raghavendra swamy
Similar to the marriages of ordinary human beings, marriages of the holy persons also takes place once in a while! Among the marriage ceremony of the pious people, marriage event of Sri Venkatanathar, and Mata Saraswati Bai, is considered as the most important one.
Guru Raghavendra Swamy’s birth name was Venkatanathar. Before becoming a great Madhwa Saint, he had got married at his younger age itself to a pious, chaste and noble girl whose name was Saraswati Bai.
At the time of marriage, with a shy, but with a bright face, Saraswati Bai praised the deities for getting married to a pious person, Sri Venkatanathar. Their marriage was arranged by Venkatanathar’s brother Gururajan and their marriage took place at Bhuvanagiri, Tamil Nadu during 16th Century AD, in a simple manner, and their only son was Sri Lakshmi Narayana.
Since Venkatanathar contains divine features, apart from ordinary humans, it is believed that his marriage was attended even by the Devas, like Lord Brahma, Indra, Vishnu and Shiva along with their consorts, and blessed the newly married couple. Ma Saraswati Bai moved with her husband in a cordial manner, and she never argued for anything, and remained a soft and a gentle woman throughout her life time.
Marriages are made in heaven is the ancient proverb, which is not applicable in this today’s world, since most of the marriages end up with divorces. This is mainly due to lack of understanding between the couples, and there is no tolerance between them. Very soon they are getting agitated, and losing their patience. By reading about the details of the wonderful marriage event of the noble couple, Sri Venkatanathar and Ma Saraswati Bai, the couples would be able to happily lead their family life without any difficulty and the question of divorce would never arise on their minds!
“OM MA SARASWATI BAI SAMEDA SRI VENKATANATHAYA NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR