raghavendra swamy
By chanting the names of Guru Raghavendra, all of our sins would be washed away. We can worship Guru Raghavendra as our Kula Devata, since he contains sufficient powers equivalent to our Kula Devata, and he got those powers, through his staunch devotion, affection and meditation on Lord Rama, and still, day by day, he is gaining tremendous spiritual powers, out of his sincerity on Lord Rama. Those who are not aware about their Kula Devata, can also worship Guru Raghavendra as their Ishta Devata (Beloved Deity), as well as they can worship him as their Kula Devata (Family Deity).
Guru Raghavendra is a blessed saint, who still continuously meditates on Lord Rama from his holy shrine at Mantralayam. Guru Raghavendra can also be called as “MRITIGAI SWARUPA”, the saint who dwells in his holy Mritigai, sacred sand of Mantralayam. “KAVI VASTRA PRIYANE”, the saint who likes wearing Saffron Dhoti, “KAKKUM DEIVAME”, the saint who acts like a guardian god, “ARPUDHA URUVAME”, the saint who looks very beautiful, “SAGALA KALAI VALLAVANE”, the saint who is expert in all kinds of arts, “AMUDHA SURABIYE”, the saint who showers his unlimited grace and shows mercy towards his devotees, “KRISHNA AMSAYA”, the saint who contains the features of Lord Krishna.
Few months ago, while I was talking with an office staff at Sri RaghavendraSwamy Mutt, Triplicane Branch, Chennai, he has expressed his staunch faith on Guru Raghavendra, and he also narrated an incident about Guru Raghavendra. Before fifteen years ago, an aged saint who dressed in Saffron Dhoti had visited his home, smiled at him, and then after cleaning his legs in the bathroom, he went straight to the puja room, and after sometime, he disappeared from that place. The Triplicane Mutt Staff strongly believes that the saint who visited his home was none other than his beloved Guru Sri Raghavendra. As per a famous proverb, “GURUVARUL THIRUVARUL”, which means, only if you get the grace of the guru, you would be able to get the grace of the god.
A proper spiritual guru, like Guru Raghavendra, would never misguide his devotees, at any point of time, and, in fact, they would mould them properly, and they would cleanse the sins of the devotees, and also would grant salvation to them at the appropriate time. Some time back, while I was attending an interview conducted by a person who belongs to Hindu Religion, I have told about my bhakti on Guru Raghavendra, then, he said to me, “Oh! Very Good! You have chosen only the right person to worship! Worship him sincerely, honestly, faithfully and whole-heartedly, in order to get his full grace”.
I have cleared in that Interview, and I have also worked for a few years in that company, and the name of the person who interviewed me, is “RAGHAVENDRA RAO”. During Guru Raghavendra’s period, when his devotee Venkanna had prayed to him and cried for his help, he has got instant help from his Guru, and he has become a talented scholar within a fraction of second, though, by birth, he was a layman.
It is the duty of Hindus to cultivate the habit from Christians, who used to worship only “LORD JESUS CHRIST”, by considering him as their god, guru and guide. Similar to the holy Christ, Guru Raghavendra has got enough powers, and he is also considered to be the son of Lord Narasimha, since Lord Narasimha considered Prahalada as his son, who incarnated as Guru Raghavendra, by the way of crowing him as the king for the kingdom, which only a father would do it for his son. When Prahalada was suffering from the clutches of his father Hiranyakasipu, Ma Lakshmi, the holy consort of Lord Vishnu, used to tell to Lord Vishnu, “Our child Prahalada is suffering from problems. Oh! My Lord! Please go immediately and save him!
Hence by considering the previous birth details of Guru Raghavendra, we can worship him as our Kula Devata, IshtaDevata, Holy Saint, God, Guru, and as Guru Dakshinamurthy and Guru Brihaspati.
In one of his famous works, Guru Raghavendra has described about the significance of Rama NamaJapam, and he advices all of his devotees to recite various names of Lord Rama for several times in their life time, since the great guru considers Rama NamaJapam as equivalent to drinking the Divine nectar from the heaven (RAMANAMAMRUDHAM).
Venkanna ( 16th century) was an ardent devotee of Guru Raghavendra, who served as a minister of Adoni, under the Nawab Sidhi Masood Khan, and helped the great Guru towards building his Jeeva Samadhi at Mantralayam, Andhra Pradesh.
The young boy Venkanna lived in a village at Adoni, Andhra Pradesh, along with his uncle, since he has lost his parents.His uncle didn’t send him to school, and made him to graze the cattle. Once when he was playing with the boys in the streets, Guru Raghavendra visited Adoni, and the boy worshipped him. The great guru blessed him, and asked him to meditate him by chanting his mantra “OM SRI RAGHAVENDRAYA NAMAHA” during the time of difficult situations. After some time,a representative of the Sultan came to Adoniand asked Venkanna to read the messages written in palm leaves. Since Venkanna was an illiterate, he was unable to read the text, and was very much worried, and prayed to Guru Raghavendra by chanting his mantra. Immediately, he could able to read the things written in the palm leaves. And he informed the details to the Sultan’s representative. Since he conveyed the message in favour of Sultan, the messenger immediately informed it to him. The next day, the Sultan has appointed Venkanna as the Diwan of Adoni. Thus by the divine grace of Guru Raghavendra, the illiterate boy became a Diwan.
Diwan Venkanna later played a very important role in obtaining the holy place Manchala, as per the wish of Guru Raghavendra, where the Guru entered Jeeva Samadhi. The place is now known as Mantralaya, situated in Andhra Pradesh, where the MoolaBrindavana of Guru Raghavendra is located. Daily Lot of people visit this holy place and getting the blessings of Guru Raghavendra, and by the grace of the divine guru, they are getting relieved from their problems.
Let us taste some of the beautiful songs sung by Sri Venkanna in praise of his Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy:
The wonderful Guru Raghavendra,would makes us to easily cross the ocean of life, would remove the worldly illusions and destroy the worst enemies like lust, anger and greed, he is very much attached with the “God of Seven Hills”, Sri Venkateswara, and he is very much interested to remove our bad karmas.
The great Guru Raghavendra would give us a better life, he would never differentiates his devotees by considering their status, he acts as an affectionate mother to the orphaned children, and he increases his spiritual powers day by day, by keep on doing meditation at his holy abode, the beautiful Mantralayam.
Sri Raghavendra would give us all the necessities in our life, he destroys the abundant sins into ashes for those who keep bhakti and who shows utmost faith on him. With his great mercy, Guru Raghavendra guards us like an affectionate father, and he would also remain in our soul, and would stop us in committing sins, and would make us to inculcate more and more bhakti on Lord Vishnu.
Sri Raghavendra would be very much pleased with those, who keep sincere faith on his beloved Lord Narayana, and he is considered to be the wish fulfilling tree, Kalpavriksha and the holy divine cow Kamadhenu, who would always bless his devotees.
Guru Raghavendra is a great spiritual personality, who burns our sorrows and miseries, who looks after the welfare of the devotees and he is capable of destroying the effects of the evil planetary position of his devotees, since he is the Great Bhakta Prahalada, who was reborn as Guru Raghavendra.
Guru Raghavendra is pure, pious and perfect, and he doesn’t contain any badness, he is a great “PUNYASALI”, Saint containing lot of good karmas. He is the one, who is capable of adding sweetness in our lives, and he is having the sufficient powers even to grant salvation to us.And his greatness can be full known only by those who believe him sincerely with utmost faith and devotion.
Guru Raghavendra would grant us good children, wealth, devotion and health and he would kill all of our diseases, and would make us to travel in the correct direction in our life journey. Guru Raghavendra is a holy saint, who can be compared with the holy mother Ganges River, and those who fall at his feet, would get the benefit of bathing in the Holy Ganges River. We can get fulfilled all of our desires, by surrendering at his holy feet, and he would give us good peace of mind forever in our life.
Just by applying the holy dust from his feet on our head would washes all of our sins, and by reading his marvellous divine works, we would feel as if we are reading the holy book Srimad Bhagavatham, and those who falls at his lotus like feet, would be freed from their sins and diseases, and would become pure and pious.
Guru Raghavendra is a great saint who has propagated very nicely about the principles of our Holy Guru Sri Madhwacharya, and he has won in the debates held with great scholars, and he contains Vedic knowledge equivalent to the Divine Gurus, Sri Brihaspati and Sri Sukracharya.
Guru Raghavendra is a great saint who takes away our fear, and he would give us good wisdom, courage, name and fame, and he would keep increasing our good karmas by making us to engage in doing only good activities. Guru Raghavendra cannot be compared with anyone, since he is a special saint who has been specially created and sent by Lord Brahma to the earth, to heal the depressed and the suppressed souls and by removing the pain on their body and soul.
Guru Raghavendra is a blessed Guru Who has directly seen Lord Vishnu, Who has discarded all of our bad desires, And he is the one who grants our desires, based on our faith. Guru Raghavendra, would never curse anybody, since he didn’t know how to curse, but would always bless even those who don’t keep faith on him.
Guru Raghavendra, would remove ignorance, and would give good memory power, and he would strengthen our body organs, by praying to his beloved god Vishnu.
Guru Raghavendra’s powerful mantra is “Om Sri RaghavendrayaNamah”, and those who sincerely and faithfully recite this mantra regularly, would get fulfilment in their life, and their life would go more stronger than ever before.
Guru Raghavendra is doing meditation on Lord Rama continuously for hundreds of years, from his holy abode Mantralayam, and he is doing that, only for our welfare. The great Guru is free from worldly bondages and sins, and he can be compared with the great Sages like Vasishta and Viswamitra, and his name and fame would never diminish even after the end of this Kaliyuga.
Guru RaghavendraSwamy is a walking saint of Mantralayam. Though he appears in a Samadhi state at Mantralayam, but in order to clear off the problems of his devotees, he used to take any other form and would walk to the places of his devotees in order to sort out their problems even if they stay at any corner of the world. Once he appeared in front of his devotee, when his devotee was admitted in a mortuary at America, and removed his heart problems by gently pressing his hands on his chest.
In another incident, a Mimicry artist from Karnataka visited Japan in order to perform his shows in front of the large public gathering, mistakenly he entered in a remote jungle area, and since he travelled for a long distance, he felt tired and hungry and slept in the floor. During the midnight, one elder Japan citizen appeared in front of him, welcomed him to his hut, gave fruits and milk to him, and after he had relieved from hunger and quenched his thirst, when he turned his head to thank the gentleman, to his surprise, he didn’t found him.
The devotee of Guru Raghavendra strongly believes that the aged person was none other than his beloved Guru Raghavendra, and after returning to Karnataka, immediately, he went to Mantralayam, and narrated the exciting incident to the then pontiff of Mantralayam with joyful tears on his eyes. Likewise, once Guru Raghavendra had even appeared in the form of a nurse to his devotee, and helped her during the time of her pregnancy like an affectionate mother. He had removed the diseases of his devotees from their body, and gives good knowledge, courage and wisdom to them, in order to run their life successfully.
Still, Guru Raghavendra is performing lot of miracles in the lives of his devotees, and there is no end for it. Though the devotees might have read the life history of Guru Raghavendra and keep chanting his Mantras, in addition to that, if they chant the 108 names of Guru Raghavendra, then they would be blessed more and more by the great Guru Sri Raghavendra.
GURU RAGHAVENDRA SWAMY NAMAVALI
1. Om Sri SanguKarnaDevayanamah
2. Om Sri Ragavendrayanamaha
3. Om Sri Sakalapradatrenamaha
4. Om Sri BhaktaPrahaladarenamaha
5. Om Sri Vyasarajayanamaha
6. Om Sri HaripadaVintharanamaha
7. Om Sri Devasvabavayanamaha
8. Om Sri Divijadrumayanamah
9. Om Sri Ishtapradatrenamah
10. Om Sri Bavasvarupayanamah
11. Om Sri MadhwaSironmaniyenamah
12. Om Sri Sukadhairyasalinenamah
13. Om Sri AnugrahaMurthiyenamah
14. Om Sri Vishnu PriyayaNamah
15. Om Parimalacharyarenamah
16. Om Sri Moola Rama Priyayanamah
17. Om ParamaPanditharenamah
18. Om Brahma Swarupayanamah
19. Om Sri DevathiDevarenamah
20. Om Sri BrahmandaNayakaNamaha
21. Om SamasthaGunatheesareNamah
22. Om Sri KalpaVriskshayanamah
23. Om Sri Kamadhenuvenamah
24. Om Koti Surya JothiRoopayaNamah
25. Om Guru Brihaspatiyenamah
26. Om Sri Poorna Chandra prakasayanamah
27. Om Sri BahlikaRajaveNamaha
28. Om Sri Hanuman PriyaneNamaha
29. Om Sri Vishnu RoopayaNamaha
30. Om Sri IndradiDevaneNamaha
31. Om Sri Agni RoopayaNamaha
32. Om Sri VaraputrakayaNamah
33. Om Sri Yatirajarenamah
34. Om Sri Guravenamah
35. Om Sri Bayapahayanamah
36. Om Sri punyavardhanayanamah
37. Om Sri NarsimhaPriyayanamah
38. Om Sri SarvaMangalaNayakareNamaha
39. Om Sri ParamaBhagavathanenamah
40. Om Sri MritikaRoopayanamah
41. Om Sri KashayaVastraPriyayaNamaha
42. Om Sri Dayadakshinyanamah
43. Om Sri Guru Anugrahayanamah
44. Om Sri VeenaVidhwaneNamaha
45. Om Sri Yoga Nithrayanamah
46. Om SarvaDoshaNivaranayanamah
47. Om Sri Sarvapumarthapradatrenamah
48. Om Sri Sarveshtapradatrenamah
49. Om Sri Agamyamahimnenamah
50. Om Sri mahayasasenamah
51. Om Sri madhvamataMamaniyenamah
52. Om Sri Anagaya, Athiunnadayanamah
53. Om Sri Pradakshinapriyanenamah
54. Om Sri sirodharanasarvatirthayanamah
55. Om Sri karanasarvabishtadatrenamah
56. Om Sri samkirtanenanamah
57. Om Sri samsaramagnanamah
58. Om Sri kushtadiroganivartakayanamah
59. Om Sri Amdhadivyadrushtidatrenamah
60. Om Sri edamukapradatrenamah
61. Om Sri purnayuhpradatrenamah
62. Om Sri Purnasampattidatrenamah
63. Om Sri kukshigatasarvadoshagnenamah
64. Om Sri pamgukamvadatrenamah
65. Om Sri butapretapisachadinamah
66. Om Sri dipasamyojanadnamah
67. Om Sri divyajvardhanayanamah
68. Om Sri sarvabishtadayanamah
69. Om Sri mahavyasanamah
70. Om Sri samruddidayanamah
71. Om Sri kurmasanasthitayanamah
72. Om Sri kadyatapayanamah
73. Om Sri ramamanasayanamah
74. Om Sri Dhrutakashayavasanayanamah
75. Om Sri Tulasiharavakshaseyanamah
76. Om Sri Dordamdavirajitayanamah
77. Om Sri Mudrakshamambujayanamah
78. Om Sri yogemudrajayanamah
79. Om Sri papadripatanavajrayanamah
80. Om Sri kshamasuraganadhisayanamah
81. Om Sri harisevabdhanamah
82. Om Sri tatvapradarsakayanamah
83. Om Sri ishtapradananamah
84. Om Sri srutyarthabodhakayanamah
85. Om Sri bavyakrutenamah
86. Om Sri bahuvadivijayinenamah
87. Om Sri punyavardhananamah
88. Om Sri dyunaditatulyasadgunayanamah
89. Om Sri Nijamurtipradarsakayanamah
90. Om Sri jagadguravenamah
91. Om Sri krupanidhayenamah
92. Om Sri sarvasastravisaradayanamah
93. Om Sri nikilemdriyadoshagnenamah
94. Om Sri ashtaksharamanuditayanamah
95. Om Sri sarvasaukyakrutenamah
96. Om Sri mrutapotapranadatrenamah
97. Om Sri vedisthapurutojjivinenamah
98. Om Sri vahnisthamalikoddhartrenamah
99. Om Sri samagratikavyakyatrenamah
100. Om Sri battasamgrahakrutenamah
101. Om Sri sudhaparimaloddhartrenamah
102. Om Sri apasmarapahartrenamah
103. Om Sri upanishatkamdarthakrutenamah
104. Om Sri rugvyakyananamah
105. Om Sri mamtralayanivasinenamah
106. Om Sri nyayamuktavalikartrenamah
107. Om Sri chamdrikavyakyakartrenamah
108. Om Sri sutamtradipikakartrenamah
“OM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR