary of the UN.
2000, New York: keynote address at the Millennium Peace Summit, UN General Assembly
2002, Geneva: keynote address at the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious & Spiritual Leaders at the UN
2002, Geneva: “Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence” from The World Movement for Non-Violence at UN headquarters
2004, Barcelona [Parliament of world religions]

Recognition
In 1993, she was one of the three people who represented Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago. Amma was the keynote speaker at The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference was held in October 2002, and was an initiative of The UN’ Millennium World Peace Summit, at which Amma spoke in August 2000.

Amma was presented with the 2002 Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence by The World Movement for Nonviolence at the UN General Assembly Hall (Palais Des Nations) in Geneva in recognition of her lifelong work in furthering the principles of non-violence. The three previous recipients of the award were Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.

Inner circle
The first set of monastic disciples of Amritanandamayi were from Harippad, a town not very far from Vallikkavu, Kerala, in the late 1980s. Today, they as well as some others of that era are senior swamis, looking after the ashram’s multifarious activities. The first disciple to be initiated as a sanyasi was Swami Amritaswaroopananda, now known as Valiya (Big) Swami in ashram circles. Others are Ron Gotsegen, Dr. Prem Nair, Swami Amritatmananda and Swami Ramakrishnananda.

Darshans
Amma is known to the press as ‘the hugging saint’. Amma offers warm hugs to everyone who approaches her and in India she has been known to individually hug over 50,000 people in a day, sitting sometimes for over 20 hours. Amma travels all around the world, and is said to have hugged at least 21 million people in the past 30 years.

“Darshan – The Embrace”, a film on the life of Amma has been officially selected for showcasing at the prestigious 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Jan Kounen, an award winning filmmaker who was born in Netherlands and is based in France, directed the film. Manuel De La Roche of France, is the producer. Jan Kounen and his crew began shooting the footage for the movie in 2003 during [Amritavarsham50], Amma’s 50th Birthday celebration in Kochi. Afterwards, Kounen and his team traveled with Amma on Her Indian and International tours in order to complete the movie. About the film, Kounen says, “when I first took up the project and started filming, I thought, ‘Amma is a good person, doing good things, in turn I can do something good for Her’. But as it went on, I realized, no, I am the one who is receiving the gift”.

Humanitarian Activities
Mata Amritanandamayi Math executes various charitable and humanitarian projects. A program to build 25,000 homes for the poor, women’s shelters, pension disbursements for widows, orphanages, hospices, hospitals, and community aid centers, homes for the aged, eye clinics, speech therapy centers, are examples. Math run ‘Mother’s Kitchen’ or ‘vegetarian soup-kitchens’ volunteers prepare and serve meals to the poor and needy in many US inner cities.

Recently, Mata Amritanandamayi Math announced a billion rupees to the victims of 2004 Tsunami. Math’s relief work is happening in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar islands and in Sri Lanka.

Miracles

Many of her followers believe in her powers to perform miracles. For instance she mentioned in an interview given to The Week (Kottayam, Kerala, September 21, 2003, see references) that she is often asked by her devotees to perform miracles. She goes on to say that water was miraculously changed to panchamrutham (a sweet often prepared for Hindu religious ceremonies) in her presence and that her devotees were able to light lamps out of conches filled with water. Hearing of such miracles cause many people to become skeptical of her powers while it fuels more devotion in others.

Most famous is her often-used ability to perform Shaktipat (“energy touch”) by hugging.

Controversies
These are described in detail by Sreeni Pattathanam Sreeni Pattathanam. He has written a book, Matha Amritanandamayi: Divya Kathakalum Yatharthyavum (Matha Amritanandamayi: Sacred Stories and Realities), first published in 1985, that later became controversial and brought the threat of legal action from one resident of the ashram against the author.

The book, which contains references to court records, newspaper reports and quotations from well-known literary figures, including statements from the Math’s close relatives, as well as an interview with Mata Amritanandamayi herself, refutes the Math’s claims to miracles and contends that there have been many suspicious deaths in and around her ashram, which need police investigation. The book’s claims notwithstanding, no evidence of foul play has been found by any governmental agency.

  

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Gautama Buddha was a South Asian spiritual leader traditionally stated to have lived between approximately 563 BCE and 483 BCE, with some Buddhist legends stating that he was born on April 8, 1029 BCE, and died on February 15, 949 BCE. Some scholars date him later, to the mid 5th century BC.

Born as Siddhartha Gautama (Sanskrit: “descendant Gautama whose aims who achieves aims effectively”) he became “the Buddha” after embarking on a quest for spiritual meaning. He is universally recognised by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (literally Enlightened One or Awakened One) of our age. He is also commonly known as Shakyamuni or Sakyamuni (“sage of the Shakya clan”) and as the Tathagata (“thus-come-one”).

Gautama is the key figure in Buddhism, and a Accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the sangha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitaka was written about four hundred years later.

Buddha’s life
Few of the details of the Buddha’s life can be independently verified, and it is difficult to determine what is history and what is myth. Therefore this article will describe the life of Siddhartha Gautama as told in the earliest available Buddhist texts.

Conception and birth
Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini (a town situated in what is now Nepal, near the Indian border) under the full moon of the sixth lunar month, in the spring. His father was Suddhodana, a chief among the Shakyas, a warrior tribe. His mother was Queen Maya, one of Suddhodana’s wives. The day of the Buddha’s birth is widely celebrated in Buddhist countries as Vesak. Gautama was born a prince, destined to a life of luxury.

  

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Swami Dayananda Saraswati was born in Tamil Nadu. He became a swami as a young man and was the assistant to Swami Chinmayananda when he took the initiative to establish Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

In 1986, Swami Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, a Gurukula that has branches in India and the United States. Arsha Vidya Gurukulam is an institute for the traditional study of Advaita Vedanta, Yoga, Ayurveda, Jyotish, Sanskrit and other classical Hindu studies. The word Arsha means that which is from the Rishis – the great seers of ancient India. The word Vidya means knowledge. Thus, Arsha Vidya means the knowledge flowing from the Rishis. The word Gurukulam, means family of the teacher, referring to a residential center for learning with the Teacher.

Arsha Vidya Gurukulam offers Indians and non-Indians, Hindus and non-Hindus alike an opportunity to study the profound spiritual knowledge of the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Brahma-sutras, and other classical Vedanta texts.

Swami Dayananda is currently the most revered teacher of Advaita Vedanta in the world. He also founded AIM for Seva for social work in India.

  

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Perhaps no man in his time has more tales spun around him than Nagarjuna. He was said to be in communion with gods and goddesses, to have the power to change base metal into gold, to know the secret of making the “elixir of life.” He was famous and people looked on him with awe mingled with fear.

Nagarjuna, born at Fort Daihak near Somnath in Gujarat in 931 A.D., was a chemist, rather an alchemist. If he was embarrassed by all the tales told about him, he showed no sign of it. And he only added to the popular belief that he was a messenger of God by writing his treatise, Rasaratnakara, in the form of dialogues between him and the gods.

Rasaratnakara dealt with preparations of rasa (mercury) compounds. It also gave a survey of the status of metallurgy and alchemy in the land. Extraction of metals such as silver, gold, tin and copper from their ores and their purification were also mentioned in the treatise.

To prepare the “elixir of life” and other substances from mercury, Nagarjuna made use of animal and vegetable products, apart from minerals and alkalis. To dissolve diamonds, metals and pearls, he suggested the use of vegetable acids-sour gruel and juices of fruits and plants. A list of apparatus he and earlier alchemists had used was given in the treatise. The process of distillation, liquefaction, sublimation and roasting were also mentioned.

The treatise discussed at length transmutation of metals into gold. Even if no gold could be produced, these techniques could yield metals with gold-like yellowish brilliance. Methods to prepare mercury-like substances from cinnabar and tin-like calamine were also given.

Nagarjuna also wrote Uttaratantra as a supplement to Susrutasamhita, dealing with preparation of medicinal drugs, and an Ayurvedic treatise, Arogyamanjari. His other treatises are Kakshaputatantra, Yogasara and Yogasatak.

  

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Nachiketa was a young, enthusiastic and adventurous boy.

The father of Nachiketa was giving away cows, which were feeble and old, as charity.

Nachiketa requested his father not to do so.

Since it was customary to give away ones most prized possessions,

Nachiketa wondered to who, he would be given to as charity.

During those days children were considered as the property of the father and the latter could do with them as they pleased.

Nachiketa’s father said, that he would give him to Yamaraja, the god of death.

Nachiketa made his way to the court of Yamaraja. Nachiketa waited patiently for Yamaraja to return as the latter was away.

Nachiketa remained at the door step of Yamaraja for 3 days and 3 nights without food or water.

On Yamaraja’s return, the latter asked Nachiketa to ask for 3 boons.

Nachiketa asked that his father should never get angry, but always remain peaceful and happy.

One of Nachiketa’s wishes was that Yamaraja teach him about the science of fire that unveils the mystery of heaven. This knowledge is called ‘Agni Vidya’

In heaven, Nachiketa was aware that fear, hunger, thirst and ‘old age’ had no place.

Yamaraja explained, that that mysterious fire resided in the interior cave of the human being. Also Yamaraja explained in what respect the fire was the origin of the universe.

Fire is an intelligent energy. It possesses Consciousness.

One can communicate with fire through Mantras. The Mantra awakens the external fire which in turn awakens the dormant energy within us.

There are marmasthaanas (centers of vital energy) and charkas (centers of consciousness) in our body. These points are also found in the firepit, when a Jagna (Fire sacrifice) is performed.

The fire at the navel center is the source of our existence. It is called the Manipura Chakra. This Chakra needs to be activated, whether we use rituals connected with the external fire or meditation.

Yamaraja blessed Nachiketa and said that from then on that fire would be called ‘Nachiketa Agni’.

Yamaraja explained to Nachiketa the knowledge of immortality.

For that one has to learn about the Pranic forces and the channels through which they flow in the body.

These forces sometimes become entangled and they form knots. These have got to be untied so that the energies flow freely. Along with this procedure one must strive to free oneself from desires and attachments.

The ego is the root cause of all the problems. It does not want to let go of its negative tendencies, like anger, greed etc. because it feels nourished by it. It is another matter that it is due to these tendencies that the ‘false self’ also becomes miserable. The above is one of the biggest ironies of Spiritual Life.

A good seeker does not yearn for heaven, he longs for self-realization, or the experience that God and human spirit is essentially one.

This kind of non-attachment to mundane desires, opens the way for ‘parabhakti’ which is the highest form of devotion.

Nachiketa was a good student and he had a great master in the form of Yamaraja. The latter offered Nachiketa all the richest that could buy him all that he desired.

But Nachiketa was happy to know that his father was no longer angry, but happy, and he himself was happy in having learned the mysterious knowledge of the fire and how to get close to God!

  

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Narayana Guru (1854 – 1928) was a great sage and social reformer of India. He transformed the social face of Kerala.

His father was a Sanskrit scholar and an Ayurvedic doctor. He was married but after a few years he became a wandering ascetic.

A new phase began in the Guru’s life in 1904. He decided to give up his wandering life and settle down in a place to continue his Sadhana (spiritual practice) he choose Sivagiri, twenty miles to the north of Thiruvananthapuram. Goddess ‘Amba’ became his deity of worship.

Next, he started a Sanskrit school in Varkala. Poor boys and orphans were taken under his care. They were given education regardless of caste distinctions. At Varkala a temple for Anjengo (Anjaneya) was built. Temples were built at different places – Trichur, Kannur, Tellicherry , Calicut, Mangalore. A temple was built for Sharada Devi in 1912, at Sivagiri. Worship at such temples helped to reduce to a large extent superstitious beliefs and practices.

In 1913, he founded an Ashram at Alwaye. It was called Advaita Ashram. This was an important event in his spiritual quest. That Ashram was dedicated to a great principle – Om Sahodaryam Sarvatra (all men are equal in the eyes of God). This became the motto of the new Ashram.

When Narayana Guru attained the age of sixty, his birth day was observed throughout the west-coast from Mangalore to Sri Lanka. Between the years 1918 and 1923 he visited and taught in Sri Lanka. In 1921, a Conference of Universal Brotherhood was held at Alwaye. Again in 1924, a conference of all religions was held at Alwaye. The Guru stressed the need for a Brahma Vidyalaya for a comparative study of different religious faiths. An institution called Narayana Gurukula was established at the Nilgiris.

Sree Narayana Guru Devan has many followers and disciples. Nataraja Guru a notable disciple of Sree Narayana Guru introduced Guru’s visions and ideals to the western world. He worked towards buidling ‘Gurukulams’ across the world. He was a great scholar and had a never ending thirst for knowledge. He had pure devotion for Sree Narayana Guru.

  

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The name of Yajnavalkya of Mithila stands distinguished both in the Srutis and in the Smritis. Yajnavalkya is especially known for his unsurpassed spiritual wisdom and power. The seer of a Veda Samhita from Bhagavan Surya, the revealer of Brahma Jnana to Janaka, Maitreyi and others, Yajnavalkya hails supreme among sages of sacred memory. As to his obtaining the Shukla Yajurveda Samhita from Bhagavan Surya, there is the following history.

Yajnavalkya was the son of the sister of Mahamuni Vaishampayana, the Vedacharya of the Taittiriya section. He was studying the Taittiriya Samhita from Vaishampayana who was also his Guru. Vaishampayana had many other disciples too and they all were students of the Taittiriya Shakha.

Once all the Rishis decided to form an association near the Meru mountain and made a rule that any Rishi who absented himself at the appointed hour should incur the sin of Brahmahatya (the sin of killing a Brahmin) for seven days. On that appointed day fell the Sraddha ceremony of Vaishampayana’s father. Vaishampayana thought, “Somehow I have to perform my father’s ceremony. If the sin of Brahmahatya comes to me, my disciples will observe the expiatory penance therefor”. So Vaishampayana did not attend the meeting of the Rishis. And accordingly he incurred the sin of Brahmahatya.

Then Vaishampayana said to his disciples, “Now I have to expiate this great sin of Brahmahatya. Therefore, you all will observe, for my sake, an expiatory penance for seven days”.

At once Yajnavalkya stood up and said, “O Guru! All these are poor-spirited young students. They will not be able to undergo such a hard penance. So, instead of all, I myself alone shall observe it in the manner in which nobody else can”. Vaishampayana told Yajnavalkya not to undertake it alone. But Yajnavalkya persisted. The preceptor was offended at this audacious attitude of the disciple and said, “O proud one, you are very conceited. You get away from me. Enough of you who is disposed to despise wise Brahmins. Give back to me immediately whatever you have learnt from me”.

Upon the order of the Guru, Yajnavalkya, the son of Devarata, vomited out the collection of the Yajus in the form of food. The other disciples ate that food taking the form of the Tittiri birds, because they were very eager to receive the same. They then had the direct revelation of those Yajurveda collections. As the Tittiri birds ate this Veda, it is thenceforth called the Taittiriya Yajurveda. It is also known as Krishna (black) Yajurveda on account of its being vomited substance.

Then Yajnavalkya determined not to have any human Guru thereafter. Thus he began to propitiate the Sun-God, Surya. Yajnavalkya worshipped and extolled the Sun, the master of the Vedas, for the purpose of acquiring the fresh Vedic portions not known to his preceptor, Vaishampayana.

Yajnavalkya said, “Prostration to the glorious Aditya, who in the form of the Atman, abides in all beings. I bow to Him who surrounds all like Akasa, who is one and not separated or distanced by limiting conditions. O Great God, O Creator, I contemplate upon that glowing sphere which lights and warms the whole world! O God who burns all miseries wrought by unrighteous activities, who burns ignorance which is the seed of activity! O Lord, I worship Thy lotus-like feet praised and worshipped by the rulers of the three worlds. Give me those portions of the Veda which are not known to others”.

The Sun-God, the glorious Lord Hari, pleased with Yajnavalkya’s penance, assumed the form of a horse and taught the sage such fresh portions of the Yajurveda as were not known to any other. This portion of the Yajurveda goes by the name of Shukla Yajurveda. It is also known as Vajasaneya Yajurveda, because it was evolved in great rapidity by Surya in the form of a horse through his manes. Yajnavalkya divided this Vajasaneya Yajurveda again into fifteen branches, each branch comprising hundreds of Yajus Mantras. Kanva, Madhyandina and others learnt those branches.

Yajnavalkya married two wives. One was Maitreyi and the other Katyayani. Of the two, Maitreyi was a Brahmavadini. When Yajnavalkya wished to divide his property between the two wives before starting for the fourth Ashrama of his life, Maitreyi asked whether she could become immortal through wealth. Yajnavalkya replied that there was no hope of immortality through wealth and that she would only become one among the many who were well-to-do on earth. On hearing this, Maitreyi requested Yajnavalkya to teach her what he considered as the best. Then Yajnavalkya elaborately described to her the sole greatness of the Absolute Self, the nature of Its existence, the way of attaining infinite knowledge and immortality, etc. This immortal conversation between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi is recorded in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The central theme of the discourse is this: “All things are dear, not for their sake, but for the sake of the Self. This Self alone exists everywhere. It cannot be understood or known, for It alone is the Understander and the Knower. Its nature cannot be said to be positively as such. It is realised through endless denials as ‘not this, not this’. The Self is self-luminous, indestructible, unthinkable”.

The other wife Katyayani, the daughter of Bharadhwaja, was of common intelligence, and through her Yajnavalkya had three sons-Chandrakanta, Mahamegha and Vijaya.

Yajnavalkya, though a great Brahmajnani, was a great Karmakandi too. He caused many Yajnas to be performed and himself became the Acharya of those great Yajnas. He was a celebrated Srotriya and a Brahma-nishtha Guru. Once King Janaka of Videha wanted to know from which real Brahmanishtha to receive Brahma Vidya. In order to find out who was the real Brahma-nishtha, Janaka performed a huge Bahu-dakshina sacrifice to which all the Rishis from far and wide were invited. And he offered one thousand cows with their calves, all their horns being decked with enormous gold. Then he proclaimed to the assembled ones, “Whosoever is the best Brahmana amongst you may drive these cows home”. None dared to get up and take away the cows as they were afraid of censure by the others. But Yajnavalkya stood up and asked his disciple Samasravas to drive the cows home.

The other Brahmanas got angry at this and said to one another, “How can he declare himself to be the best among us?”. Thereupon several Rishis challenged Yajnavalkya with many questions on transcendental matters to all of which Yajnavalkya gave prompt reply. There was a great debate in which Yajnavalkya won over all the others. Janaka was convinced that Yajnavalkya was the best Brahma-nishtha and received Brahma Vidya from him thereafter.

The third and the fourth chapters of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad abound with the great philosophical teachings of Yajnavalkya. Yajnavalkya was also the author of the famous Yajnavalkya Smriti. His other works are Yajnavalkya Shakha, Pratijna Sutra, Satapatha Brahmana, and Yoga-Yajnavalkya.

At the sacrifice of Janaka, there was an exchange of words between Yajnavalkya and Vaishampayana. But on hearing that Yajnavalkya had obtained a fresh Veda from the Sun-God, Vaishampayana was much pleased and he requested Yajnavalkya to teach that Veda to his own disciples also. Yajnavalkya consented and taught his Veda to the disciples of Vaishampayana.

In the end, Yajnavalkya took Vidvat Sannyasa (renunciation after the attainment of the knowledge of Brahman) and retired to the forest.

Yajnavalkya was one of the greatest sages ever known. We find him arguing with and overcoming even his teacher Uddalaka at the court of Janaka. His precepts as contained in the Upanishads stand foremost as the crest-jewel of the highest teachings on Brahma Vidya.

  

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Shree Basaveshwara was the reviver of the Veerashaiva ( Lingayats) religion. He advocated the equality among the humankind and condemned all barriers of caste, creed and sex etc. and showed the right path to the society which was
lost in the darkness of casteism,which makes him a Unique saint, hence he was known as Jagajyoti ( a devine light for the world ). He is also known as Krantikari Basavanna
for his revolution in the caste ridden society.

Shree Basaveshwara was born in a brahmin family, to Madarasa and Madalambe in 1131 AD in Bagewadi. Madarasa was the chief of Bagewadi, now known as Basavanna Bagewadi is in Bijapur district, Karnataka, India. It is observed that Basaveshwara was an incarnation of Nandi the vehicle of lord Shiva, as Madalambe gave birth to a son after observing the Nandivrata. Basaveshwara had a sister Akkanagamma and a brother Devaraja.

Upanayana was done when Basava was eight years of age. He was made to wear the sacred thread called Janivara and worship the holy fire reciting “Gayatri” mantra and perform many complex rites. Soon after this, his both parents died and was looked by his grandmother. Basava was in no way convinced by the Upanayana ceremony and the subsequent strict observances because they were administered by the persons who had no true insight. This made him revolt against the ritualism. At the age of 16 years Basava discarded Janivara and broke away from the brahmanical
religious traditions. He then proceeded to Kudala Sangama, then the Shaivite stronghold.

Kudala Sangama is now a village in Hunagund Taluk of Bijapur District and situated at the meeting place( Sangama or Junction ) of two rivers, the Krishna and its tributary the Malaprabha.

Basava found his guru at Sangama and with his guidance, plunged himself into study and devotion to Sangameshwara the presiding deity of Sangama. He spent 12 years at Sangama which was the most significant period of his life. He had established the contacts with many learned
Brahmin scholars who were less orthodox in social and religious affairs.By this time Basava had come to a conclusion on spiritual, religious and social aspects of life. His views were:

There is one God , he is real, universal and supreme. He is perfect,noble, compassionate and he is always present to help the true devotees. No other God could attain his dignity and he is SHIVA,who is worshipped in the form of linga, the symbol of infinity.
The Jangamas, true devotees of Shiva, who propagate his gospel deserve the highest respect. The humanity which went astray in search of unreal God and false faiths should be brought back on the right path. The society suffering from artificial distinctions and discriminations needed reform and revival.

Basava married Gangambike the daughter of his maternal uncle Baladeva, who was a minister in the King Bijjala’s court at Mangalaveda.He had another wife, Nilambike ( Nilalochane). He had a son named Balasangayya.
Later he found a job in Bijjala’s court. Bijjala changed his seat of power to Kalyana and Basaveshwara followed him. Basaveshwara became the minister to King Bijjala in 1162 AD. As the minister Basaveshwara established the spiritual parliament, known as ANUBHAVA MANTAPA, to discuss the various aspects of Veerashaivism with the people from all walks of life. The dreams of Basava dreamt in Kudala Sangama, were being realised at Kalyana. His Bhakti movement brought great saints from all over India to the Anubhava Mantapa. The fundamental principles of religion, philosophy and society were discussed at a great length. The great Vachana Literature took final shape.
Basaveshwara was not only a minister by now he was the central figure of the socio-religious revolution ( Kranti) and condemned the barriers of caste, creed, sex etc. He had established the shunya pitha in the Anubhava Mantapa as the symbol of the new religion, which was being advocated by the Shivasharanas in 1154 AD. Allamaprabhu ascended the shunya pitha in 1162 AD. Kalyana attracted sharanas and jangamas.

Basaveshwara’s life long aim was to eradicate the deep rooted varnashrama or the caste system. Though he was the minister, he used to invite the untouchables to his residence and have meals with them. This act incited the hatredness among the orthodox people who were jealous
about the Basaveshwara’s great achievement. They carried many false stories to King Bijjala to malign Basaveshwara. These accusations created suspicion in the mind of Bijjala and he was fearing about the uprising of traditional and orthodox society, if the accusations were proved to be true.
As if adding fuel to the fire, the historic marriage between the daughter of Madhuvayya a Brahmin and the son of Haralayya an untouchable took place in Kalyana. This marriage was blessed by Basaveshwara and many sharanas, but this infuriated the traditional people in the society and they complained the King Bijjala. The king ordered, Madhuvayya and Haralayya be punished by removing their eyes and dragged in the streets by elephants. Basaveshwara was unable to stop the punishment and his
sensitive mind could not bear this shock. He took the blame for this upon himself. He felt that his mission in Kalyana has come to an end. With great sorrow in his heart he left Kalyana in 1167 AD and went to Kudala Sangama.The chaotic conditions prevailed in Kalyana and the sharanas were very much distressed by the developments. Mean time the king was
murdered.

Three months after reaching Kudala Sangama Shree Basaveshwara attained the union with Lord Kudala Sangameshwara in 1167 AD . Following is one of the thousands of vachanas of Shree Basaveshwara:

The power of knowledge destroys ignorance;

The power of light dissipates darkness;

The power of truth is foe of all untruth;

The sharana’s experience of god is the sole cure of worldliness;

O Lord Kudala Sangamadeva.

  

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The Lord Vishnu being the Creator,.Sustainer,.destructor,.all the cosmic evolution is due to Lord Vishnu,.His grace can be attained by severe tapasya,.Lord Vishnu has got many incarnations,.many people in the olden days(before thousands of years) had got meditational powers by doing tapasya for 1000′s of years,.they got many divya-astras,.many powerfull weapons from the Lords,.So these weapons created many problems to people living in the country,.many people have died,.so Lord Vishnu has got many incarnations to destroy these weapons,.and killed many many demons who created many problems to the people,.and Lord Vishnu have given much more things to his devotees and saved his devotees,.

Narayana,.Narayana,.

The salvation of life can only be attained by Lord Vishnu,.The salvation of life cannot be attained by Lord Shiva,.and Lord Brahma,.Lord Narada,.being the son of Lord Brahma,.a very great devotee of Lord Vishnu,.he chants Narayana,.Narayana,.where ever he go,.when ever he starts a work,.mostly at every time,.so he became a great devotee by chanting Narayana,.Narayana,.at most of the times,.Cleanliness is next to godliness,.so one should be clean,.pure and sacred,.before chanting the Lord Vishnu,.

  

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We are coming with the information on this very soon.

  

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Sri Vedanta Desika was born in 1268 at Thooppul, a village near Kanchipuram, to Totaramba and Ananta Suri. Both parents came from very traditional Sri Vaishnava backgrounds; Ananta Suri was a Vaidika Sri Vaishnava belonging to the Yajur Veda, and Totaramba was the great-granddaughter of Kidambi Accan or Pranatartiharacharya , Ramanuja’s cook and one of his chief disciples. The day of Sri Desika’s birth happened to be purattaasi SravaNam, the tirunakshatram of Lord Srinivasa, so accordingly his parents gave him the name “Venkatanatha”. His titles soon eclipsed his given name, however, and due to his mastery of Vedanta and his ability to communicate complex topics easily, he is universally known as Vedantacharya, Vedanta Desika, or simply Desika — the teacher.

Vedanta Desika’s maternal uncle was the renowned scholar Kidambi Appullaar, also known as Atreya Ramanuja. It was under him that Desika studied all the shastras. He writes that Appullaar taught him with “as much patience as a man would teach a parrot to speak.” Appullaar in turn had studied Vedanta under Vatsya Varadacharya (popularly known as Nadadur “Ammaal”) along with Sudarsana Suri, the author of the Sruta-prakASikA,the famed commentary on Ramanuja’s Sribhashya.

Tradition records that at the age of five, Desika’s precocious intelligence attracted the notice of Varadacharya himself. The latter blessed him and predicted that he would be a great scholar, eventually firmly establishing the greatness of Ramanuja’s philosophy. The master’s words proved prophetic. Before the age of twenty, by his own account Desika had mastered all branches learning current in his day, both religious and secular. In particular, he had an uncanny ability to compose poetry instantaneously that combined philosophy, emotion, and devotion. This combined with his expertise at the art of debate earned him the title “Kavi Tarkika Simha”,or lion among poets and debaters.

One can easily trace Desika’s life by looking at the stotras he has composed. In examining the list of his Sanskrit and Tamil poems, we find a large number dedicated to the deities in and around Tiruvahindrapuram, a temple near the coastal town of Cuddalore.It appears that shortly after his studies, Desika moved to Tiruvahindrapuram.

Always a devotee of Hayagriva Perumaal, the fount of all knowledge,Desika meditated here on this form of the Lord and is said to have had a profound vision of Him. Thereafter, he literally burst forth in poetry. Works such as the Hayagriva Stotram, Raghu Vira Gadyam, Gopala Vimsati (all in Sanskrit), Achyuta Satakam (in Prakrit), Mummanikkovai and Navamani Maalai (in Tamil) are among his hymns in praise of the deities enshrined here. These works are remarkable for their poetic and linguistic range, as well as for their deeply emotional turns. In his Tamil love poems to Lord Devanatha, for example, the influence of the Alvars is transparent, as is his mastery of the Sangam Tamil conventions. The rhythmic beauty of the Raghu Vira Gadyam’s prose and his touching descriptionsof the Krishna-lilas in the Gopala Vimsati are among the high points of the entire gamut of India’s religious literature.

At some point, Desika returned to Kanchipuram to continue his teaching and writing. He regularly visited the many Divya Desams of this town, composing poems on nearly all of them. One of them, the Vairagya Panchakam or “Five Verses on Dispassion”, gives us a rare autobiographical insight into his personality. Nominally addressed to Lord Varadaraja, the Vairagya Panchakam is held to be a reply to a friend, who, upon seeing Desika’s abject poverty, invited him to join the court of the king where he could lead a more comfortable life. Desika’s verses here display a stern independence of spirit and utter disregard for material wealth, particularly when it distracts from the greater wealth of the company of God. Tradition remembers Desika and his wife as having led an “unccha-vRtti” life, where he would daily go about begging for alms. This is evidenced by his declaration at the conclusion of the Vairagya Panchakam that neither he nor his father had any wealth worth speaking of, save the continuous presence of the Lord of the Elephant Hill, i.e., Lord Varadaraja.

Near the end of the 13th century, it is recorded that several Advaitins came to Srirangam and challenged the Sri Vaishnavas to a debate. Being advanced in age, Sudarsana Suri did not feel up to the task, so the Sri Vaishnavas of Srirangam invited Desika to take the challenge. He accepted the challenge and is said to have vanquished his opponents, and thereafter took the opportunity to settle down in Srirangam. Then, as now, Srirangam was the center of Vaishnava culture, with very active participation in religious dialogue and temple festivals. Desika no doubt enjoyed his time in Srirangam very much. In the Bhagavad Dhyana Sopanam, a contemplative poem on Lord Ranganatha, he describes Srirangam as a place where “great connoisseurs live contentedly, their minds full of delight”.

At this point Desika was in his thirties, and his scholarly achievements in the service of God were coming at an increasing pace. He summarized his objections to Advaita in the polemic work Satadusani; he clarified many aspects of Sri Vaishnava ritual and practice; he constantly elucidated and clarified the philosophical teachings of his predecessors. He himself writes that he taught the entire Sribhashya at least thirty times; the bulk of these must have occurred during his long stay in Srirangam. It is also during this period that he wrote many of his “rahasya granthas”, or expositions of the more esoteric doctrines of the tradition, including the nature of self-surrender (prapatti), the meaning of sacred mantras, etc. Many of these works are clearly a product of long discussions with senior scholars living in Srirangam at the time, such as Pillai Lokacharya, Alagiya Manavaala Perumaal Naayanaar, and Naayanaar Accan Pillai. Many of the thoughts of these other acharyas are indirectly recorded in Desika’s works, even when they occasionally disagree with his conclusions.

In this respect, he was very much a scientist, carefully mentioning and arguing all sides of an issue, before finally coming to what he saw was the most logical conclusion. In examining these works as well as his exhaustive commentaries on Ramanuja’s and Alavandar’s compositions, one is struck by Desika’s thoroughness, and by his desire to discuss all possible meanings and nuances of an interpretation, both in the course of anubhavam as well as argument. Without Desika’s careful noting of the variety of interpretations, many important meanings would have been lost to posterity. It is no wonder that the title of “Vedanta Desika” was conferred on him, as he himself attests to, by Lord Ranganatha Himself.

It is also in Srirangam that Desika composed the Paduka Sahasram, 1008 verses on the sandals of the Lord. It is said that Desika composed the entire lot in a single night in response to challenge from another pandit. In the course of the 32 paddhatis or chapters, Desika makes countless allusions to the Alvars, to Sri Ramayanam from which the idea of the greatness of the sandals nominally comes, as well as other aspects of philosophy. The Paduka Sahasram has been dealt with in detail by Sri Sadagopan so I will not delve into this great topic further.

When Desika was in his forties, a son was born to him and his wife. Reflecting his love for his household icon Lord Varadaraja, Desika named the boy Varada, and tradition remembers him as Nainacharya or Kumara Varadacharya. Kumara Varadacharya also became a scholar of some repute, and we are indebted to him for recording some biographical details of his father in his Desika Mangalam, Pillai Antaadi, and Desika Dinacharyai.

In 1327, during this fertile period of Sri Vaishnava scholarship and growth, Malik Kafur invaded Srirangam from the north, with tragic consequences of which many of us are aware. In the ensuing melee, hundreds if not thousands of Sri Vaishnavas are said to have died, and the very existence of Lord Ranganatha was threatened. Led by Pillai Lokacharya, the seniormost acharya at the time, a group of Sri Vaishnavas hurriedly left Srirangam with Namperumaal, the Ranganatha utsava-mUrti, and headed to Jyotishkudi. There, an exhausted Pillai Lokacharya breathed his last, unable to take the stress of the invasion and journey. Meanwhile, the mUla-vigraham of Ranganayaki Thaayaar was buried in the courtyard in front of Her sannidhi, and Desika is said to have supervised the building of a wall in front of the Ranganatha’s sannidhi to hide the mUlavar. The aged Sudarsana Suri was also among those who died during the invasion. Before his death, he entrusted his two young sons and the only manuscript of the Sruta-prakASikA to Desika’s care. Desika, the boys, and others hid themselves among the dead bodies to escape slaughter.With the invasion of the temple came the need for Desika himself to leave Srirangam, so he took his family and the sons of Sudarsana Suri and headed northwest, settling down first in Satyamangalam, in present day Karnataka. He then made his way to Melkote, where he attracted a bright pupil, later known as Brahmatantra Svatantra Jiyar, the first Swami of Sri Parakala Matham. From Melkote, Desika proceeded to Tirupati/Tirumalai, where Namperumaal had eventually gone, and then to a tour of North Indian divya desams, including Mathura, Brindavana, Ayodhya, and Kashi. In the course of this long exile from Srirangam, seeing the devastating destruction caused to the holiest of temples, Srirangam, he composed the Abhiti Stava, or Prayer for Freedom From Fear.

The Abhiti Stava is a poetic request for protection from all unholy forces, particularly those opposed to the Vaidika lifestyle involving service of the Lord which Desika practiced. Desika was perhaps 60 or so during the composition of this stotram, as he mentions that his hair has greyed by this time.

In 1360 [**], Gopanna Udaiyar defeated the Muslims, and Sri Vaishnavas could once again return to Srirangam. Namperumaal was brought back from Tirupati, and temple servants who had survived the 30+ long temple closure were invited back. Sri Desika, as the senior surviving acharya, was among those who returned, and a verse of his composition is inscribed in the temple, recording his presence at the reopening of Koyil. With the restoration of Srirangam, Desika now returned to his service of Lord Ranganatha. Tradition records that he composed Sri Rahasya Traya Saaram, an exhaustive work on the essence of Sri Vaishnava philosophy, lifestyle, and the meaning of the esoteric mantras, in these last few years of his life.

[**] Inscriptions indicate that the date was 1371 (“bandhupriya”). However, this has to be reconciled with the recorded date of Desika’s passing, 1369. Some historians believe the inscription is in error and it should be “bahupriya”, meaning 1360. This is still a matter of research and debate.

In 1369, with his head resting in the lap of Kumara Varadacharya and his feet with Brahmatantra Svatantra Jiyar, Desika left his earthly body and ascended to Parama Padam. He had lived the full Vedic lifespan of 100 years in an exemplary and humble manner, tirelessly engaged in the service of the Lord and Sri Ramanuja’s sampradAya. Even given such a long life, one can hardly imagine how someone can have contributed so much with so much consistency, and yet have lived such a simple life of complete poverty. For these reasons, Sri Desika forever won the admiration and reverence of all who where spiritually inclined, and is rightfully recognized as one of the foremost scholars and thinkers ever alive.

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |
Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poetsand debaters!

  

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Legends say Hindu sage Agastya, or Agathiyar in Tamil, lived 4,000 to 5,000 years ago in southern India.
The squat, bearded holy man, hoping to help mankind, prayed to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god and jotted down the inspirations that struck him soon after on palm leaves. The divining sessions are said to have yielded predictions of the lives of people living in Agastya’s time, and of those destined to be born in coming centuries.
Families belonging to the priestly caste say they have looked after the predictions, stored in neat bundles between two slabs of weathered wood since they were first written by Agastya.

Devout local Hindus and curious foreigners come in droves to Kanchipuram, a town in southern India, to seek their futures hidden in piles of browned leaves. They wait for hours, sometimes days, at a hut in Kanchipuram, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Madras, as Brahman priests hunt for the palm leaves with predictions etched on them in archaic Tamil. More often than not, the foreign visitors go back with an eerie sense of surprise after their futures are foretold. The leaves are written from the visions of ancient sage Agastya, an awesome Nostradamus-like figure in Hindu mythology. Visitors answer a barrage of yes-or-no, personal questions used by the pundits at Kanchipuram to zero in on the right leaf, once a set of possible profiles are found using only a thumb impression. “The past, present and future of a person is written on each leaf and they can also provide direction for specific problems regarding marriage, disputes and other matters,” says Srinivasan, who reads and translates the faded ancient Tamil script for visitors. A modern newspaper correspondent found her parents’ names correctly guessed from the leaves.

Most of the pundits are in their 20s or 30s, mainly because reading the faded, round script requires sharp eyesight.
Srinivasan belongs to the fourth generation of a family of “nadi” readers. The pundits say they can read the ancient script, but do not themselves make the predictions. “There are several copies of the leaves, but we are the only ones with the complete set,” Srinivasan said. Each consultation costs 100 Indian rupees ($2.31).
“Everyday, about 75 people come here to see their leaf, as they have been doing for the last 200 years or so,” says the barefooted priest, dressed in an immaculate white dhoti, or sarong, and shirt.
Many Indians have family astrologers who draw up horoscopes for new-born babies and who are consulted at important stages in life. Consulting soothsayers is not unusual. Visitors take Agastya’s prophesies seriously.

A sombre mood hangs over the waiting room outside the three small consultation cubicles.
There is a hushed silence in the cubicles, disturbed only by whirring ceiling fans and the pitter-patter of barefooted priests moving in and out of the room where the leaves are kept. “I want to start a business and want to know if I will be successful or not,” said R.S. Singh, a Sikh businessman with a blue turban who came to Kanchipuram to see his leaf. In recent years, the number of foreign visitors, mostly Japanese, has increased. At least one or two foreigners await their turn in the straw-matted waiting room every day. The popularity of Agastya in Japan was ignited by a book called the “The Leaves of Agastya.” The book was published at a time when Indian spiritualism, in the form of Sathya Sai Baba, an Afro-haired Hindu holy man, was gaining popularity and became a bestseller. The nadi readers refuse to mail the prophesies and Japanese astrologers like Takashi Ariga have made a business out of searching for leaves for the many who cannot come to Kanchipuram. Fortune-tellers from all over Japan make regular trips to this temple town with thumb impressions of their clients and personal information essential to finding the exact leaf.

Once the leaf is found, the prediction is read aloud by the nadi reader and translated by a Tamil interpreter into Japanese. The entire process is recorded on tape and given to the client. Agastya’s prophesies are not fatalistic. Predictions can be avoided — it’s up to the individual. This flexibility appeals to the Japanese whose faith in soothsayers in general is not very strong, says Ariga. “Everyone who consults the stars, a psychic or Agastya is seeking an answer, whether they are Japanese or Tamil,” says Ariga who has taped predictions for more than 150 people. “Agastya wanted to help people and that is why there is always a leaf for those who are seeking them,” he adds.

  

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Tirthankar Mahaveer was the last and the twenty-fourth Tirthankar of this epoch. There were twenty-three Tirthankaras before him e. g. Rishabhdeo and others.

Bhagwans (Gods) are infinite, but Tirthankaras in one epoch and in Bharatkshetra are twenty-four only. Every Tirthankar, as a rule, is a Bhagwan, but every Bhagwan is not a Tirthankar. A soul can attain godhood without being a Tirthankar. Every soul can become a God. That which leads to the attainment of perfection is called Tirtha and those who reach that supreme state themselves and show others the path of emancipation are called the Tirthankaras.

Bhagwan is not born, he grows to be one. Nobody is a Bhagwan since his birth. Mahaveer also was not a Bhagwan since his birth. He became a God, when he conquered himself. To conquer delusion, attachment and aversion is to conquer oneself.

Though the principles enunciated by Bhagwan Mahaveer are very deep, intricate, impressive and acceptable, his life is very easy, straight and eventless; there is no place for varieties in it. The story of his life, in brief is that he spent the first thirty years of life in the midst of wealth and splendour indifferently as a lotus in water. For the next twelve years he was engaged in the pursuit of the supreme soul and lived in jungles in deep meditation and during the fast thirty years, he expounded Sarvodaya i.e. the welfare of all living beings, propagated it and spread it throughout the four corners of the land, The life of Mahaveer is not eventful. It is vain to search for his personality in the course of events. However, there can be no event that did not happen in the infinite previous lives through which he had passed.

Mahaveer was born in Kundgram from the womb of queen Trishala, the wife of the Lichhavi King Siddhartha, the famous leader of the Vaishali Republic. His mother was the daughter of King Chetak, the President of the Vaishali Republic. He was born in the Nath family of Kshatriya clan, 2600 years back, on the thirteenth day of the second fortnight of Chaitra month. Looking at his constant growth, his parents named him Vardhman.

The festival of his birth was, celebrated with great zeal not only by his parents, relations and subjects of the kingdom, but also by gods and their lords, since he was going to be a Tirthankar. This festival is called Janma Kalyanak Mahotsava. The lord of the gods, Indra seated him on the elephant Erawat and performed the anointing ceremony with great pomp and show. The Jain epic texts give a vivid description of this event.

Even before his coming in the womb of his mother, it was known that a Tirthankar was to be born. One night, in the last hours, mother Priyakarini Trishla in her quiet sleep saw the following sixteen dreams indicative of a very auspicious happening .-

1. An elephant mad with intoxication.

2. A white ox with high shoulders.

3. A thundering lion.

4. Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, seated on the lotus throne.

5. Two fragrant garlands.

6. Moon in the assembly of stars.

7. Rising sun.

8. Two gold pitchers covered with lotus leaves.

9. Two fish playing in the tank.

10. A tank full to the brim with clean water.

11. The roaring ocean.

12. A throne inwrought with jewels.

13. A chariot of gods illuminated with gems.

14. The spacious sky touching the abode of Dharnendra.

15. A pile of gems, and

16. Fire without smoke.

Free from the morning engagements, mother Trishla to King Siddhartha and so a went to King Siddhartha and told him of the sixteen dreams. She wanted to know their effect. The king was well versed in Nimitta Shastra (scripture of instrumental causes). He was very happy to know of the dreams. The auspicious effect of the very happy dreams was conveyed to mother Trishla by his very happy facial expressions. He told her that she was going to be blessed with a son, who would become a Tirthankar and rule over the hearts of the creatures of the three worlds, would propagate the principles of emancipation and would be very fortunate. The womb of Trishla became as holy as that of Marudevi who gave birth to the first Tirthankar Adinath or Rishabhdeo.

All in all, these dreams indicate that the son to be born to Trishla would be as soft as leaves of flowers, as cold as the moon, as illustrious as the sun, a destroyer of the darkness of ignorance, powerful as an elephant, active as a bull, deep as an ocean, pure as the pile of jewels and bright as the flame of a smokeless fire.

Boy Vardhman entered his mother’s womb on the sixth day of the second half of Ashad month.

Boy Vardhman was healthy, handsome and possessed of an attractive personality, since birth. He justified the name Vardhman given to him, growing like the digit of the moon on the second day of the bright fortnight. His gold like physique attracted all and sundry. The lord of gods himself assumed a thousand eyes to drink deep the beauty of the frame of the Lord.

He was a sentient, thoughtful, discriminate and fearless boy. He did not know any fear. He was an embodiment of courage. He was, therefore, known as Veer and Ativeer since his childhood. Five of his names are famous -Veer, Ativeer, Sanmati, Vardhman and Mahaveer.

He was prompt and ready-witted and never lost his balance in difficulties. One day, boy Vardhman delighting his parents and citizens by his childlike playfulness, was playing in the garden with other princes. He climbed a tree in his playful spirit. Meanwhile a terrible black snake encircled the trunk of the tree and began to emit fumes out of a fit of anger that would shake even the very strong. Finding themselves in adverse circumstances, the children began to shiver with fear, but that terrible snake could not disturb patient and strong child Mahaveer. Seeimg Mahaveer fearlessly and without hesitation coming near it, the furious snake left the fury and went his way.

In the same way, once, an elephant became made and began to spread havoc in the city, breaking away from the pillar of the building in which elephants are kept. The whole city was agog and people began to run from one place to the other in panic. Prince Vardhman, however, did not lose his presence of mind and controlled the elephant with his power and cleverness. The bravery and patience of the Prince became a talk of the common men in the city.

He was a genius and could solve great problems easily. He was quiet by nature; the seriousness grew with his entry into youth. He loved loneliness. He was always busy pondering over the fundamentals of life and death and indulged in deep discussions. Those eager to get to truth, placed their misgivings before him and he solved them in no time. Most of the doubts and misgivings were resolved by the sight of his calm posture. The big doubts about the fundamentals of religion of the big monks were removed by just having a look at his physical frame. He was himself a solution of these misgivings.

One day he was sitting in the fourth storey of his palace deeply engrossed in contemplation. His comrades came and asked mother Trishla where Vardhman was. Busy in her household, the mother just pointed to the upper storey. The boys ran to the seventh storey, but did not find Vardhman there. When they asked King Siddhartha, who was studying religious texts, where Vardhman was, he just pointed to the lower storeys. Hearing the contradictory statements of the father and the mother, the boys were confused. They searched every storey and found Vardhman in the fourth one, studying. The boys complained that they had searched all the storeys of the palace and Mahaveer was hiding there as a philosopher. Vardhman asked them why they did not ask the mother to tell them where he was. The boys said that the whole trouble arose out of the asking. The mother told them that he was up, while the father told them that he was downstairs. The problem was where to find and where the truth lay. Vardhman told them that both were correct; that he was on the fourth storey, up from the point of view of the mother and down from the point of view of the father. The mother was on the first storey, while the father on the seventh. The positions downwards and upwards are relative. Without relativity there is no question of downwards or upwards. Though the nature of the substance is without any relation with any other substance, the description is relative. Thus boy Vardhman used to explain lofty principles to the boys easily.

The world tried to persuade him to follow their path but Mahaveer was engrossed deep in the depths of his soul and so the world could not entangle him to follow their path. Youth threw its die on him, but in vain. The parental affections tried to block his way, but he did not float on the flood of his mother’s tears.

Accordingly he left his home in the thirtieth year of his youth, on the tenth day of the first half of Magsir. He became naked and engaged himself in the pursuit of his self in that solitary forest. The Laukantik gods came from the heavens and praised him for his resolve with great reverence. Monk Vardhman used to remain silent and did not talk to anybody. He was always engrossed in the contemplation of his soul. He did not even remember that he needed a bath or the cleaning of his teeth. He used to rest in the caves of the mountains, holding friends and foes alike, and was not disturbed by the fury of the inclemencies of weather.

The cruel animals of the forest saw is calm posture, natural ease and non-violent life and forgot their natural enmity and became friends. Snakes and mongooses, tigers and cows used to drink water from the same wharf. Wherever he stayed, the whole atmosphere was full of peace and quiet.

If sometimes he happened to have a liking for food, he would go to the nearest town with strange mental reservations. If some householder gave him pure food according to the scriptures’ command and with nine types of rituals, he would take his meals and soon return to the forests. He also accepted food once at the hands of grief-ridden Sati Chandanbala.

Thus engaged in external and internal penances, he spent twelve years. At the age of forty-two in this state of deep self-absorption he annihilated subtle attachment and attained the completely detached state of his being. With this state of spiritual development he attained omniscience also. He became real Mahaveer having conquered the enemies of delusion, attachment and aversion completely. He became a Bhagwan being an omniscient and a completely detached being. In theite fruition of Tirthankar Namkaram, he got that status and was known as Bhagwan Mahaveer. His divine message was delivered first on the first day of the. month of Shravan, on account of which this day has been celebrated in the whole of India as Veer Shasan Jayanti.

Kuber was ordered by the Lord of the gods to construct a huge meeting-hall called the Samavsharan for the worldly creatures to meet and hear the divine message of Lord Mahaveer. Every being was entitled to go there and hear the message. There was no distinction of big or small. One whose conduct is non-violent, who has touched the intrinsic nature of substances, who has dived deep in his own self, is greater than not only human beings but also gods, though he may be born in a low family.

In his religious congregation kings and the commons, rich and poor, black and white, all sat together and listened to his message. Animals along with gods and humans also sat there and listened to the divine teachings of the Lord. Such equality amongst the creatures of this world is difficult elsewhere. In the fourfold federation of the Lord, there were monks, she-monks, male and female householders.

Many learned scholars opposed to him, became his disciples shunning their own wrong conceptions, after being influenced by his message of universal love and goodwill. The chief amongst them was his chief disciple Indrabhuti Gautam. He was accepted as the first preceptor of the Lord and became famous as Gautam Swami. The story of how he was initiated into Digamber Jain monkhood is quite interesting.

Indrabhuti Gautam was well versed in the Vedas and Vedangas. He had five hundred disciples. When the Indra realised that Indrabhuti Gautam alone could become the chief preceptor of the Lord, he went to his abode in disguise of an old Brahmin, Indra introduced himself as a disciple of Mahaveer and asked Gautam the meaning of a Sanskrit verse.

Indrabhuti became thoughtful. “What are these six substances, nine matters, five Astikayas etc. ?” He concealed his ignorance in his pride and told Indra that he would like to discuss these with his master i. e., Lord Mahaveer. He expressed his desire to accompany lndra to the place where the Lord was delivering his sermons. The time was ripe for the reception of real spiritualism in the case of Gautam and for the Lord to start delivering his long awaited message of religion. As Indrabhuti Gautam came near the Samavsharan his rigidity suddenly turned into softness. His pride disappeared at the sight of the Manstambha, (a pillar just in front of the Samavsharan) and he approached the Lord with a request for his own initiation into monkhood. By his own ability and the magnanimity of Mahaveer, he became the first Gandhar of the Lord. There were ten other Gandharas whose names were; (1) Agnibhuti, (2)Vayubhuti, (3) Aryavyakta, (4) Sudharma, (5) Mandit, (6)Mauryaputra, (7) Akampit, (8) Achaibhrata, (9) Metarya and (10) Prabhas.

Amongst his householder disciples Maharaj Shrenik (Bimbsar), the king of Magadh, was the chief.

He traversed the length and breadth of India continuously for thirty years. Different beings understood his teachings in their own languages. His sermons were called Divya Dhwani. He has upheld the independence of the soul and all other substances. He declared that every soul is independent; none depends upon the other; self-reliance is the way to achieve complete independence. Self-reliance is nothing but centralisation of one’s vision on one’s soul only, different from colour, attachment and division. Independence can only be achieved on one’s own strength; you can’t get infinite bliss and independence in charity or achieve them on others’ strength.

All souls are separate and independent, not one, but like one, similar, none big or small. He, therefore, ordained :-

1. Regard other souls as your own.

2. All souls are equal, but not one.

3. If our efforts are directed towards right direction, every soul can attain godhood.

4. Every creature is unhappy on account of his own mistakes, and can become happy by removing the mistakes.

Mahaveer did not propagate any new truth; there is nothing like old or new in truth. Whatever he said is true and eternal. He did not establish truth; he only inaugurated it. He did not found any new religion. Religion is the nature of substances. The nature of substances cannot be built. How can that which can be built be called nature ? It can only be known. Remaining away from the pride of doing and detaching himself from non-self entities one who knows the self and the non-self, without in any way being influenced by others, and in all their perspectives, is God. Tirthankar Bhagwan knows and exposes the nature of things, does not create them.

He was a Tirthankar. He propounded the Tirtha i.e., the way to the liberation of the soul. Acharya Samant Bhadra has called his teachings Sarvodaya Tirtha (religion that preaches the welfare of all living beings).

Oh Lord Mahaveer – Your religion is for the welfare of one and all. There is no contradiction in your teachings, only whatever you say is relative i.e. described from different perspectives, one predominating the other according to contexts; the assertions of other preachers, not being relative, are not able to propound the nature of things, as they are. Your exposition of the truth of life is capable of destroying all the miseries and misfortunes of this world and of leading worldly beings to their supreme happiness and as such it is Sarvodaya Tirtha i.e., religion for the welfare of all living beings.”

That which leads to the welfare of all is Sarvodya. The religion for the welfare of all as propounded by Lord Mahaveer and his exposition of truths of life and immortality, have no narrowness or limits. The religion of the soul is for all creatures. It is a kind of narrowness to associate religion with human beings only. It is a religion of all the living beings. The term “religion of man” is also not liberal enough. It limits the scope of religion to the community of human beings only, while religion extends to all the sentient world, for all the creatures want to live in peace and happiness.

Tirthankar Bhagwan Mahaveer has expounded the complete independent existence of every substance and that every substance changes its modifications itself. No other substance can interfere in this natural procedure. Even God, the almighty, is not the creator or the destroyer of, this existence of the things. The preachings of Mahaveer upheld the independence not only of the living beings, but of all the atoms, which are the smallest (indivisible) particles or units of matter substance and which cannot be further divided. The desire to interfere in the activity of others is false, of no avail and causing unhappiness, for it is sheer ignorance to regard others as the creator or destroyer of happiness and misery, life and death, of other beings.

It has been well said that our own merits and demerits will be meaningless if one being is regarded as the creator of others’ happiness and misery, life and death. The question is – can anybody, however strong, make us happy, even, if we indulge in demerits ? Likewise can anybody, be it God himself, harm us, if we keep ourselves busy in meritorious engagements ? If yes, it would be worthless to do good and be afraid of the bad, because it is not necessary to reap the consequences of one’s actions. If it is true that we have to reap the consequences of our own actions, good and bad, the concept of any interference is meaningless. The same truth has been expressed by Acharya Amitgati in Slokas 30-31 of Bhawna Dwatrinshatika.

In the end, at the age of seventy-two, on the Dipawali day, the last Tirthankar of this epoch Bhagwan Mahaveer, abandoned this physical frame and attained Nirwan (complete liberation). The same day, his chief disciple Indrabhuti Gautam achieved omniscience. According to Jain tradition, the great festival of Deepawali is celebrated in honour of the liberation of Bhagwan Mahaveer and attainment of complete sentience by his chief disciple Gautam.

  

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Vishwamitra is one of the most well known of the great sages. His epic tussle with Vasishta for the position of the greatest sage of all time, makes a very interesting story. He was not a Brahmana by birth, but a Kshatriya (warrior). He was a King named Kaushika, and was a valiant warrior. He is the great-grandson of a great sage named Kusha. One of the four sons of Kusha was named Kushanabar, who performed the Puthrakameshti sacrifice and obtained a son named Kadhi as the result. Kaushika was the son of this king Kadhi.

Kaushika succeeded his father to the kingdom and ruled it ably. He was well liked by his people. Once he was on a tour of his kingdom, listening to the complaints of his subjects, and issuing orders to remedy them. He finally came upon the hermitage of the great sage Vasishta. He was at once impressed by the atmosphere of tranquility and peace that surrounded this place. Spring was in full bloom here and all the animals were seen to be living together in complete harmony. The chant of the Vedas filled the air and many sages were seen to be indulging in various rituals and penances. The king was received by Vasishta and everyone was lavishly entertained by the sage. The king was surprised that living in such a remote place, the sage was able to conjure up a magnificent feast for his army.

He expressed his surprise to the sage. Vasishta said, “O King, this feast that you have partaken with your kinsmen, has been provided by my calf Nandini, who was gifted to me by Indra. You must know that she is the daughter of Indra’s cow Kamadhenu. She provides me with everything that I need.”

Kaushika was filled with wonder when he heard this. He began to think that possessing this cow would mean a lot to him; after all, the sage did not have to provide food and sustenance for a large army! He expressed a desire to the sage for obtaining Nandini from him. Vasishta was polite, but steadfast in his refusal. He would not be tempted by the offer of untold wealth that was made by Kaushika, for after all who can set a price on a cow, which can readily yield all the riches in the world.

The king grew exceedingly angry. He insulted the sage with harsh words, and ordered his soldiers to seize the cow, and drive it to his kingdom. By his yogic powers, the great sage Vasishta, brought forth an entire army of fierce warriors. They fought the army of Kaushika and defeated them thoroughly. Kaushika was captured and presented before Vasishta. The sage pardoned the king and sent him away with words of advice.

This incident made a deep impression on the King. He realized that the power obtained by penances was greater than mere physical might. He renounced his kingdom and began his quest to become a greater sage than Vasishta. He took on the name Vishwamitra.

One of Vishwamitra’s chief faults is his short temper. He is very quick to anger and sometimes utters curses on helpless victims, thereby depleting his yogic powers obtained by much penance. People fear his temper and pray that their actions might not get misconstrued by the touchy sage.

After many trials and undergoing many austerities, Vishwamitra at last obtained the title of Brahmarishi from Vasishta himself. During this time he had a daughter named Shakuntala (who appears in the Mahabharata), with the Menaka, an Apsara in the court of Indra.

He is also famous for creating the Trishanku Swarga, a rival Swargaloka, for a king named Trishanku. This King wanted to ascend heaven in his mortal body. He was sent back by Indra saying that only after discarding his earthly body could he aspire to heaven. Trishanku approached several sages with his request, but only Vishwamitra was able to oblige him. Even then it was not an unqualified success, as he had to be suspended midway between heaven and earth. Finally he was transformed into a constellation.

  

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Sri Ramanujacharya is known as the greatest exponent of Visistadvaita Vedanta. He appeared around 1017 A.D in a pious brahmana family. He became the formost Acarya in the Sri Sampradaya and was reputed to be the incarnation of Sri Laksmana, the younger brother of Lord Sri Rama.

He was a boy of extraordinary intelligence and placed himself under the charge of Yadavacarya, a renown Sankarite scholar. His guru was struck by his marvellous intellect and became very uncomfortable on account of his firm faith in Bhakti. One day while taking a massage, Yadavacarya was explaining to ramanuja a sutra “tasya yatha kapyasam pundarikamevamaksini”(Chandogya 1.6.7), saying that according to Sri Sankara, the two eyes of Pundariksa are like two lotuses which are red like the nates of a monkey. On hearing this interpretation with the unbecoming and low simile, Ramanuja’s soft heart, tender by nature and softened by devotion, melted and as he was massaging, tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes like flames of fire and fell on the thigh of Yadava. Looking up at the touch of the hot tears, Yadava understood that something troubled his disciple. Ramanuja explained his dismay at hearing such an unbecoming explaination from his guru. He thought it sinful to compare with the posterior of a monkey the eyes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead – who is endowed with all gracious qualities and who is the repository of all the beauty of the universe. Yadava was angry at the boy’s audacity and told him to explain the verse if he could. Ramanuja analysed the word kapyasam to mean `blossomed by the sun’ and the verse to mean “The eyes of that Golden Purusa are as lovely as lotuses blossomed by the rays of the sun.”

After a few more such incidents when Ramanuja corrected his guru, Yadavacarya thought him to be a threat to the Sankarite line and plotted to kill him. Later it came to pass that Yadavacarya was to become the disciple of Sri Ramanuja.

Yamunacarya the formost exponant of Vaisnava philosophy of the time, knowing of his extraordinary ability and purity, called for Sri Ramanuja with the intent of placing him in charge of the mission after his disappearance. Ramanuja was on his way to see Yamunacarya when he received the news of Yamunacarya’s departure from the world. Arriving at Srirangam, Ramanuja went to have his last darshana of that great soul. There he noticed three of Yamunacarya’s fingers were clenched.

Ramanuja then made three vows:
He would make the people surrender to God and initiate them by the pancasamskara.
He would write a commentary on the Vedantasutra which was later called Sri Bhashya.
He would also write what is like an encyclopedia on the Puranas and would name one greatly learned Vaisnava after Parasara Muni who wrote the gem among the Puranas, the Visnu Purana.

Later Sri Ramanuja took sannyasa and travelled throughout India vigorously defeating atheists and impersonalists by preaching the Vasistadvaita doctrine. He never failed to win over a rival in spiritual disputations.

Sri Ramanuja’s Teachings:

His philosophy is Visistadvaita. Brahman is Narayana – (cit-acit-isvara), Narayana with Laksmi – (transcendental form), Four Vyuha forms, Vaibhava forms. The qualities of Brahman are both nirguna and saguna. The soul is real, eternal, individual, not omnipresent, not independent of Isvara but part. Isvara is the efficient cause of creation. It is from His will out of delight. The cause of bondage is beginningless karma. The process of release is Bhakti based on Pancaratra and Visnu purana followed by det ached karma that brings jnana – Prapatti. The goal is to attain the same nature of Isvara and companionship with Him. He does not return and has no power of creation, etc.

The essence of his teachings are best summarized by his own prayer at the beginning of his Sri Bhasya:

“May knowledge transformed into intense love directed to Sri Narayana (VISHNU), the highest Brahman, become mine, the Being to whom the creation, preservation and dissolution of the Universe is mere play, whose main resolve is to offer protection to all those who approach Him in all humility and sincerity, and Who shines out like the beacon light out of the pages of the Scripture (Vedas)”.

  

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In Hinduism, Parashurama (“axe-wielding Rama”) is the sixth avatar of Vishnu, and a son of Jamadagni. He received an axe after doing penance for Shiva. He is a Chiranjeevin.

King Kaartaveerya-arjuna and his army visited Jamadagni, who fed his guest and the whole army with his divine cow; the king demanded the cow and Jamadagni refused because he needed the cow for his religious ceremonies. King Kaartaveerya-arjuna sent his soldiers to take he cow and Parashurama killed the entire army and the king with his axe. In return, the princes beheaded Jamadagni. In revenge, Parasurama killed the entire clan of Kaartaveerya-arjuna, thus conquering the entire earth, which he gave to Kasyapa.

According to one legend, the story goes on that Parashurama was struck by remorse at his wanton killings, and offered penance on a mountain top. The sea god Varuna responded, and offered him land equal to the distance he could throw his axe. Parasurama threw his axe from Gokarnam and it fell at Kanyakumari. As promised the sea gave way to land, thus giving rise to Kerala.

Parashurama also went to visit Shiva once but the way was blocked by Ganesha. Parashurama threw the axe at him and Ganesha, knowing it had been given to him by Shiva, allowed it cut off one of his tusks.

Parashurama also plays a role in the two great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

In the Ramayana, Parashurama came to the betrothal ceremony of the seventh avatar, Rama, to the princess Sita. As a test of worthiness the suitors were required to lift and string the bow of Shiva, given to the king Janaka by Parshurama. Rama successfully strung the bow, but in the process it broke in two, producing a tremendous noise that reached the ears of Parashurama. He arrived at the wedding and exchanged angry words with Lakshman , the brother of Rama, before being mollified by Rama.

In the Mahabharata, Parashurama was the instructor of the warrior Karna, born to a Kshatriya mother but raised as the son of a charioteer (a Shudra). Karna came to Parashurama after being rejected from the school of the teacher Drona, who taught the five Pandava and one hundred Kaurava princes. Parashurama agreed to teach Karna, believing him to be of Brahmin birth, and gave him the knowledge of the extremely powerful Brahmastra weapon. But one day while Parashurama was sleeping with his head resting on Karna’s leg, an insect crawled up and bit Karna. He, not wishing to wake his teacher, did not move or cry out, but the flow of his blood eventually awakened Parashurama. Convinced that only a Kshatriya could have born such pain in silence and that Karna had therefore lied in order to receive instruction, he cursed Karna that his knowledge of the Brahmastra would fail him when he needed it most.

However, unlike all other avatars, Parashurama still lives on earth even today. Secondly, he is an Avesha avatar , a secondary type of avatar. In such an avatar, Vishnu does not directly descend such as that of Rama or Krishna but instead enters the soul of a man with His form. Accordingly, unlike Rama and Krishna, Parashurama is not worshipped.

  

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Acharya E.Bharadwaja was born on 30th October 1938 and was a post-graduate in English literature. After a decade of intellectual quest for Truth, he was converted by a profound spiritual experience at the Samadhi Mandir of Sri Saibaba of Shirdi. Thereby he left Indian Administrative Service(IAS), which is a highly respected position in the society and took a poistion as Lecturer of English literature for the ease of spreading his master’s teachings. Thereafter he devoted himself to a lifetime of intensive research into the lives and teachings of several saints, travelling extensively and personally contacting many of them. Like many other great men he also insisted on the necessity of a Sadguru to direct one smoothly in the spiritual path. The culmination of all this is a series of books on Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi and many more great saints. He says, Sai Baba of Shirdi is the matchless saint, is a blend of all religions and is the answer to all the questions of present day and spirituality. Other books that explain and prove existence of God in a scientific manner and the necessity of resorting to a Sadguru are also invaluable. His writings are getting translated into several other languages of the world.

He made those who contacted him to start spiritual disciplines easily and live a richer, purposeful,righteous and peaceful life. Towards this end in view he founded the Shirdi Sai Cultural Mission at Vidyanagar and Sai Baba Mission in Ongole. He also founded a Telugu fortnightly(now monthly), SaiBaba, which continues to spread his messages, and was the main source of inspiration in the construction of several Sai Baba temples. After a life of incessant activity spreading the teachings of Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi, he attained Maha Samadhi on 12th April 1989. Though he has left his mortal frame, even now He responds to the call of his devotees. Presently, his work is being carried by the Sri Master Universal Sai Trust & Acharya Bharadwaja Peace Foundation, Ongole, Andhra Pradesh.

  

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S inspiring personality was well known both in India and in America during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth. The unknown monk of India suddenly leapt into fame at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, at which he represented Hinduism. His vast knowledge of Eastern and Western culture as well as his deep spiritual insight, fervid eloquence, brilliant conversation, broad human sympathy, colourful personality, and handsome figure made an irresistible appeal to the many types of Americans who came in contact with him. People who saw or heard Vivekananda even once still cherish his memory after a lapse of more than half a century.

In America Vivekananda’s mission was the interpretation of India’s spiritual culture, especially in its Vedantic setting. He also tried to enrich the religious consciousness of the Americans through the rational and humanistic teachings of the Vedanta philosophy. In America he became India’s spiritual ambassador and pleaded eloquently for better understanding between India and the New World in order to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science.

In his own motherland Vivekananda is regarded as the patriot saint of modern India and an inspirer of her dormant national consciousness, To the Hindus he preached the ideal of a strength-giving and man-making religion. Service to man as the visible manifestation of the Godhead was the special form of worship he advocated for the Indians, devoted as they were to the rituals and myths of their ancient faith. Many political leaders of India have publicly acknowledged their indebtedness to Swami Vivekananda.

The Swami’s mission was both national and international. A lover of mankind, be strove to promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation of the Vedantic Oneness of existence. A mystic of the highest order, Vivekananda had a direct and intuitive experience of Reality. He derived his ideas from that unfailing source of wisdom and often presented them in the soulstirring language of poetry.

The natural tendency of Vivekananda’s mind, like that of his Master, Ramakrishna, was to soar above the world and forget itself in contemplation of the Absolute. But another part of his personality bled at the sight of human suffering in East and West alike. It might appear that his mind seldom found a point of rest in its oscillation between contemplation of God and service to man. Be that as it may, he chose, in obedience to a higher call, service to man as his mission on earth; and this choice has endeared him to people in the West, Americans in particular.

In the course of a short life of thirty-nine years (1863-1902), of which only ten were devoted to public activities-and those, too, in the midst of acute physical suffering-he left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding treatises on Hindu philosophy. In addition, he delivered innumerable lectures, wrote inspired letters in his own hand to his many friends and disciples, composed numerous poems, and acted as spiritual guide to the many seekers, who came to him for instruction. He also organized the Ramakrishna Order of monks, which is the most outstanding religious organization of modern India. It is devoted to the propagation of the Hindu spiritual culture not only in the Swami’s native land, but also in America and in other parts of the world.

Swami Vivekananda once spoke of himself as a “condensed India.” His life and teachings are of inestimable value to the West for an understanding of the mind of Asia. William James, the Harvard philosopher, called the Swami the “paragon of Vedantists.” Max Muller and Paul Deussen, the famous Orientalists of the nineteenth century, held him in genuine respect and affection. “His words,” writes Romain Rolland, “are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Handel choruses. I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through the pages of books, at thirty years’ distance, without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric shock. And what shocks, what transports, must have been produced when in burning words they issued from the lips of the hero!”

  

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Tukaram was born in 1608, in the small village of Dehu in the West Indian state of Maharashtra to Bolhoba and Kanakai a couple belonging to the lower Sudra class. He had two other brothers. Despite their lower class status the family was well to do and enjoyed good social standing in the village. Tukaram’s troubles started with the illness of his father, due to which he had to start supporting his family at the tender age of thirteen. Shortly thereafter, both his parents died. Tukaram’s problems only mounted; death of his family members and economic hardship seemed to plague him.

Tukaram was married twice, his first wife Rakhumabai died due to starvation during a famine, his second wife Jijabai or Avali as she was called, was much younger than his first had been and had little patience with his devotion and for God and she nagged him continuously. He had three sons.

Tukaram was initiated without any intermediaries as the other saints usually were. He dreamt that he was initiated by the Lord Hari himself dressed as a Brahman.

Tukaram continuously sang the praises of the Lord, he sang it in the form of abhangs which he wrote. These were in his mother tongue Marathi. The abhangs express his feelings and philosophical outlook. During his 41 years, Tukaram composed over 5,000 abhangs. Many of them speak of events in his life, which make them somewhat autobiographical. Yet, they are focused on God, Pandurang, and not Tukaram. His abhangs became very popular with the masses of common people. It was this very popularity that caused the religious establishment (the high caste Brahmins) to hate and persecute Tukaram. as, he was causing them to lose their power over the people.

There are many miracles attributed to Tukaram.

  

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He is an incarnation of god Vishnu. He is known as Veda-vyasa as he divided the complex veda-rasi (voluminous single Veda) into four Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Sama veda and Atharva veda), for the convenience of people so that people will easily understand them. He also compiled the 18 Puranas and the Maha-bharata, the story of battle of Kauravas and Pandavas and he also figures in this story actively.

Also known as Paarasarya (son of Parasara), Krishna-dwaipayana (one born in Krishna-dweepa) and Saatyavatheya (son of Satyavathi). His service to mankind is unparalleled as he devoted his entire life for propagation of Dharma (righteousness) by seggregation of Vedas, compiling of Bharata, Bhagavata and Puranas.

According to some Puranas, ‘Vyasa’ refers to a title rather than name of a person. In every Dwapara-yuga (3rd out of the four Yugas or ages viz., Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali), one great saint will assume the title of ‘Vyasa’ to propagate Dharma. Krishna-dwaipayana was the Vyasa in previous Dwapara-yuga. In the coming Dwapara-yuga, Aswathama (a hero in Mahabharata war and son of Drona) will be the Vyasa.

  

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According to the Sri Kurma inscriptions of Narahari Tirtha, his direct disciple, Sripad Madhvacarya was born between 1238 and lived for 79 years, until 1317 A.D. This is confirmed in the Anu-Madhva-Carita. According to the authorized biographies compiled by his disciples shortly after his passing away, Sripad Madhva was born in the village of Tulunada, which is located about 8 miles to the southeast of the city of Udipi in Karnataka. He came from a family of sivalli-brahmanas and was the son of Madhyageha Bhatta and Mother Vedavati devi.

In his Caitanya Caritamrta commentary (CC Madhya 9.245), Sripad Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada Comments as follows: Crepada Madhwacharya took his birth near Uoupe, which is situated in the South Kanara district of South India, just west of Sahysdri. This is the chief city of the South Kanara province and is near the city of Mangalore, which is situated to the south of Uoupe. Near the city of Uoupe is a place called Pajaka-knetra, where Madhvacarya took his birth in a civalle-brahmaea dynasty as the son of Madhyageha Bhaooa, in the year 1040 cakabda (A.D. 1118). According to some, he was born in the year 1160 cakabda (A.D. 1238).
In his childhood Madhvacarya was known as Vasudeva, and there are some wonderful stories surrounding him. It is said that once when his father had piled up many debts, Madhvacarya converted tamarind seeds into actual coins to pay them off. When he was five years old, he was offered the sacred thread. A demon named Maeimen lived near his abode in the form of a snake, and at the age of five Madhväcärya killed that snake with the toe of his left foot. When his mother was very much disturbed, he would appear before her in one jump. He was a great scholar even in childhood, and although his father did not agree, he accepted sannyasa at the age of twelve. Upon receiving sannyasa from Acyuta Prekna, he received the name Pürëaprajïa Tértha. After traveling all over India, he finally discussed scriptures with Vidyäçaìkara, the exalted leader of Çåìgeri-maöha. Vidyäçaìkara was actually diminished in the presence of Madhväcärya. Accompanied by Satya Tértha, Madhväcärya went to Badarikäçrama. It was there that he met Vyäsadeva and explained his commentary on the Bhagavad-gétä before him. Thus he became a great scholar by studying before Vyäsadeva.
By the time he came to the Änanda-maöha from Badarikäçrama, Madhväcärya had finished his commentary on the Bhagavad-gétä. His companion Satya Tértha wrote down the entire commentary. When Madhväcärya returned from Badarikäçrama, he went to Gaïjäma, which is on the bank of the river Godävaré. There he met with two learned scholars named Çobhana Bhaööa and Svämé Çästré. Later these scholars became known in the disciplic succession of Madhväcärya as Padmanäbha Tértha and Narahari Tértha. When he returned to Uòupé, he would sometimes bathe in the ocean. On such an occasion he composed a prayer in five chapters. Once, while sitting beside the sea engrossed in meditation upon Lord Çré Kåñëa, he saw that a large boat containing goods for Dvärakä was in danger. He gave some signs by which the boat could approach the shore, and it was saved. The owners of the boat wanted to give him a present, and at the time Madhväcärya agreed to take some gopé-candana. He received a big lump of gopé-candana, and as it was being brought to him, it broke apart and revealed a large Deity of Lord Kåñëa. The Deity had a stick in one hand and a lump of food in the other. As soon as Madhväcärya received the Deity of Kåñëa in this way, he composed a prayer. The Deity was so heavy that not even thirty people could lift it. Yet Madhväcärya personally brought this Deity to Uòupé. Eight of Madhväcärya’s sannyäsa disciples became directors of his eight monasteries. Worship of the Lord Kåñëa Deity is still going on at Uòupé according to the plans Madhväcärya established.
Madhväcärya then for the second time visited Badarikäçrama. While he was passing through Maharashtra, the local king was digging a big lake for the public benefit. As Madhväcärya passed through that area with his disciples, he was also obliged to help in the excavation. After some time, when Madhväcärya visited the king, he engaged the king in that work and departed with his disciples.
Often in the province of Gäìga-pradeça there were fights between Hindus and Muslims. The Hindus were on one bank of the river, and the Muslims on the other. Due to the community tension, no boat was available for crossing the river. The Muslim soldiers were always stopping passengers on the other side, but Madhväcärya did not care for these soldiers. He crossed the river anyway, and when he met the soldiers on the other side, he was brought before the king. The Muslim king was so pleased with him that he wanted to give him a kingdom and some money, but Madhväcärya refused. While walking on the road, he was attacked by some dacoits, but by his bodily strength he killed them all. When his companion Satya Tértha was attacked by a tiger, Madhväcärya separated them by virtue of his great strength. When he met Vyäsadeva, he received from him the çälagräma-çilä known as Añöamürti. After this, he summarized the Mahäbhärata.
Madhväcärya’s devotion to the Lord and his erudite scholarship became known throughout India. Consequently the owners of the Çåìgeri-maöha, established by Çaìkaräcärya, became a little perturbed. At that time the followers of Çaìkaräcärya were afraid of Madhväcärya’s rising power, and they began to tease Madhväcärya’s disciples in many ways. There was even an attempt to prove that the disciplic succession of Madhväcärya was not in line with Vedic principles. A person named Puëòaréka Puré, a follower of the Mäyäväda philosophy of Çaìkaräcärya, came before Madhväcärya to discuss the çästras. It is said that all of Madhväcärya’s books were taken away, but later they were found with the help of King Jayasiàha, ruler of Kumla. In discussion, Puëòaréka Puré was defeated by Madhväcärya. A great personality named Trivikramäcärya, who was a resident of Viñëumaìgala, became Madhväcärya’s disciple, and his son later became Näräyaëäcärya, the composer of Çré Madhva-vijaya. After the death of Trivikramäcärya, the younger brother of Näräyaëäcärya took sannyäsa and later became known as Viñëu Tértha.
It was reputed that there was no limit to the bodily strength of Pürëaprajïa, Madhväcärya. There was a person named Kaòaïjari who was famed for possessing the strength of thirty men. Madhväcärya placed the big toe of his foot upon the ground and asked the man to separate it from the ground, but the great strong man could not do so even after great effort. Çréla Madhväcärya passed from this material world at the age of eighty while writing a commentary on the Aitareya Upaniñad. For further information about Madhväcärya, one should read Madhva-vijaya, by Näräyaëäcärya.
The äcäryas of the Madhva-sampradäya established Uòupé as the chief center, and the monastery there was known as Uttararäòhé-maöha. A list of the different centers of the Madhväcärya-sampradäya can be found at Uòupé, and their maöha commanders are (1) Viñëu Tértha (Çoda-maöha), (2) Janärdana Tértha (Kåñëapura-maöha), (3) Vämana Tértha (Kanura-maöha), (4) Narasiàha Tértha (Adamara-maöha), (5) Upendra Tértha (Puttugé-maöha), (6) Räma Tértha (Çirura-maöha), (7) Håñékeça Tértha (Palimara-maöha), and (8) Akñobhya Tértha (Pejävara-maöha). The disciplic succession of the Madhväcärya-sampradäya is as follows (the dates are those of birth in the Çakäbda Era; for Christian era dates, add seventy-eight years.): (1) Haàsa Paramätmä; (2) Caturmukha Brahmä; (3) Sanakädi; (4) Durväsä; (5) Jïänanidhi; (6) Garuòa-vähana; (7) Kaivalya Tértha; (8) Jïäneça Tértha; (9) Para Tértha; (10) Satyaprajïa Tértha; (11) Präjïa Tértha; (12) Acyuta Prekñäcärya Tértha; (13) Çré Madhväcärya, 1040 Çaka; (14) Padmanäbha, 1120; Narahari, 1127; Mädhava, 1136; and Akñobhya 1159; (15) Jaya Tértha, 1167; (16) Vidyädhiräja, 1190; (17) Kavéndra, 1255; (18) Vägéça, 1261; (19) Rämacandra, 1269; (20) Vidyänidhi, 1298; (21) Çré Raghunätha, 1366; (22) Rayuvarya (who spoke with Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu), 1424; (23) Raghüttama, 1471; (24) Vedavyäsa, 1517; (25) Vidyädhéça, 1541; (26) Vedanidhi, 1553; (27) Satyavrata, 1557; (28) Satyanidhi, 1560; (29) Satyanätha, 1582; (30) Satyäbhinava, 1595; (31) Satyapürëa, 1628; (32) Satyavijaya, 1648; (33) Satyapriya, 1659; (34) Satyabodha, 1666; (35) Satyasandha, 1705; (36) Satyavara, 1716; (37) Satyadharma, 1719; (38) Satyasaìkalpa, 1752; (39) Satyasantuñöa, 1763; (40) Satyaparäyaëa, 1763; (41) Satyakäma, 1785; (42) Satyeñöa, 1793; (43) Satyaparäkrama, 1794; (44) Satyadhéra, 1801; (45) Satyadhéra Tértha, 1808.
After the sixteenth äcärya (Vidyädhiräja Tértha), there was another disciplic succession, including Räjendra Tértha, 1254; Vijayadhvaja; Puruñottama; Subrahmaëya; and Vyäsa Räya, 1470–1520. The nineteenth äcärya, Rämacandra Tértha, had another disciplic succession, including Vibudhendra, 1218; Jitämitra, 1348; Raghunandana; Surendra; Vijendra; Sudhéndra; and Räghavendra Tértha, 1545.
To date, in the Uòupé monastery there are another fourteen Madhva-tértha sannyäsés. As stated, Uòupé is situated beside the sea in South Kanara, about thirty-six miles north of Mangalore.
Most of the information in this purport is available from the South Känäòä Manual and the Bombay Gazette.”
From Bhaktivedanta Vedabase

There are literally hundreds of incidences, stories, to be relished, but here we have just placed a few to give a taste of the nectar to be had in “The Life and Legacy of Sripad Ananda Tirtha – Madhwacarya” by Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa – that is waiting to be published.

Lamenting, and in separation from such detailed pastimes, let us continue on……
When he was only 12 years old, Madhvacarya left home but his mother insisted that she would leave her body if their only son left. So Madhva then blessed them to have another son, he was born and then after taking his parents permission went off to the ashram of Acyutapreksa, his sannyasa-guru. Madhva’s sannyasa name was Purnaprajna Tirtha. His deep study of the scriptures was unparalleled, and had convinced him of the uselessness of the Advaita interpretation of Vedanta. He was inspired to revive the original and pure interpretation of Vedanta which promotes personal theism. He was to do this on the basis of a profound and innovative interpretation of the scriptures, for which he was to become famous. This interpretation is known as Dvaita-dvaita-vada, or pure dualism.

After his initiation, Purnaprajna spent some time in the asrama of Acyutapreksa where he carefully studied the Vedanta commentaries of different acaryas, beginning with the Istasiddhi of Vimuktatman. But soon, Purnaprajna’s expertise in scriptural argument and his determination to establish personal theism as the conclusion of Vedanta grew to the point there he could defeat Acyutapreksa in argument. Recognizing Purnaprajna’s superior scholarship, Acyutapreksa made him the head of his asrama. Purnaprajna was also awarded the title Ananda Tirtha, by which he is often referred to in various scriptural literatures.

After he became the temple authority in the asrama of Acyutapreksa, Purnaprajna began training disciples, preaching his interpretation of Vedanta and defeating many scholars from different schools of philosophy, including Buddhists, Jains, Advaitins, and various impersonalists, agnostics, logicians, and the practitioners of materialistic religion. His success in defeating all opposing scholars inspired him to tour South India in an attempt to preach the philosophy of personal theism and devotion to Visnu far and wide. At this time, he had completely formulated all the details of his philosophical system, but had not yet committed his system to writing.

His tour of South India was quite extensive: it took him from Udipi to the southernmost tip of India, (Kanyakumari) and from there to Ramesvaram, Sri Rangam, and many other important holy places of pilgrimage. Wherever he went he debated the prominent scholars of the impersonal school, smashing their interpretations of Vedanta with his brilliant advocacy of dualistic theism. His scathing criticisms of Sankaracarya’s impersonal Vedanta met with stiff opposition, but no one could overcome him in scriptural argument or logical debate. It is said that when Madhva was at Kanyakumari he was challenged by a great impersonalist scholar of the Sankara school to write his own commentary on Vedanta if he disagreed with the teachings of the master. At that time, it is said that Madhva promised to write his own Vedanta commentary, fully elaborating the proper conclusions of personal theism. At Sri Rangam he also expressed a certain degree of dissatisfaction with the conclusions of Ramanuja’s visistadvaita-vada, in that he felt it did not go far enough to refute the dangerous speculative philosophy of Sankaracarya. This further added to the young Madhva’s firm determination to someday compose his own commentary incorporating his own unique interpretation.

After completing his South Indian tour, Madhva decided to tour North India as well. With his resolve to complete his own Vedanta commentary growing day by day, he was eager to begin the work. But Madhva wanted to have the blessings of the author of Vedanta, Vedavyasa himself, before beginning such an ambitious project. He set out for North India and the Himalayas, then, in order to achieve the benedictions of Vedavyasa, for it was said the Vyasa, being immortal, still resided in his asrama at Badarainatha, although he never made himself visible to mortal eyes.

After a long journey by foot, Sripad Madhva finally arrived at the Anantamatha at Badarinatha. There he remained for seven weeks, absorbed in fasting, prayer, and devotional meditation. Inspired from within, he hiked further up into the, to Badarikasrama, in upper Badari, where Vyasadeva has his hermitage. There he met Vedavyasa and explained his commentary on Bhagavad-gita to Vyasa himself, who approved. When he met Vyasa, he was given eight Shalagrama-silas which are known as Astamurti. After discussing the scriptures with Vyasadeva, Sripad Madhvacarya’s understanding of their inner meaning became even more profound. He remained at Badarikasrama for some months until he finished composing his commentary of Bhagavad-gita, whereupon he returned to the Anantamatha. At that time Madhva’s companion Satya Tirtha wrote down the entire commentary. At this time, Madhva also wrote his commentary on Vedanta.

Bidding farewell to Badarinatha, Madhva began the long journey home. On the way, he again met with and defeated many scholars of various philosophical schools. He traveled through Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, and Andhradesa. Bhavishya Purana and Navadwip Dham mahatmya depict how he went to Navadwip and mystically met and discussed with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who residing in His eternal abode was due to appear some 250 years later to preach a similar message to Madhva, and so he, the Supreme Lord discussed with Madhva to prepare for His own divine appearance in due course.

The Madhva-vijaya describes how when Madhva reached Ganjama, on the banks of the river Godavari, he met two prominent scholars, who were well-versed in all the important scriptures: Sobhana Bhatta, and Swami Sastri. After converting them to his school, these scholars became renowned as important followers of Sripad Madhva. They became famous at Padmanabha Tirtha and Narahari Tirtha and are regarded as the principle acaryas of the Madhva school after Madhva himself. Narahari Tirtha is famous for his commentaries on Madhva’s Gita-bhasya and Karma-nirnaya. He was the Prime Minister of Kalinga between 1271 and 1293. Padmanabha Tirtha wrote commentaries on many of Madhva’s works, including Madhva’sBrahma-sutra-bhasya, his Anuvyakhyana, and his Dasa-prakaranas. He was the first commentator on many of the major works of Madhvacarya.

After converting Sobhana Bhatta and Swami Sastri, Sripad Madhvacarya journeyed through Andhrapradesa, Maharastra and Karnataka arrived at last in Udipi. Upon his return to Udipi from North India, Madhva confronted Acyutapreksa, who had refused to accept his ideas previously. Note the roles were reversed guru became disciple and disciple became guru. Some say that Madhva converted Acyutapreksa from Sankara’s Vedanta to the cause of Vaisnavism and accepted him as a follower, but they do not know the full picture behind the gurus who remained in hiding in which Acyutapreksha came in the line of for fear of attacks by the mayavadis. There were over four hundred years of gurus and disciples who couldn’t dress as Vaishnavas, but instead had to go undercover as impersonalists. (full documentation is in Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa’s “The Life and Legacy of Sripad Ananda Tirtha – Madhwacarya”)

As a result of Madhva’s success in defeating opposing scholars and gurus, his reputation spread, and enthusiasm grew for his new system of Vedanta philosophy. As his commentaries on Bhagavad-gita and Vedanta gained wider and wider acceptance, followers and new converts began to join his camp from all over India, attracted by his charismatic personality, invincible logic and scriptural knowledge, and his inspired faith.

While he stayed in Udipi, it was Madhva’s regular habit to bathe in the ocean. One day, he was sitting on the beach absorbed in contemplation upon Sri Krsna. At that time, he spotted a ship, bound for Dvaraka, that was about to founder on a sand bar. He signaled the ship to safety, and it was able to safely approach the shore. The captain of the ship wanted to bestow some present upon Sri Madhvacarya , and he accepted a large chunk of gopi-candana-tilaka. As it was being presented to the acarya, the large chunk of Tilak broke in half, revealing a huge deity of Balaram. This deity was installed in the temple on the beach at Malpe, and Madhva carried the rest to the temple tank and submerged it there where it was revealed that there was also a beautiful deity of Lord Krsna. (these deities were originally carved by Vishvakarma and given to Rukmini Devi Krishna’s consort in Dwaraka to worship prior to His leaving this world) Everyone was astonished to find a Krsna deity within the block of Tilak, but Madhvacarya was not unaccustomed to miracles and accepted it as the Lord’s grace. At that time he composed some beautiful prayers glorifying Sri Krsna, and soon after that the Deity was installed at the temple in Udipi where it remains today. The Deity weighed so much that even thirty men had difficulty moving it. Madhva, however, was superhumanly powerful–it is said that he was an incarnation of Vayu, and managed to personally carry the Deity to Udipi.

After installing the Deity of Krsna in Udipi, he revised the system of Deity worship, establishing a strict regimen of ceremonial ritual and proper conduct among his followers, imposing among other things the rigorous observance of fasting on Ekadasis.

Having achieved such great success at home, it was time for Madhva to one more travel afar. He began a second pilgrimage to North India, where he once again visited Badarikasrama. The Madhva-vijaya, written by the son of one of Madhva’s disciples describes how Madhva used his sharp wits, his knowledge of many languages such as Turkish and Persian, and his courage to overcome great obstacles in his preaching. While on his North Indian tour, Madhva and his disciples arrived at a place in the province of Ganga Pradesh where political tensions between Hindus and Muslims prevented them from crossing the river. The Hindus were on one side of the river and the Muslims on the other side. No one dared cross, and no boat was available. Madhva and his followers, without regard for the Muslim soldiers who guarded the crossing, swam across the river. The entire camp was placed under arrest. Madhva himself was taken before the Muslim King, Sultan Jalal-uddin-Khilji, who demanded an explanation. When Madhva was finally allowed to speak on his own behalf, he spoke in high class “chaste Persian”, addressing the king at length on devotional theism. Seeing the intensity and saintly purity of Sripad Madhvacarya, the Sultan’s heart was softened. So impressed was he with Madhva that he wanted to offer him land and money, but Madhva set the example of renunciation by humbly declining the Sultan’s offer.

Where wit would not help, Madhva would sometimes use his superhuman strength to save a situation. Once his traveling companion and sannyasi disciple Satya Tirtha was attacked by a fierce Bengal tiger. Fearless, Madhava went to the rescue. After wrestling the tiger away from Satya Tirtha, he sent it away with its tail between its legs. Another time, while walking on pilgrimage through a dangerous part of India, we was attacked by murderous dacoits, but he easily held them off.

Madhva was a multi-faceted personality who lived a long and healthy life. He was a natural leader who believed in physical culture as well as intellectual, moral, and spiritual culture. He took part in many athletic activities, such as wrestling, swimming, and mountain-climbing, which served him well in the Himalayas. As he came from a family of brahmanas that had descended from the warrior brahmana and incarnation of Godhead, Parasurama, he was tall, strong, and robust. It was reputed that there was no limit to his bodily strength. The Madhva-vijaya records how a strongman named Kadanjari who was said to have the strength of thirty men once challenged Madhvacarya to a contest of strength. Madhvacarya placed the big toe of his foot firmly upon the ground and asked Kadanjari, the famous strongman, to see if he could lift it. Straining with all his brawn again and again, the mighty Kadanjari was unable to move even the big toe of Madhvacarya. According to Trivikrama Pandita, Madhvacarya was endowed with all the thirty-two bodily symptoms of a great personality. He had a deep, sonorous, and melodic voice and was an expert singer. His recitation of the verses of Srimad-Bhagavatam was regarded as being especially sweet.

In this way, Madhva traveled extensively throughout the whole of India. He returned to South India after having visited Badarinatha, Delhi, Kuruksetra, Benares, and Goa. After this, his travels were mostly limited to those provinces of South India near Udipi. After Sankaracarya, who had also traveled extensively, He was the second important Vedanta acarya to travel throughout India, and his broad preaching campaign had a lasting effect. Gradually, his following grew, as great personalities from all parts of India accepted him as guru. The Madhva-vijaya mentions that he had disciples from many lands, and his present day followers still include the speakers of eight different languages-Tulu, Kannada, Konkani, Maratha, Telugu, Southern Saurastri, Bengali, and Hindi.

After returning to Udipi, Madhva once again immersed himself in prolific literary activity. He wrote commentaries on the ten major Upanisads. He wrote ten major philosophical treatises, the Dasa-Prakaranas, as well as what many consider his most important work, the Anu-Vyakhyana. He wrote a summary of Mahabharata called the Moksa-dharma, and he also commented on Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Madhvacarya’s dedication to the Lord and his deep scholarship made him a feared and hated enemy of the followers of Sankaracarya, who had a vested interest in maintaining their position as the only bona fide Vedantists. It has been said, “Of all the plagues with which mankind is cursed, ecclesiastical tyranny’s the worst.” The tyranny of the acaryas of the Srngeri-matha founded by Sankaracarya led them to attack Sripad Madhva with every means at their disposal. They employed various means to harass the followers of Madhva. They tried to prove that Madhva did not come from any authorized disciplic succession. Finally they challenged Madhva to a debate.

The Sankarites chose as their champion pandita a highly learned scholar named Pundarika Puri, who was famed for his erudition and expertise in argument. In the debate with Madhva he was humiliated. In arguing with Madhva Pundarika was like a schoolboy facing a professor. Aching for vengeance, the defeated pandita arranged for one of his cohorts, a sannyasi named Padma Tirtha, to steal a priceless collection of ancient Sanskrit scriptures from the library of Sripad Madhvacarya. The books were later recovered with the help of King Jayasimha of Kumla.

After Jayasimha Raja recovered the books of Madhvacarya, an audience was arranged between the Jayasimha and Madhva. The pandita, Trivikrama Pandita, a resident of Visnumangala, was the foremost authority on impersonal Vedanta in the land of Kumla and an expert poet. They met in the temple of Kudil. At the end of the day’s discourse, Trivikrama Pandita had failed to defeat Madhva, but he refused to surrender. The debate was continued on the following day. The next day, Trivikrama Pandita used all of his learning, his wit, and his power of argument in an attempt to embarrass Madhva, but after exhausting himself was again unable to defeat him. This went on for fifteen days, when Trivikrama Pandita, his intellect spent, his doubts destroyed, recognized Sri Madhva as his guru. He surrendered to the lotus feet of Sripad Madhvacarya and was accepted by him as a disciple. Madhva ordered him to write a commentary on Vedanta. Trivikrama Pandita’s commentary is called the Tattva-pradipa. His conversion was a turning point in Madhva’s preaching mission. After his conversion, Trivikrama Pandita’s own brother and seven other important scholars took sannyasa from Madhva and became the first directors of the eight Madvhaite monasteries in Udipi. Trivikrama Pandita’s son, Narayanacarya who later wrote the Madhva-vijaya.

In the final years of Madhva’s life, he wrote further commentaries on the scriptures, including the Nyaya-vivarana, the Karma-nirnaya, the Krsnamrta-Maharnava, and others. By this time, Madhvacarya was growing old. He had completed what he set out to do. He had preached his message far and wide, elaborated his philosophical system in numerous commentaries, and had many trained missionaries who could carry on his work with great energy. He had written original works of such a profound character that they would continue to influence devotional theism well into the 20th century. He had established the worship of Krsna in Udipi and had given sannyasa to expert scholars and veteran preachers such as Padmanabha Tirtha, Narahari Tirtha, Madhava Tirtha, and Aksobhya Tirtha, who would succeed him in promoting the philosophical ideals of pure dualistic theism. As he finished his commentary on the Aitereya Upanisad, on the verge of his eightieth birthday, Sripad Madhvacarya passed away from this world and entered the eternal Vaikuntha realm with Srila Vyasadeva at Uttara Bhadri on the ninth day of the full moon in the month of Magh (corresponding to January-February) in the year 1317.

The essential principles of Sri Madhvacarya’s teachings-where they run parallel to the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu-have been summarized by Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Prameya-Ratnavali. These points are as follows:

shri madvhah praha vishnum paratamam akhilamnaya vedyam ca
cisvam satyam bhedam ca jivam hari carana jusas tartamyam ca
tesham moksham vishnv-anghri-labham tad-amala-bhajanam
tasya hetum pramanam pratyaksadi trayam cety upadisati hari
krsna-caitanya chandra

Shri Madvacaharya taught that:

1.Krishna, who is known as Hari is the Supreme Lord,
the Absolute.
2.That Supreme Lord may be known through the
Vedas.
3.The material world is real.
4.The jivas, or souls, are different from the Supreme
Lord.
5.The jivas are by nature servants of the Supreme
Lord.
6.There are two categories of jivas: liberated and
illusioned.
7.Liberation means attaining the lotus feet of
Krishna, that is, entering into an eternal
relationship of service to the Supreme Lord.
8.Pure devotional service is the cause of this
relationship.
9.The truth may be known through direct
perception, inference, and Vedic authority.

In his Caitanya Caritamrta commentary, Srila A.C. Bhakdivedanta Swami Prabhupada comments, “For further information about Madhvacarya, one should read Madhva-vijaya by Narayana Acarya.”

We obviously do not have time or space to include all of Madhwa’s wonderful pastimes on this page, what to speak of go into each pastime in detail as I have in my manuscript. Then that would only be a part of Madhwa’s pastimes, as he appeared as the Triple incanation of Vayudev called Mukhyapran; first as Hanuman; then as Bhima; then as Madhwa.

  

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Vasishta, in Hindu mythology was chief of the seven venerated sages (or Saptharishi ) and the Rajaguru of the Solar Dynasty. He was famous for subduing the armies of Viswamitra. He had in his possession the divine cow Nandini who could grant anything to her owner.

Arundhati is the name of the wife of Vasishta. The star M101 of the stellar constellation Ursa Major is thought to Vasishta and the small one beside it as Arundhati.

  

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In a place called Bedar in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, a son was born to a couple highly devoted to God. He was named Narayana. He grew up as a naughty boy, neglecting his studies and quarrelling with other children. At the age of eight years, he lost his father. His mother, Rama Devi, found it hard to control her mischievous and delinquent son. Her relatives and neighbours advised her to get him married so that he might realise his responsibilities and change for the better. Although the boy was only 13 years old and too young for marriage, his mother yielded to the persuasions of others and arranged for his marriage. At the time of the wedding a screen of thick cloth hung in between the bride and the bridegroom, according to the prevailing custom. The purohits removed the curtain to hand over the Mangala soothram (the sacred and auspicious thread of wedlock) to the bridegroom for him to tie around the bride’s neck. Lo and behold! the bridegroom had disappeared behind the curtain without anybody’s notice. A thorough search was made to trace him out, but in vain. So, the marriage could not be performed.

The boy Narayana, who had escaped from the marriage hall, ultimately reached a place called Nasik near the source of the sacred river Godavari. He stayed there for some time and then moved to a nearby mountain called ‘Chitrakoota’ which is considered holy, because Sri Rama lived there for nearly 12 years. There he selected an exquisitely beautiful spot by name panchavati. The boy was enraptured by the grandeur of the scenery of the place, and its sanctity, associated with the stay of Sri Rama there during his exile. It sent thrills of ecstasy in him. He was always immersed in the contemplation of Sri Rama.

What was the cause for the naughty boy turning into a pious young man? A part from the fact that his latent good samskaaras (accumulated tendencies) were aroused by the sudden shock of the prospect of being saddled with the heavy responsibilities of married life, the boy during his journey to Nasik, entered a famous Hanuman temple enroute, and wholeheartedly prayed to the deity to bless him with all the noble qualities for which Hanuman was renowned. And he had an indication of his prayer being answered by way of a gentle spiritual vibration in the direction of the boy.

After 12 years of intense penance at Panchavati, Narayana gained the three fold realisation of Sri Rama as did Hanuman, namely, when he had body consciousness, he was the servant and Rama the master, when he was conscious of his being a Jiva (individual soul) he was part of Rama (Visishtaadvaita) and when he was aware of his being the Atma, he and Rama were one (Advaitha).

After this realisation, he returned to Nasik from Panchavati. While there, he came to know that the country was in the grip of a severe famine. Then he began to reflect that to spend his time thinking of only his own liberation, when all his countrymen were suffering due to famine, amounted to extreme selfishness. So he coined the slogan, “Dil me Raam, Haath me Kaam” (i. e. Rama in the heart, and work in the hand), and entered the arena of social service with all his energy and zeal, giving to himself and his band of dedicated workers mottoes such as “Maanava seva (service to man) is Madhava seva(Service to God). Graama seva (Service to Villages) is Rama seva (Service to Rama)”. He filled the tank of his heart with the holy water of Rama nam (Rama’s name) which flowed through the top of his hands to quench the thirst of the multitudes of his village.

Proceeding thus from village to village doing social work, coupled with chanting of Rama’s name, Narayana finally reached Rameswaram at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula. From there he went to the pilgrim centres of Tirupati (Where he had the darshan of Lord Venkateswara) and Hampi (Where he worshipped Lord Viroopaksha). Ultimately he returned to Nasik. On the way to Nasik, he saw saint Tukaram, who was singing the glories of Rama. So melodiously that a large number of people, including Shivaji, the ruler of Maharashtra were attracted to him. As Shivaji listened to Tukaram, and told him about his decision to give up his kingdom and to devote himself fully and whole heatedly to the pursuits of the spiritual path, Tukaram admonished Shivaji for his narrow minded view of spirituality and exhorted him to consider duty as God and work as worship. Thereupon Shivaji prayed to Tukaram to give him initiation. Tukaram declined saying, “Ramadas is your Guru, not I, so you have to receive initiation only from him”. Rather disappointed, Shivaji returned to his capital.

Ramadas appeared before Shivaji with his usual call for alms, “Bhavati Bhiksham Dehi”. Shivaji realised that the guru is God, so he wrote something on a piece of paper and deposited it reverentially in the alms bag of Ramadas. “For the relief of hunger, how can paper suffice?” asked Ramadas. Shivaji prayed that the paper may be read. The paper recorded a gift of the entire kingdom and all that Shivaji owned to the Guru. Ramadas replied, “No, my Dharma is Dharmabodha the teaching of Dharma, instructing the people in the right way of life, Kshatriyas like you must follow the dharma of ruling the land, ensuring peace and content to the millions under your care.”

Since Ramadas had the extraordinary capacity to do many great things, he came to be known as Samartha Ramadas, the appellation Samartha meaning a man of versatile skills. There is an episode in his life which describes the context in which the title of Samartha was conferred on him. He used to dress himself and move about like kodandapaani (Rama armed with his bows and arrows). Once when he was walking along the banks of the Godavari in this dress, some brahmins who were taking bath there questioned him whether he belonged to the community of koyas (Hunters belonging to a hill tribe were called koyas). Ramadas told them that he was Ramadas (A servant of Rama) and not a Koya. Thereupon they questioned him why he was dressed and equipped with bow and arrows like Rama if he was only a servant of Rama. They heckled him saying, “What is the use of merely trying to imitate Kodandapani in appearance only? Are you capable of wielding the bow and arrows as Rama did?” Just then a bird was flying fast at a great height across the sky above their heads. The brahmins pointed the bird to Ramadas and asked him whether he could shoot that bird. With Rama’s name on his lips, Ramadas immediately aimed an arrow at the flying bird and brought it down right in front of the Brahmins. Seeing the dead bird, the Brahmins accused Ramadas saying, “There is no harmony of thought, word and deed in you and therefore you are dhuraatma (a wicked person). You chant Rama’s name and at the same time you have committed the sin of killing an innocent bird, to show of your skills.” When Ramadas replied that he shot the bird at their instances only, they remonstrated saying, “If we ask you to eat grass, will you do so ? Don’t you have your own independent thinking or discrimination?” Then Ramadas gently replied, “Sirs, past is past. Kindly tell me what I should do now?” They asked him to repent for his sin. Ramadas promptly closed his eyes and prayed to God Wholeheartedly, repenting for his sin and asking for his forgiveness. Then he opened his eye and pointed out to the brahmins that the dead bird had not regained life inspite of his repentance. The brahmins said reprovingly, “What a madcap you are! Repentance can not undo what you have done; but its purpose is to enable you to make up your mind not to repeat such misdeeds in future”. “That is no repentance in my humble view” countered Ramadas, “God and his name are so powerful that if we pray sincerely, His Grace will bring the bird back to life.” So saying he picked up the dead bird, hugged it to his bosom, and with tears flowing down his cheeks he wholeheartedly prayed, “O Rama, if I have been chanting your name with all my mind, heart and soul and if it is a fact that I have killed this bird out of ignorance and not with an intent to kill, may your Grace either revive this dead bird or take away my life also along with that of the bird”. As he concluded his prayer, the bird fluttered in his hands. Then he opened his eyes, thanked the almighty and released the bird into the sky. Astonished at this miracle, the brahmins exclaimed in one voice, “Revered sir, forgive us for not recognising your greatness. Since you have the capacity to kill a flying bird with a single arrow and also the capacity to revive the dead bird, you will hereafter be known by the worthily name of Samartha Ramadas.”

After this, Ramadas visited Pandaripuram where he was an eye witness to the ideal way in which a man by name Pundarika served his parents as veritable Gods, making lord Panduranga Himself wait in front of his house standing on a pair of bricks till he completed his service to his parents.

Then he visited Shivaji and gave him three things as moments to guide him in his royal duties, one, a coconut to remind him that just as our intention in buying a coconut is to consume the white kernel inside, so also the purpose of owning and administering the kingdom is that the king himself should lead a satwic life and also to ensure that the satwic quality prevails in his kingdom; second, a handful of earth to remind the king and through him his subjects about the sanctity of Bharath, their motherland; third, a pair of bricks to symbolise that just as bricks are used to construct houses for the safety of the inmates the king should use his powers to protect the people and promote their welfare and progress.

At this time, the memory of Pundarika’s devoted service to his parents at Pandaripuram was revived in Ramadas’ mind and he hastened back home with the idea of serving his aged mother. When he reached home, his old mother could not recognise him, particularly because of his long beard and strange dress. He told her that he was her son, Narayana, who was popularly known as Samartha Ramadas. Thereupon, his mother exclaimed ecstatically, “O my dear son, I have been hearing so much about Samartha Ramadas and have been eager to see him for a long time. But I never knew that it is the popular name of my son, Narayana. I am proud of you and thank the Lord for making me the mother of such a great one. My life is fulfilled.” So saying, she breathed her last on her son’s lap.

Ramadas duly performed the obsequies of his mother. Shortly thereafter, he heard about Siviaji’s death in A.D. 1680. (just six years after he was coronated by Ramadas in A.D. 1614). He went to the kings capital installed Shivaji’s son as the king and blessed him so that he might rule the kingdom, following the foot steps of his noble father.

Samartha Ramadas, while a boy, was going through the bazar reading books. Some one reprimanded him for reading while he was walking. He said that Ramadas could read when he reached school. But Ramadas replied, “For me, the entire world appears as a school which I must attend throughout life. I do not see any difference between the school where I learn some lessons and the world where I learn other lessons.”

Once Ramadas wailed “O lord! You are mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing; I am alone, helpless, orphaned and poor.” Then the Lord interrupted the self condemnation and said, “No, how can you name yourself poor, helpless and orphaned? I am with you, in you and showering My Grace. The only orphan in the universe is Myself for I have no guardian, no means of support, nobody to fall back upon. I am the anaatha (orphan); all else are Sa-naatha (with lord), for I am their Naatha (Lord).”

Once when Samartha Ramadas was moving about the countryside with his disciples, those behind him saw a fine field full of juicy sugarcane and entered it and started pulling out the cane and munching it with great relish. The owner of the field was naturally enraged at their behaviour and at the loss to which they were subjecting him, he fell upon them with a stout cane. Later Shivaji offered himself to attend personally to the guru during his ceremonial bath. When Ramadas undressed, Shivaji was shocked to find broad red marks indicating that he had been beaten. Such was the sensitive sympathy of the great saint towards his disciples. Ramadas was requested to inflict on him any punishment he liked. But Ramadas accepted that the wrong was committed by his disciples, that they should not have allowed the cane to attract them into theft.

  

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Shankaracharya was the Indian philosopher in the 8th century AD, who founded Advaita (non-dualistic) Vedanta.

He left commentaries on the trilogy of Vedantic scriptures, i.e., major Upanishads (about ten in number, including “Brihadaranyaka Upanishad”, “Chandogya Upanishad” and “Mandukya Upanishad”), “Brahma Sutra”, and “Bhagavad Gita”. He is also said to have written, among others, “Vivekacudamani (Discrimination of Jewel)”, where he fully expounded Vedantic principles, and “Atmabodha (Self-Knowledge)”, where he exclusively discusses the identity between Atman and Brahman. A sub-commentary on the “Commentary by Vyasa on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras” is also attributed to him.

Shankaracharya exclusively advocates that the real, experiential knowledge of the Brahman/Atman identity is sufficient to get enlightened, and that as far as spiritual seekers are ready to sacrifice everything to obtain this supreme wisdom, they need neither rituals nor meditation as spiritual exercise.

He utilises extensive dialectic discussions to dispel almost all arguments made by his opponents. His use of logic is inexorable, and in depth.

To his opponents who ask him why “One” (the Brahman/Atman identity) becomes many (this phenomenal world), Shankaracharya answers that it is because of our lack of knowledge which makes us “superimpose” the false on the real, and believe that “one” looks many. For instance, suppose that a man thinks that there is a snake in the wood, but in fact it is simply a rope. In this case, as far as he continues to superimpose the false image of a snake on the rope, he will never be able to know that it is a rope. But as soon as he drops the false knowledge, he can experience the reality as it is. Similarly, because of the false knowledge about our real identity, we misunderstand that there is a phenomenal world “out there”, which is different from us. It is those who can get rid of this false “superimposition”, who will know instantaneously that we are one with the whole world, and that we are “enlightened” already here, at this very moment.

  

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Vyas does not signify the name of any one person. It is a title Ved Vyas, the author of the Mahabharata, is called ‘Ved Vyas’ because it was he who classified the Vedas into four branches. His hermitage was in Badari and he was therefore known as ‘Badarayana’. Accordings to mythology Vyasa grew into manhood shortly after his birth and was well versed in the ‘Vyasa’, the ‘Shastras’, the ‘Puranas’, poetry, history and other branches of learning, He was ripe in wisdom. Then he left for Badari for his tapasya. Later; he took his mother Satyawati in the forest to spend the last days of her life there.

Without Vyas, there would no Kauravas, no Padavas and no ‘Mahabharata’ War-or the Mahabharata story, either. It was Vyas himself who gave the story of Mahabharata to manking. It is said that it was Lord Brahma who motivated him to write the story of the Mahabharate with the help of Lord Ganesha. He saw the rise of quite a number of powerful kings and dynasties. Being a ‘rishi’ who could live for hundreds of years, it is believed that he is still living in Badari.

  

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Vashishta is supposed to have been born as the result of Brahma’s will-power. He was a great ascetic, who laboured for the welfare of world. Like many other saints, Vashishta was not a recluse.

Vashishta had his hermitage on the bands of the River Saraswati. Here he used to impart Vedic knowledge to thousands of his disciples. In the hermitage, a regular performance of several holy several holy sacrifices for the good of the world was performed. The merit earned by these performances of tapasya was Vashishta’s great strength. He was a man of peace and had conquered desire and anger. He was the priest to Dashratha and also Rama.

He was a great visionary. Many of the verses in the ‘Rig-Veda’ were composed by him. He wrote a treatise called ‘Vasishta Smriti’, on dharma righteousness. He composed ‘vashishta Ramayand’. Vashishta believed that divine and individual effort were necessary to achieve anything in this world. To him, laziness was a disease that brought unhappiness in a man’s life.

  

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A ‘mad saint’ from West Bengal , Vamakhapa was born in 1837 at Atla in Birbhum district. Since his childhood he was subject to tantrums. Whenever he prayed to kali and Kali did not answer his question, Vama started screaming and rolling on the ground.

Vamakhepa had little interest in studies and his family also was unable to afford his studies. Vamakhepa’s father Sarvanand Chatterjee was also a saint. It was he, who took Vama to the burning ground at Tarpith. Vama took initiation from his family guru and had his sacred thread ceremony when was sixteen years old.

Vamakhepa was called mad saint because he always violated the normative rules of society and religious practices. He used to eat prasad before giving it to the god. He sometimes sprinkled his urine on the statue of goddess Kaliar Tara. Vama learnt about relgions from Vedagya moksyanaka who taught him religious texts like the ‘Vedas’,'Puranas’, and ‘Tantras’. He died in 1911.

  

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An epitome of devotion, an apostle of affection, a proponent of Sanatan Dharma and a supporter of social welfare, H.H. Vaishnavacharya Goswami 108 Shri Indirabetiji Mahodaya is lovingly known as ‘Jiji’. She is a prominent spiritual leader of Hinduism and pushtimary. She is a revered icon of a multitude of devotees worldwide.

Pujya Jiji was born on September 3, 1939 . She was initiated into learning scriptures by her scholar father. She extended her studey of Narhari Maharaj and Shri Nagardes Banbania . She earned her Masters in Sanskrit and later attained the title of Acharya.

Today, she is a well respected scholar of scriptures. To spiritually enlighten her devotees, she regularly delivers discourses or scriptures such as ‘Shrimad bhagavat’and ‘Shrimad Bhagavat Geeta’Bhagavat Geeta’. She is an inspirer and spiritual benefactor of many temples and religious organizations around the world. She leads a simple, selfless, celibate and purposeful life.

  

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Tulsidas was born in 1532 to a Brahmin family, at the town of Rajapur in Utter Pradesh. He suffered separation from his parents at a very young age and was not taken care of his relatives. He came into contact with some saints who advised him to surrender to Lord Rama. Thus, he got associated with a Hanuman temple and ate whatever to was given to him. His guru advised him to take up the path of devotion to Rama. As time grew on, Tulsidas’s love for Rama grew deeper and deeper.

In his youth, he married a woman named Ratnavali. He was deeply attached to her. Once his wife admonished him for his deep attraction to her body and advised him to love lord Rama. Then Tulsi left all connections with family life and became an ascetic. He spent fourteen years visiting various sacred places of pilgrimage. Tulsidas wrote twelve books. His most famous book is the ‘Ramayana’. ‘Vinaya Patrika’ is another important book. Tulsi left his mortal life and entered the abode of immortality and external bliss in 1623.

  

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Indian’s first western Guru, The Mother, born on February 21, 1878 in Paris , France , to an Egyptian mother and a Turkish father. Her real name was Mira.

Right from a very young age, she knew her purpose on earth was not at all ordinary. She used to chant ‘om’ without any knowledge of India , the eternal sound coming naturally from her lips. She found herself imbued with strange powers. She could talk with fairies and being from the world hidden behind ours. As a teenager, she learnt piano, painting and higher mathematics. By the grace of the God she discovered her past life.

In 1914, she met sri Aurobindo to whom she had seen in her dream a decade ago. She believed that human species, as it likes to believe, the last stage of evolution. Just as humans emerged from the monkey due to an evolutionary crisis, so also, the edge of another evolutionary crisis. The question being ‘after human kind what? ,

  

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Swami Vivakananda was a great saint of India . The unknown monk of India suddenly leapt into fame at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, where he represented Hinduism. His vast knowledge of Eastern and Western culture, as well as his, deep spiritual insight, eloquence, brilliant conversation, colourful personality and handsome figure inserted an irresistible appeal to people. He was born in 1863. He was spiritually inclined right from his childhood. He was pained at seeing the suffering of the people. He met Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and became his disciple. In 1893, Vivakananada went to Chicago to attend the World Parliament of Religions. With his brilliant speech, he impressed a great number of Americans. He was welcomed wherever he went in America . Many people Ramkrishna Mission. He wrote many books including ‘Hate-Yoga’, Bhakti Yoga’, karma-Yoga’ and ‘Raja-Yoga’. He attained Samadhi in 1902.

  

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A rare jewel in the crown of the Himalayan peak, Swami Tapovan was revered and exclaimed as the greatest of Sanyasi and a man of total perfection. Swami Tapovan was born in1889 in an aristocratic family in the Palghat district and from a very tender age he was not at all interested in the worldly life. The life of renunciation, austerity and study became the only sacred aim of his life. Later, he chooses the desolate forests and higher hills of the Himalayas for austerity, study and meditation.

He was well versed with the scriptures. As s poet, he possessed a passion for witnessing the canvas of nature’s beauty unrolling itself in the unfrequented peak and valleys of t he Himalayas . He had penned his experience of his travels in two splendid volumes ‘Himagiri Viharam’ and ‘ Kailash Yatra’. His masterpiece work is ‘Iswara Darshan’ which is an autobiography sketch of his life. His another beautiful book is ‘Wandering in the Himalayas ‘. In 1957, Swami Tapovan Maharaj went into ‘ Mahasamadahi, (death).

  

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Swami Shraddhanandaji was born in East Bengal in 1907. In his childhood he had the passion to organize seminars, to study that teachings of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and to sing devotional songs.

From1925 to 1937, he spent most of his time at the Calcutta Student’s Home, first as a student and later as a monk and worker. At the age of 23, he was initiated into Ramakrishna Mission. Here he developed his spiritual Knowledge under the able guidance of Swami Shivananda. In 1939,he adopted the life of sanyasa from Swami from Swami Vivajanandaji. Then he took up the work of editorship of ‘Udhodhan’ magazine of the Ramakrishna order.

Swami Shraddhanandaji went to United States of America as an assistant minister of Vedanta Society of Northern California. Then, he was the head of the Vedanta Society of Sacramento from 1964 to 1996. Being well versed in Vedanta philosophy and teachings of the Ramakrishna Order, he penned many books related to it in Bengali. He left this world in 1996

  

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Swami Ramanand is considered as a pioneer of the great Bhakti Movement in North India . He was a follower of Swami Ragavacharya of the Ramanuh Movement (1071-1137). In the later part of his life, the Archarya commanded more respect than even his own Guru and came to be known as an exponent of Rama Bhakti. He has also been regarded as the bridge between the Bhakti Movement of the south and north.

Born in 1400,Ramanand was the son of Bhoor Karma and Sushila. He was mystically inclined from his early childhood. Ramanand also people built a memorial that stands there to this day. He started preaching his gospel in Kashi and swayed many devotees with the spirit of Bhakti. Kabir was the most renowned amongst his disciples.

Ramanand was a learned Pandit. Many of his books such as ‘Sri Vaishnava Motabrij Bhaskar’, ‘Sri Ramarachan Padhti’ are still available. One of his hymns has been inserted in the Guru Granth Sahib.

  

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Sri Swami Krishananda Saraswati Maharaj was born on April 25, 1922 , in an orthodox Brahmin family. He was as named as Subbaraya.

He was a brilliant student in his childhood. He received his high school education at puttur and stood first in the class in all the subjects, But the formal education did not quench his desire of learning scriptural texts. The study of Sanskrit texts like the ‘Gita’, the ‘Upanishads’ ultimately took him towards the Advaita philosophy of Shankaracharya.

In 1943, Swamiji joined a government job but his intense inner longing for Advatic experience and renumciation forced him to leavce the job. After that he left for Varanasi to study Vedas and other Scriptures. Later he moved to Rishikesh where he met Swami Sivananda Sivanana who initiated him into his holy order of ‘Sanyasa’. The first book he wrote works, each one a masterpiece in itself. He is the author of nearly twenty works, each one a masterpiece in itself. He is a rare blend of Karma and Inana Yogas, a living example of the Gita teaching.

  

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Sri Swami Brahmanand Maharaj is spiritual leader and a social reformer. He is one of the few towering personalities in Goa who has been working incessantly for the establishment of Vishwa Dharma by breaking barriers of caste, creed and communalism.

Sri Brahmanand Maharaj has used his knowledge to transform the lives of the poor working class by instilling in them a new sense of confidence and patriotism. He has been working for over two decades to root out all social evils form society. He has been imparting Vedic and Upanishadic knowledge to thousands of non –Brahmin devotees. He has set up a full-fledged Vedic School to impart Vedic knowledge to socially ostracized communities.

Swamiji has take religion to new heights. He propagated the concept of Dharma through the teaching of human values and national prode. His teaching includes moral values of love, compassion, toerance, selfless service and stronger nation.

  

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Sri Ravishankar was born in pious family as a divine child in 1956. He could easily recite the chants of Bhavagatam by heart at the age of four. In his prime age he spent his time with the transcendental guru Maharishi Mahesh yogi. He received the traditional education of many scriputures. He got the degree in science. But his inclination towards spiritual knowledge was recongnised even in the western countries. He is the only non-westerner to serve on the advisory board of Yale University ‘s School of Divinity .

He conducts couses on the Art of Living. The core of this course is the patented ‘Sudarshana Kriya’. This yogic practice is recognized by W.H.O. as a positive health tool and stress management techjnique. His ’5 H programme’ is founded to address the needs of individuals and professionals affected by the criminal justice system. He suggests his disciples to have the first-hand experience in the art of living the life with joy and harmony.

  

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Sri Prahlad Chandra Brahmachari was born in the remove village of Purushottampur in Orissa. Being born in a pauper family, he had to go out to get alms his childhood for the whole family. One day, while begging for food, he was advised by a person that he should climb on the mountain where numerous sadhus and saints meditate. So, he went on the mountain and served the saints by providing them wood for their sacred fire ceremonies.

During his stay in the mountainour deep jungle, one night he had an encounter with a mysterious personage to whom he referred as ‘my guru’. After this he returned home to lead a peaceful life with his prarents. But financial crisis of the family forced him to immigrate to Kolkata and beg for the livelihood of his family. But he never forgot to meditate on the banks of the Ganges river. Later he became a chief proest in the temple of Kuldana and Ramnathpur village. In 1976, he went to America to spread the message of humanity. He died in 1982.

  

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Shrimad Nrusimha Saraswati was born in 1274 A.D. at a place called Karanja Nagar (Karnataka) in south India . He was born to a pious Brahmin couple Madhava and Ambabhavani.

In his childhood, he was considered as the incarnation of Lord Dattatreya and came to be known as the great sage. But latter, when he grew up and started traavelling to different places he was called by varuous spiritual journey, he also made disciples like Shree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Shree Sai Baba of Shirdi, Shree Shankar Maharaj and Shree Gajajan Maharaj of Shegaori.

Finally, he made Akkalkot his permanent home and stayed there for 24 years from 1854 A.D. Since then he was known as the Akkalkot Niwasi Shree Swami samarth Maharaj. On April 30, 1878 the great sage adopted Maha samadhi under his favourite Banyan tree.

  

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The founder of the Yoga Institute in Santa Cruz Mumbai, Shri Yogendra was born on November 18, 1897 . He left his home while he was an adolescent. Thereafter, he met Guru Paramahamsa Medhava Dasaji. Here, he learnt yoga and spread the Benefits of yoga throughour the world. He was also responsible for the revival of the ideals of classical yoga.

Shri yogendra, going against the so-called yogic life, married Sita Devi. He also taught yoga to his wife. In 1918, he founded Yersova (Yoga Institute) at Mumbai and Sita Devi become the secretary of the Institute. Shri Yogendra’s made yoga accessible to all. In 1919, he established another yoga institute in New york .

Shri yogendra Believed that yoga is the art of living. His earnest desire was that the common man should be able to follow it. He believed that ‘Yoga is full of richness with clear-cut practices for attainment of self realisation’. Shri Yogendraji passed away in 1989.

  

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Shri T.S. Sambamurthy Sivachariar was born on November 2,1925 .He belongs to the Adi Saiva faith , who have dedicated themselves to the service of God. At the tender age of 16, he came to the Shri Kaliskambal tample of Chennai and since then he has been a priest over there. He is known for his proficiency in performing the ‘Khumbhabnishekams’ (Concretion Ceremonies), chandi Yagnas and spreading of the turth of Hinduism all around the world. He has toured various countries and has spread the message of the Vedas and Agamas.

He participated at the Osaka World Religions Conference representing Hinduism at Japan and has attended numerous seminars related to Saiva Agamas. He is the President of the South India Archakas Association and founder of Maa Kalika Mandir Trust. Recently, he has been honoured by the Tirupati Tirumals Devastam Veda Agama Patasala for his presentation in Saiva Agtamas. His goal in life is to serve the human society which is similar to the service of god.

  

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Swami Veda Bharati is a world-renowned yoga teacher and has been involved in teaching yoga for almost 50 years, not only in India but in various foreign countries too.

He was born in 1933 in a scholarly Sanskrit-speaking family in Dehradum , India . From his childhood, he developed interest in classical grammar by the age of 8. He delivered his first public speech at the young age of 9. Within two years he became the master of the ‘Upanishads’and many other Hindu scriptures. At the age of 13, he began lecturing in colleges and universities not only in India but also in Africa, the Caribbean, South America and England .

He has penned numerous books on yoga and meditation, all published in U.S.A. He knows 17 different languages. Swami Veda thinks that with the help of yoga and meditation, people’s minds can become calm and clear.

  

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A medial graduate with a brilliant academic record, Param Pujaya Sri Swami Swaroopanand was destined to be a great philosopher and writer. This inborn quality of contemplative nature made him renounce the mundane life at a very yound age.

From his childhood, he was extremely eager to know the various themes of scriptures. His Gurus, Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Swami Harihar Tirthaji Maharaj, taught him every subtle thing of scriptures.

In 1975 he reached Hyderabad and laid the foundation of the Arsha Vidya Ashram. Later Swamiji shifted from Hyderabad to Phulgaon in shruitsagar Ashram.

Swamiji has taken up the task of writing commentaries on all the 19 chapters based on Shankar Bhasya. His writings are very analytical, rational and profound. Swamiji is a highly respected personality even in countries like U.S.A. and Canada .

  

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Shri Swami Satyanand Ji Maharaj, the founder of Sri Ram sharnam, was born in 1861 in Rawalpindi . He lost his parents in his early childhood. AT the young age of 17, he took up the company of spiritual teachers of jain faithy. In 1891, at the age of 30, he joined the Arya Sama and studied Vedanta, Upanishads and other sacred epics.

Swami Satyanand Ji Maharaj devoted his life to spiritual talk for the newt 25 years and thereby spread the teachings of sacred epics. In 1925,to acquire mental and inner peace, he went into the Himalayas . Consequently, on July 7,1925 , Swamiji was blessed with the sounds and inner visions of Ram Naam. Thereafter, he started initiating his followers in the name of Ram Naam.

He did not start a separate spiritual path.the theme of his preachings was to intensify devotion to god through concentration on Ram Naam. He wrote sacred books in Hindi, namely ‘Bhakti Prakash’, ‘Pravachan Piyaush’ and ‘Amritivani’.

  

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The greatest social reformer of Kerala, Shri Narayana Guru was born in 1854 in Kerala in a well educated family, his first reacher was his own father, Madan Asan.

He was blessed with a penetrating understanding and a sharp memory form early childhood. His formal schooling was completed in the village school of Chempazhantly Pillai .

Narayana Guru was a parivrajaka and he never stayed in one place for more than a fortnight. Even in those days when there was paucity of good roads, he walked on foot to almost every village in Kerala and then to Madras . Everywhere and to every man, he advocated to live a peaceful life. Consequently, there was a steep decline of crime in Kerala.

He has been credited for transforming the social fabric of Kerala and changing the beliefs of Keralites during those times. The Guru mostly relied on his own and other books like ‘vasistha Ramayana’ of Valmiki and the Yogasutas’ of patanjali