Life History of Guru Raghavendra Swamy | Raghavendra Charitra

Raghavendra Swamy Lord Krishna

EDUCATION

Thimmana Bhatta performed Upanayana to the young Venkatanatha, and taught basic education to him, and also patiently answered to the questions raised by the divine child. Thimmanna bhatta was very much satisfied with the intelligence of his son Venkatanatha, and treated him very kindly.

Thimmanna Bhatta performed the wedding to his daughter to a good scholar, who hails from Madurai, and his name was Lakshminarasimhacharya. Soon Thimmana Bhattawas passed away when Venkatanatha was very young at that time. Due to that, Venkatanatha was taken care of by his elder brother Gururaja. After getting the basic education from his brother, Venkatanatha went to Madurai, stayed at his sister’s home, and learnt all the Vedic subjects from his brother-in-law, Sri Lakshmi Narasimhacharya, and he was able to grasp even the toughest subject very easily.

MARRIAGE LIFE

After getting the best education, Venkatanatha left Madurai, and he was married to one pious, chaste and a noble lady, Saraswathi, who hails from a good family. His consort Saraswathi, was a dutiful wife, and she had humbly served Venkatanatha, and they had a son whose name was Lakshminarayana.

Venkatanatha though he had brightly shined as a best scholar, but he didn’t demanded any money from his students, since he considered that getting money for education is a sinful activity. Due to that, his family began to suffer from severe poverty, and most of the days they have observed fasting. But even then, he continued his free teaching, without any hesitation. And his chaste and pious wife, Ma Saraswati didn’t show any anger with her husband Venkatanatha.

Due to the dire poverty, Venkatanatha had decided to take shelter under Sri Sudhindratirtha, and hence he and his family went to the Kumbakonam Mutt.

Venkatanatha went to Kumbhakonam, continued his further studies in Vedas and shastras under the guidance of his guru Sri Sudheendra Teertha.

Due to his expertise in Vedas and other divine subjects,his guru Sri Sudhindra Teertha had given him the wonderful title of “Mahabhashyacharya”, which means a “TALENTED POET”.
Venkatanatha also wrote commentaries on Madhwa’s Granthas in a simple and in an easily understandable manner, and his holy texts were highly appreciated by his Guru and by the learned scholars.

Sri Sudhindra Teertha was very much impressed with the appearance and the knowledge of Venkatanatha, and hence he wanted to make him as his successor. One day, Lord Rama appeared in his dream and asked him to appoint Venkatanatha as his successor by making him to be the next pontiff and also he asked him to make Venkatanatha as a Madhwa saint. Sri Sudheendra Teertha was very happy, and he decided to talk about this matter to his disciple Venkatanatha.

Venkatanatha after hearing the words of his Guru Sudheendra, was very much upset, since he didn’t want to throw away his responsibilities as a householder.

DIVINE VISION

That night Ma Saraswathi appeared in front of Venkatanatha and asked him to become a saint, for the sake of universal goodness, and after she vanishes from that place, all other deities like Rama, Narasimha and Veda Vyasa had appeared before him and blessed him. The next day morning, Venkatanatha felt that becoming a saint is the foremost duty for him, and hence he met Sudheendra Teertha and narrated the previous night incidents to him. Sudheendra Teertha was delighted with the decision of Venkatanatha, and asked him to perform Upanayana to his son quickly. After the completion of Upanayana ceremony of his son, Sudheendra decided to perform the sainthood ceremony at Tanjore, in the court of King Raghunatha.

Raghunatha warmly welcomed Sudheendra Teertha and Venkatanatha in his court and gave proper respect to both of them. The Pattabishekham (Coronation ceremony) was performed during the year 1621 AD, and Sri Sudheendra Teertha had initiated Venkatanatha into sainthood and gave him the new honourable title of “SRI RAGHAVENDRA TEERTHA”. Everyone assembled in the palace had witnessed the wonderful coronation ceremony and blessed the new pontiff, Guru Raghavendra.