!!! Brief history of Sri 1008 Satyadhyana Teertha Sripadangalavaru !!!

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|| Shrisho Vijayate

||

|| Sri

Gurubhyonamaha ||

||Sri 1008 Srimad

Anandatirtha Bhagavatpadacharya Gurubhyonamaha ||

|| Sri 1008 Satyadhyana Teertha Gurubhyonamaha ||

 

Brief history of Sri

1008 Satyadhyana Teertha Sripadangalavaru

 

On the occasion of

Sri 1008 Satyadhyana Teerthara Aradhane I take this

oppurtunity in translating a small article from Sri Dwaitasiddantha Kesari

Magazine which use to get published from Pune in Marathi very long back.

About 40 miles from

Miraj there is a small village by name Chikkodi. In this very pavitra bhumi Sri

Satyadhyana Teertha Sripada birth took place. His

Holiness Poorvasharama name was Sri Seturamacharya Korlahalli. Korlahalli

Gharanas was so fortunate to have produced 3 peethadhipatis for Sri

Uttaradimatha and got the honor of doing nitya pooja of Sri Moola / Digvijaya

Rama devara pooje for years together. In this great family with Bhagavat

Anugraha Sri Satyadhyana Teertharu birth took place.

He was born on Poushya Shuddha sasthi Shake 1792 according to Hindu Almanac. His

father was none other than Sri Jayaramacharya (Poorvashrama name of Sri

Satyadheera Theertharu) and his mothers name was Smt Krishnabai. Before him Sri

Jayaramacharya was blessed with 3 daughters and one son. Sri Seturamacharyas

elder brothers name was Sri Raghavendracharya and after him Sri Seturamacharya

was born after four years. Sri Raghavendracharya died at the tender age of 10

years after completion of his upanayana sanskara.Sri Seturamacharya was not

keeping well in his early days and due to which his father use to give more

attention towards him and also he was one of the dearest child of him. Even

then no compromise was made towards his early education. His early Shastra

adhyayana was done in Chikkodi itself at his father's lotus feet. As per tradition

and rituals he was married at the age of 16 years. He was married to daughter

of Sri Srinivasacharya Datar of Athani. His wife's name was Smt

Savitribai.

At this time the Sri

Uttaradimath's peethadhipati was Sri Satyaveera Teertha Sripadangalavaru (his

poorvashrama name was Sri Bodharayacharya and he belong to the same Korlahalli

gharana). Sri Satyaveera Teertha Sripad's name was written in golden words in

the history of Sri Uttaradimatha as he was the one who brought back the pomp

and gaiety of the matha from the clutches of the witty shishyas who tried to

sell off the Math's property. The situation was so worst that some vested

interests in the math were on the verge of selling all valuables and was

bringing bad name to the Sri Matha. It was very peculiar situation for preset

Swamiji and he handled this situation very sensitively by taking everything

into his hands and saved the name of the Matha. That's the reason Sri

Satyaveera Teertha Sripadangalavarus name is written in golden words in the history

of Matha.

The same Sri

Satyaveeratheertha Sripadaru gave sanyas diksha to Sri Seturamacharyas Father

in Shake 1808 and gave him the name of Sri Satyadheera Teertharu. After this

Sri Seturamacharya started staying along with his family in the Sri Matha

itself.

After seeing his

father sitting on the Sri Peetha once Sri Seturamacharya had a thought that can

he be ordained the soubhagya of doing Sri Moola Rama Devara pooje? Sri

Satyadheera Teertharu immediately found what's going on in his poorvashrama son's

mind. He sent him for further studies to Surpur and asked Sri Ramacharya

Rangampet to take care of him and asked him to learn all Shastra Patha from the

great pundit.

Sri Seturamacharya

was not an ordinary student. He was very intelligent and sharp in studies. His

guru was surprised to see that he use to understand everything only in one go.

Duplication was no required at all with this student amongst all others. After

learning Nyaya at his gurus feet he started studying Madhva Shastra on his own.

After that he did his Sudha Mangala with Sri Satyadheera Theertha

Sripadangalavaru. He then completed Nyayamruta, Tarangini, Chandrika etc etc at

the place of Sri Sridharcharya Talvalkar. Sri Sridharacharya Talvalkar was one

of the greatest Vidwan from Maharastra in those days.

After

completing all veda abhyasa Sri Seturamacharya was appointed as Diwan of Sri

Uttaradimatha. The Diwans responsibility was very much of importance in those

days as he has to take care of all belongings and look after the day-today activities

of Matha. There were more witty people who wanted to tarnish the image of

Matha. Thus his responsibility as Diwan was very important. He was responsible

to take care of Shihyas, belongings of Matha and also at the same time the

Keerti of matha needs to be maintained intact. This was very tough in those

days. Because those who were there at the time of Sri Satyaveera Theertha were

still present and tried to tarnish the image of Sri Matha. Keeping In view all

this Sri Satyadheera Teertha appointed Sri Seturamacharya as Diwan of the

matha.

Even though he was

Diwan of the Matha he use to teach Patha/Pravachane to Sri Matha Shishyas. He

has the distinction of producing many vidwans in his age. Most of them from

Maharastra / Karnataka was his shishyas. After he took over the Diwan of Sri

Uttaradimatha he took care of vidwans and made all arrangements for their

stay/food/education. He use to conduct vidwat sabhas for the benefit of

vidwans, use to do daily anna santarpane. He has spent lakhs of ruppes for the

benefit of people and also supported many families through Sri Matha.

After Sri

Satyadheera Teertha Sripadangalavaru enterd vrindavana Sri Satyajyana Teertha

Sripdadangalavaru took over the pontificate of Sri Uttaradimatha. Sri

Satyajnana Teertha did all his formal education with Sri Seturamacharya. He was

the Vidya guru of the pontiff. Even during his period Sri Seturamacharya was

diwan of the Matha. Later he has given Sanyasa Dikha to Sri Seturamacharya on

Paushya Vadya Dasahami Shake 1833 and conducted a grand Pattabhisheka and named

him Sri Satyadhyana Teertharu. At that time Sri Satyadhyana Teertha has donated all his estate estimated

around Rupees Three Lakhs (valuation in that period) to Sri Uttaradhimatha.

Sri Satyadhyana Teerhta has traveled allover India and own over

many advaiti pundits. It is difficult to write all his digvijaya karyakrama.

Some of the most important events of his pontificate have been described in the

further paragraphs.

Sripads Digvijaya

After completing

Mahasamaradhane at Rajamahendry Sri Satyadhyana

Teertharu left for Kashi. In between he halted at many places and did prachara

and won over many pundits in debate and proved that Srimadacharyas Shastra is

the only correct shastra. He gave many shastra pramana to prove the same and

many people have accepted defeat at his lotus feet. Such was his knowledge in

our great shastra. Later he reached Gaya. There use to live a great advaiti

pundit by name " Sri Chandrasekhara Bhatt " . He has invited Swamiji for

a debate and swamiji accepting that has entered into a debate at the famous

place called Akshaya Vatika. There he won against him and Sri Chandrasekhara

Bhatta accepted his defeat and prostrated in front of Swamiji. Later he

proceeded to Kashi. There also he defeated many people and given them Vaishnava

Diksha. Kashi is famous for Vidwan people and Viddwatta. It is suppose to be

the home ground for many pundits. There he happens to discuss many issues with

Mahamahopadyada pundits of that time. Some of them are Sri Jayadev Mishra, Sri

Vamanacharana Bhatta, Sri Shivakumara Shastri. Later they sent a message to

Swamiji to come for a Debate.

They put some

conditions when they meet Swamiji. If all these are accepted then only they

agreed to come for a debate. Some of the conditions are.

 

·We will not prostrate in front of Swamiji

·We will sit on a chair/asana in front of

Swamiji

Later Swamiji

informed them if you come and prostrate to me for sake of doing so then it's of

no use. He invited them by accepting all their conditions and asked them to sit

in front of him on a chair as per their conditions. By saying so he defeated

all vidwans in the debate. The debate use to start daily at 4:00 pm and use to

end at 8:00 pm. Later in this debate also he defeated all pundits and made them

prostrate in front of him. Later they became so ashamed and accepted their

defeat.

There are many more

which cannot be translated in one go. Some of them are.

·Swamijis honor at Reva Sansthana

·Debate with Sri Lokmanya Tilak

·Vidwat Sabha at Pune and many more….

With this I also

take an opportunity to give a brief introduction about my Late Grandfather

Pratha Smaraniya Vaikunthavasi Sri Dadacharya Kale. My grandfather was most

popular by name Dadacharya Kale, where as his actual name was Sri Balkrishna

Kale (I am named after him). I am writing about him because he was direct

Shishya of Sri Satyadhyana Teertha Sripadangalavaru.

My grand father was born in a small village called Nilanga in present Latur

District. The village was named Nilanga because of a great Prachina

Nilakantheshwara Swamy Temple, which is in middle of the Village. My

grandfather completed all his basic education there and later shifted to

Hyderabad. He did adhyayana of all 37 Granthas of Sri Madhva Charya and was a

Sudha pundit. He use to give Bhagvata Pravachane from the tender age of 15

years. He was fortunate to get calls from Swamiji for all Vidwat Sabhas and Mahasamaradhane.

He was also counted in the main Paramashishyas of Swamiji. Today also our

family and we are recognized as son and grand son of Dadacharya Kale. I am very

fortunate to have been born in such a great family. In fact our house was name

after Swamiji as " Satyadhyana Kutir " which

use to impress Sri Satyapramod Teertha Sripadaru. He always uses to first read

the nameplate before entering our house for padapooje. There are many grate

pundits of that time who have been asked by Swamiji to be examined by him. Some

of them are Sri Guttal Rangacharya (poorvashrama father of present Uttaradi

Matha Peethadhipathi Sri 1008 Satyatma Teertha Swamiji). When Sri Pt. Guttal

Acharya was here in Hyderabad he was happy to meet us and he himself informed

us that my grandfather has examined him in Mani Manjari. Recently when Sri Vishvesha

Teerhta Swamiji visited Hyderabad he was surprised to see us when we introduced

our self with his name. He met my grandfather in the year 1953 which he still

remembers. Once my garand father was invited by group of Madhva Sangha to be

honoured by none other than the that time President Of India Sri Rajendra Prasad.

He has simply rejected that becuase of negation and no permission from that

time Swamiji of Sri Uttaradi Matha. Such a great personality was he. He was

never behind publicity and always use to keep a low profile. His main aim was

to serve Sri Matha and have recognition at Swamiji. All credit goes to Sri Satyadhyana Teertharu for his kindness and Aashirwada,

which he has bestowed, on my grandfather and my family, which we are able to

feel today also.

With this I pay my

tribute to the great Saint of the times Sri Sri 1008 Satyadhyana

Teertharu. Will write more about him in my next mail.

Note : I have

translated an article from Sri Dwaitasiddhanta Kesari Marathi magazine which

use to get published from Pune. I have put in all my efforts to translate what

was printed in the magazine and understood by me. If at all anything went wrong

I take the blame on me and not on the original writer, as I may not be able to

translate and understand what was written in the book. Unfortunately there is

no author name mentioned for this article.I request all the learned members to

correct me wherever I went wrong.

!!! Sri

Bharatiramana Mukhyapranantargata Sri Krishnarpanamastu !!!

!!

Haraye Namaha !!!

 

||

Sri Gurubhyonamaha ||

||

Sri Parama Gurubhyonamaha ||

||

Srimad Anandateertha Bhagavatpadacharya Gurubhyonamaha ||

||

Sri Satyadhyana Teertha Gurubhyonamaha ||

Namaskara

Hari Bhaktarige,

Today

on occasion of Chaitra Shuddha Ekadashi (Kamada Ekadashi) I pay my tribute to

Sri Satyadhyana Teertharu by translating the Marathi

article from Sri Dwaita Siddhanta Kesari, published from Pune - Maharastra.

Continued…After Kashi Digvijaya

From

Kashi Sri Satyadhyana Teertha Swamiji has arrived in

Reva on invitation of the Sansthana king. There the king of Reva has requested

Swamiji to accept his hospitality and perform Sansthana Maha Pooja of Rama

Devaru. After that Swamiji proceeded to Madras. There Swamiji had a debate with

Sri Mahamahopadyaya Sri Hari Shastri for continuously three days. Later Sri

Shastri bowed to Swamiji and accepted his defeat.

There

use to live a Maha pundit in Kumbhakonam who belongs to Vishistha Advaita sect.

He called him self by tehname " Chatu Shastra Kalpataru

Seshacharya " . He has challenged the people there that anybody who can

debate with him on the topic " Does any Taratamya exists in Mukti or

not " . To this Swamiji has accepted his challenge and made him accept his

defeat. Before this one sadgruhasta from the village has informed him that if

you feel that you are " Chatu Shastra Kalpataru " then you

should prove this by defeating Swamiji of Uttaradimatha Sri Satyadhyana

Teertharu. This has hurted his ego and made him to challenge Swamiji. He told

the person that your Swamiji will not be able to answer my questions and will

accept defeat on this topic. All his ego was crushed and made him bow in front

of Swamiji.

Debate with Sri Lokmanya Tilak

Balgangadhar

Lokmanya Tilak wrote a book by name " GITA RAHASYA " while he

was in Mandala Jail in the year 1916. Tilak was an extraordinary intellectual

person with radical ideas. He as raised many doubts over Sri Adi

Shankaracharyas Adwaita and has refuted his philosophy. Basically he has raised

many doubts on the topic " Do any intellectual need to perform karma or

not? " . In some of the places he has also raised objections over

Acharya Madhva's philosophy and his Gita Bhashya. Dwaita Siddhanta supports

that " An intellectual needs to perform his Karma " irrespective of his

intellectuality and knowledge. Sri Tilak has ignored all these, which is

supported by Dwaita Siddhanta and made remarks against Acharya. This was

brought to the notice of Swamiji. He immediately without making any delay asked

one of his shishya Sri Anna Rao Devele a leading Lawyer of Chikkodi to write to

Tilak. Swamiji has asked him to convey to Tilak that he can make it as per his

convenience to come and discuss about the remarks what he has made in his book.

Either he can come and meet him or he was ready to make to his convenient

place. Later Tilak replied to this letter from Ahmedabad and said that he would

certainly meet His Holiness at Chikkodi. At that time Congress party was to

hold its regional meeting at Belgaum from 10th to 12th

April in the year 1917.

Tilak

reached Chikkodi after the congress party meeting at Belgaum.Several scholar's

intellectuals and eminent citizens also came to Chikkodi to meet Swamiji.

Prominent amongst them were Mahadev Paranjape, Sri Narasimha, Chintaman Kelkar,

J.C.Karandikar etc. With full respect Tilak bowed to Swamiji and after

exchanging pleasantries they started to discussion. The discussions went on for

3-4 days, but Tilak was in hurry and he was suppose to leave that place and

left the discussions in between. In their course of discussions Tilak has given

many references to what he has written in his book " GITA RAHASYA " .

Swamiji has asked him a straight and simple question and made him

quite. Swamiji said what was the necessity for Sri Krishna to give the

discourse and upadaesha to Arjuna in the battlefield. To this Swamiji told

Tilak that Lord has been always with the Dharma and he has punished those who

are against it. The battlefield was the right place for Arjuna to preach the

same and win over the Kauravas who were totally against the Dharma. To this he

asked Tilak who was the fortunate person to listen this live? Tilak was

surprised and was keep quite for some point of time. To this Swamiji again

informed him it was Kapiraja Lord Vayu in the form of Mukhyaprana Devaru who

was on the flag of Sri Krishna and Arjuna's chariot who has listened all what

has been preached by Lord Krishna to Arjuna directly. What more evidence you

want to prove that what our Acharya has written is more than correct because

our Srimadacharya himself is the third incarnation of Lord Vayu Hanuman. HE

quoted many pramanas for this. By listening all this Tilak simply was not able

to speak. He later informed Swamiji to come to Pune to take the discussion

further in leisure. Swamiji has accepted his invitation and informed him that

he will visit Pune soon. The 17th April 1917 issue of Kesari newspaper

carried a detailed report of this historic meet at Chikkodi.

Swamiji

continued with his travel and later reached Pune. Swamiji was given a rousing

welcome and taken in a procession from Rameshwar mandir to Tulasibagh Ram

mandir. Swamiji set his camp at Tulasibagh Ram Mandir. Tilak use to visit

Swamiji daily and use to discuss with him on many topics. He use to make notes

of all being discussed. He use to ask Swamiji many doubts regarding religion,

dharma, religious practices rituals etc and Swamiji use to clear all of his

doubts. Swamiji use to substantiate his stand with quotations from scriptures,

Vedas, Upanishads etc. Tilak was simply amazed at Sri Satyadhyana

Teerthas learning, his sharp intellect and his outstanding memory. Everybody

was surprised as how Swamiji convinced Tilak irrespective of knowing Marathi

language. All the discussions happened between Tillak and Swamiji use to get

published in a magazine, which use to get published by name " Madhva

Siddhantha Sudhakar " in those days.

On

Jyestha Krishnapaksha dwithiya (Thursday) an evening programme was arranged to

honor His holiness by the citizens of Pune at Anandashram. The Kesari newspaper

carried Tilak's invitation to His Holiness and names of Moreshwar, Gopal

Deskmukh, Narasimha, Chintaman Kelkar and many other prominent Punekar's were

included. A grand function was arranged for Bhiksha at Tulasi Bagh. That day

Lokmanya Tilak applied Angara Akshata and this was widely published in next

day's edition of Bhopatkar's Bhala Newspaper.

" TILAKANI KALIREKHA ANGARA AKSHATA ODHALI "

were the headlines.Which means Tilak has applied a black line called Angara and

Akshata.

Later

all present at the function praised Swamiji for his intellectual knowledge and

dynamic personality. Lokmanya Tilak spoke at the length of describing his

brilliant personality and said " If I were to study Philosophy I would

surely study under His Holiness or if he were to enter the political arena I

will definitely be his follower. Several newspapers like Kesari, Jnanaprakash,

Chitramayajagat, Bhala reported this event.

Wherever

Sri Satyadhyana Teertha went he won accolades and

captured hearts with the same ease. Such was his magnetic personality.

I

again take an opportunity to inform everybody that my Grandfather Late Sri

Dadacharya Kale was a live spectator for this grand event. Swamiji has

specially called him to be part of the discussions as he has translated some of

the discussions in Marathi to Lokmanya Tilak. We are very fortunate to be part

of this great family. Again all credit goes to Sri Satyadhyana

Teertharu for his love and affection that he has bestowed on us. We still

remember him daily before we do our Urdhvapundara Mudra Dharane before

Sandhyavandane. We are fortunate to use the Mudra, which has been given by him

to our grandfather. Swamijis Aashirwada is still felt by us today also without

which we cannot start our daily rituals as Gopichandana and Mudra dharane is

must for all of us.

I

again request the learned members to correct me wherever I went wrong. I made

and humble effort to translate the same from Marathi Magazine. I take the blame

on me for the mistakes and not the Author Late Sri Ramacharya Balacharya

Avadhani who was a great personality. All praise for him for writing so many

books and magazines regarding our Siddhantha in Marathi Language. Maharastra

and people like me cannot forget him for his contributions of his books in

Marathi. I pray Lord Sri Hari for him and end by translation here. More in my

next mail.

Reference

: Dwaita Siddhanta Kesari Marathi Magazine and Anecdotes from the life of Sri Satyadhyana Teertha by Sri Pt. Malagi Jayathirthacharya.

!!!

Bharatiramana Mukhyapranantargata Sri Krishnarpanamastu !!!

!!!

Haraye Namaha !!!