యతిరాణ్ణరసి౦హ సరస్వతయే||గురు వల్లభ హృత్కతయే నతయః||

                                 ప్రభు దత్త గురు౦ మనసా కలయే||గురు రాజ దయామృత పానధియా||

YATHIRAANNARASIMHA  SARASWATHAYE || GURU VALLABHA HRUTKATHAYE NATHAYAHA||

PRABHU DATTA GURUM MANASAA KALAYE|| GURURAJA DAYAAMRUTHA PAANADHIYAA||

 

There are millions of Hindus living around  the world and many of them know Lord Dattatreya. But, still some people may not  know about  one among dattatreya incarnations who is showing unexplainable miracles and fulfilling the desires of his servants. He is none other than the great great  Yatheeswara Sri Sri Sri Nrusimha saraswathi swamy Maharaj.  By hearing or by having a thought of his name   itself creates  divine vibrations. The role of Shree Nrusimha Saraswathy Swamy was to show real path to worldly people in general. Nrusimha saraswathi (13th century) is the second reincarnation of Lord  Dattatreya. Nrusimha saraswathi Swamy performed penance in Gangapur under a holy Audumbar near Bheema and Amaraja river intersection (Sangam). We can still see the powerful audumbar tree at sangam. The Dattavatar Nrusimha Saraswathi  enlightened the devotional light in Hindu people during his time. Still lots of people are visiting the Nirguna padukas of Sriguru Nrusimha Saraswathy  at the Temple.

For Many people who  are suffering with the evil spirit influence , Ganagapur temple is one of the popular places for treating Evil, bad spirits. Those people get treatment and can get rid of bad spirits at Ganagapur temple. The temple has Nirguna padukas so called as Nirgun math too. Evil spirits runs away from human body  with the powerful positive vibrations of Lord Dattatreya and Nrusimha saraswathi swami padukas. There are many proofs of such kind of  successful cases. Main deity of Ganagapur temple (Nirguna Math) is Dattatreya Swami also famous as GURU Swarup. The major importance of the temple is Padukas (Shoes) of Sri Nrusimha saraswati Swamy  kept aside in the temple itself. It is believed that by visiting golden nirguna padukas we can get rid of bad signs. Ganagapur temple is also famous for getting rid of black magic powers influenced on humans. If one goes to  Ganagapur today, one finds numerous people coming there to get redress of their worries of life.  Some are possessed and some are childless. Some suffer from disease and others from struggle of life. All of them come and get relief here. Ganagapur is considered as the chief Seat of Shri Guru Dattatreya who is ever ready to bestow blessings on the active devotees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                    Where ‘evil spirits’ are ‘exorcised’ Published: 27th June 2011, Karnataka.

Dattatreya Temple in Ganagapur town of Afzalpur taluk is where people bring their friends/relatives who, they believe, are possessed by evil spirits. People believe that on full moon and no moon days, the demons are exorcised with the blessings of Sri Narasimha Saraswati (who is believed to be incarnation of Lord Dattatreya). The belief draws many people to the temple with a hope that their problems will be cured. Mental health experts disapprove. But the show goes on, every full moon day and no moon day.

On these days, the process of Maha Mangalaratri starts at around 12.00 noon. Those “possessed” by evil spirits start yelling, howling, screaming and making different kind of loud, confused noises. Some start weeping. Some start rolling on the ground. Some curse Lord Dattatreya (people believe it is the spirit that is being exorcised that hurls out the curses). Some “possessed” people even climb to the poles on a platform that the temple authorities have built. Commotion prevails. Then the “affected persons” collapse at the entrance of the temple in a semi-conscious state. It takes around 15-20 minutes for them to get back to their normal state.

Shri Narasimha Saraswati (Nrusimha Saraswati) Swamy (henceforth referred as Shri Guru)  is considered as  the second Avatar of Shri Dattatreya. The only way we know about his life is through the remarkable and most influential book in Marathi literature, Sri Guru Charitra written by Shri Saraswathi Gangadhar, one of the most talented poet and philosopher ever known in Marathi literature. Shri Narasimha Saraswati is considered as a powerful Guru by the  Datta-Sampradaya people. His life story as given in Sri Guru Charitra is read and followed by hundreds of thousands of devotees.
Nrusimha Saraswathy’s original name was Narahari or Shalgramdev that was kept at the beginning. His father’s name is Madhav and mother’s name is Amba-Bhavani. They lived at Karanjapur which is modern Karanja in Maharashtra. His surname was Kale. He was born in a Deshastha Brahmin family.  At Lad-Karanja there is still the original house where he was born. Although the house is no longer in the original shape, but still some parts remain and have been converted in to a temple. After he was born the first words he said were OM which were considered very holy. However, till he was 7 he did not utter any other word other than OM, so his parents were worried about his speeking ability. However, he showed by hand gestures that after his Upanayana (Munja) he will be able to speak. In fact after his munja was performed he was able to speak all the vedas and even started delivering lectures on it. This was remarkable for a 7 year old kid and many senior learned Brahmins in the village started coming to him for learning!

He left home and went for Kashi-pilgrimage and took Sannyasa at Kashi from Shri Krishna Saraswati.  The study of his life and life events have put his time to be from 1378AD to 1458AD when he took Samadhi in Kardali-van (Jungle of Kardali trees of Srisailam). The only documented source of his life is considered to be Sri Guru Charitra. The writer of this book did not have direct contact with Shri Guru, but possibly had the original Sanskrit version of the Guru-charitra in front of him written by one of the four disciples of Shri Guru. The disciple is Shri Siddha. The whole book is written as a conversation between a disciple Namdharak and Siddha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shri Narasimha Saraswati comes from the tradition of Shringeri Mutt. Jagatguru Shri Adi Shankaracharya also comes from this same tradition. The guru-lineage is as follows: Shankar – Vishnu – Bramha – Vasishtha – Parashar – Vyas – Shuka – Gaudpadacharya – Govindacharya – Shankaracharya – Vishwarupacharya – Nityabodhghanacharya – Dnyanaghanacharya – Dnyanamottamacharya – Dnyanagiri – Simhagiri – Ishwartirtha – Narasimhatirtha – Vidyatirtha – Vidyaranya – Vidyatirthasaraswati – Malayanandasaraswati – Devatirtha Saraswati – Yadavendra Saraswati – Krishna Saraswati -Narasimha Saraswati.

Shri Vidyaranyasaraswati ( 1295-1386) was the head of the Shringeri math from 1380 to 1386. Although there are several names in between Shri Narasimha Saraswati and him, one must remember that it is not necessary that the subsequent successors to the Shringeri Peetham(throne) were young, as the age of the disciple could be more than his guru. In fact Shri Sayamdev and his son Nagnath (forefathers of Shri Saraswathy Gangadhar) both were disciples of Shri Narasimha Saraswati contemporaneously.  Shri Narasimha Saraswati’s love of music possibly comes as a tradition from Shri Vidyaranya to Shri Narasimha Saraswati. Shri Vidyaranya was very fond of music.

               His Disciple Tradition (Shishya Parampara)

Shri Narasimha Saraswati had several disciples which are described in Shri GuruCharitra already. The first and most favourite one was Shri Madhav Saraswati from Prayag. At that time he also had Bal-Saraswati, Krishna Saraswati, Upendra Saraswati, Sadananda Saraswati, Dnyanajyoti Saraswati and Siddha Saraswati as his six other disciples. This Siddha Saraswati stayed with Shri Narasimha Saraswati all the time and is possibly the original writer of Sanskrit GuruCharitra which must have been later translated to Marathi by Shri Saraswati Gangadhar. Among the last 4 disciples who were present when Shri Narasimha Saraswati took “NIJAANANDAGAMAN” (a type of samadhi), Siddha Saraswati was the only Sanyasi disciple of Shri Narasimha Saraswati and the other 3 were family men. It appears that this Madhava Saraswati’s tradition is more popular in Maharashtra. The final disciple tradition is: Shri Narasimha Saraswati – Madhavendra Saraswati – Amritendra Saraswati (Amritananda) -Gaganendra Saraswati – Madhavendra Saraswati (Madhav Saraswati). After Madhav Saraswati the tradition splits in to two branches:
Eknath – Shrikrishna – Bramhadas.
Vitthal Saraswati – Ambika Saraswati – Amrit.

Shri Narasimha Saraswati lived from Shaka 1300 to Shaka 1380 as per most of the scholars. The main events of his life are given below with the possible years and dates are fixed as per the description of the lunar and stellar events calendar mentioned in Shri GuruCharitra.

Sha.1300 (1378 CE) : Birth
Sha.1307 (1385 CE) : Upanayan
Sha.1308 (1386 CE) : Left his home
Sha.1310 (1388 CE) : Took Sanyas
Sha.1338 (1416 CE) : Arrival back home at Lad-Karanja
Sha.1340 (1418 CE) : Gautami-Tatak-Yatra गौतमी तटाक यात्रा (travel along the banks of river Gautami)
Sha.1342 (1420 CE) : Stay at Parali-Vaijanath परळी-वैजनाथ
Sha.1343 (1421 CE) : Stay at Audumbar औदुंबर (near Bhilavadi)
Sha.1344-1356 (1422 CE-1434 CE) : Stay at Narasoba Wadi alias Narasimhapur
Sha.1357-1380 (1435 CE-1458 CE) : Stay at Ganagapur गाणगापूर
Sha.1380 (14 January 1459 CE) : Nijanandagaman निजानंदगमन at ShriShaila श्रीशैल Mountain

 

The second part of his name comes from this guru, who eventually named him Shri Narasimha Saraswati. This is a Sanskrit name. Now he became the Guru. After visiting several holy places he returned back to Karanja, met his parents. He was possibly of age 30years that time. After that he further visited various places and finally settled in Ganagapur (now in State Karnataka) for the last few decades of his life. All of this is reported in Shri GuruCharitra.

One of the most important event in his life (towards the end) was the meeting with the Muslim king (Sultan) of Bidar who is possibly Allauddin-II of the Bahamani Sultanate who was ruling that area at that time. These rulers were different from the Delhi Mughals and there were four such states which were existing that time. Many times “chahu rashtra” term occurring in Shri GuruCharitra possibly points to this. The king visited Shri Guru because he was suffering from a blister which was uncured. No one was able to treat it, so he was advised to visit Shri Guru, and after visiting him the king was cured.

The work of Shri Guru has to be seen in the context of the time he was born and social turmoil the society was facing that time.   The brahmins of this time had started working for the new rulers and are losing all the past traditions. The revival of the Sanatan Dharma (the old Hindu Religion, as revived by Jagatguru Shri Adi Shankaracharya) is to be revived again. The main teaching of Shri Guru has been that the life of Brahmins is fully covered by the rules given in the old scriptures and they are to be strictly followed by them in their daily lives to achieve happiness and ultimately moksha (the final attainment of soul where the soul is liberated from the cycle of rebirths). He insisted on his disciples to follow these routines. This improved their confidence and self esteem which was very essential at the time the attack of a foreign culture on India. This feeling penetrated through the generations, gave a special sense of self esteem and pride which eventually resulted in the coming up of the fighters like King Shivaji and Peshwas in later years in Maharashtra.
Shri Guru helped all the people from all the communities and can be seen in his life stories. After the meeting with the Muslim king, he thought that his fame has gone to such an extent that now all types of people started  coming in, and will start troubling him and his disciples. Thus he decided to take samadhi. He left for the jungle of Kardali (a type of tree).

MIRACLES ASSOCIATED WITH SRI GURU:

The Audumbar tree which sprang up out of a dried stick by the grace of Sri Guru is still there at Sri Ganagapur Sangam and is being worshipped by devotees even today. The dried stick came to life when Sri Guru sprinkled a small amount of mantra jala from His kamandulu on it. He did that to bless and protect Narahari, who was worshipping it with great Sraddha, with full faith in Sri Guru’s instructions. Sree Guru was pleased with the above Stotra and blessed Narahari with  “Vidya Saraswati” mantropadesa. Behind each and every miracle of associated with the name Sri Nrusimha saraswathy swamy, one thing was emphasized that the pleasures and pains of life are inevitable and are of no value but only the real value lies in attaining the ultimate goal of life, self-realisation, the final emancipation.  The self alone is real and all actions are meant for  purifying the mind.

1. Brahmin’s Colic pain subsided-Shree Gurucharitra-Chpater 13
2. A dull Brahmin boy becomes learned-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 17
3. A poor Brahmin gets wealth-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 18
4. Ganganuj’s poverty wiped off-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 19
5. A brahmani relieved from Brahmahatya and gets issues-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 20
6. The dead child became alive-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 21
7. An old, barren buffalo gives milk-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter22
8. Harijan becomes A learned Brahmin-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 27
9. Dead husband made alive-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 32
10. Four thousand fed with food of 3 seers only-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 38
11. 60years old sterile woman begets children-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter39
12. Leper Brahmin cured-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 40
13. Nandi Brahmin became a poet-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 44
14. Prabati had bumper crops even in scarcity-Shree Gurucharitra-Chapter 47

Though Shri guru disappeared still he gives Darshan to his sincere devotees as before. By analyzing the miracles of Shree Guru, one can easily come to a conclusion that, Shree Guru can do anything. With the blessings of Shree Guru, one can chase any constraints in one’s life. He is the only one who can adjust the future birth life to current birth, 60 years old sterile woman begets children and old Barren buffalo gives milk and so on… Hence, the scriptures are clearly telling that GURU  is more powerful than GOD. One can get  both the benefits by praying Shreeguru as he is Guru avathara and also Avathara of Lord Dattatreya(GOD).

SPECIAL MESSAGE OF SHREE GURU   ” PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE ” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These words are appearing in the Shreegurucharitra.   At the time of taking permission for Sanyaasa deeksha by Shreeguru (Sri Nrusimha saraswathy swamy) from his mother, she objected for sanyaasa deeksha. Then Shreeguru narrated the philosophy of life as follows…..

ANITYAANI SHAREERAANI NAIVA SHAASHWATHAHA| |

NITHYAM SANNIHITO MRITYUHU||  KARTHAVYO DHARMA SANGRAHA||

Meaning: The body and its glory are not immortal. Death approaches every day.   Keeping this in mind, one should be duty bound  to perform a wealth of good deeds.

He told  to his mother: “if one is blessed with a very long life, it can be divided into four stages. In the previous yugas where people lived longer than those in this Kali Yuga and they spent one’s life in the prescribed four stages was possible.  The scriptures say that a man has to go through life in four stages which are called as “CHATHURDHA ASHRAMA”.

The first 12 years to be spent is celibacy i.e., Brahmacharya, then one should get married and perform the duties of a grihastha i.e., householder. He should then go to the forest and perform penance in the Vaanaprasthaashrama stage and lastly one should relinquish his worldly possessions and take sanyaasa.

But in this Kali yuga, one’s life is short. So, one should do good deeds when the body is still strong. Of course, one can always aim to do good later, but, day and night, every minute, one’s life on earth becomes shorter and in the end there may not be time left to perform good deeds. So, one must amass punya (good karma)while he is strong and healthy. O! Mother!, when it rains the branches are drenched. But the drops of water do not stay for long on the leaves. Likewise when one is young and healthy, life seems to stretch ahead for years. But youth is a short span of life and death is a co- passenger in our journey of life.

So, one should begin accumulating punya as soon as he can. Like a money-lender who calculates his interest in days, Yama, the lord of death, counts the days of one’s life. The water from the rain clouds go to the rivers which flow into the ocean. But the ocean can’t make the water flow back into the rivers.  Similarily, once youth matures into old age, one can never return to the past. Indeed you may consider that day on which you have not done any good deed (punya karma) as a day wasted.  Wife, children, wealth and property, like the human body are not permanent.  Like a crocodile that approaches its victim, old age creeps on us without any warning.

So, one should remember this and amass as much punya as one can whilst one is in his youth.  O mother! thus we have no control over life and the ageing process. Life is like the jasmine flower that wafts its fragrance afar but withers in a short while”. By telling all this philosophy, he took the permission from his mother and Shreeguru left for piligrimage.

 

                   GANGAA PAAPAM SHASHI THAAPAM|| DAINYAM KALAPTHARUMSTHATHAA ||

                 PAAPAM THAAPANCHA DAINYAM||  HARE CHHRIGURU DARSHANAM ||

Meaning: The Guru cleanses one’s  sins. The moonlight soothes one on a fiery summer’s day. But a mere sight of Shreeguru will rid one’s  sins, heat, exhaustion and poverty.

 

By surrendering at his Lotus feet,  Praying  Shriguru  to  give us   not only the unstinting faith on him but also opportunity & energy to do more and more service to him.

 

 

                    :: AVADHOOTHA CHINTHANA SHREE GURU DEVA DATTA ::