Sumadhva Vijaya 2: Dvitiya Sarga
As Tattva Jnaana was vanishing and sajjjanaru (righteous people) were deprived of Tattva Jnaana, Devathes with Chathumukha Brahma appealed to Bhagavantha to give a solution.
As Bhagavantha cannot take avatara in kali yuga and as Brahma has no avatara , Sarvothama decided to send Jeevothama Vayu Devaru to spread Tattva Jnaana in Bhuloka to benefit the sajjanas. Thus Vayu Devaru took the avatara in the form of Shri Madhva roopa in Bhuloka.
In (Rupyapitha) Udupi, Ananthasana Devaru who is Narayana himself is in the form of Linga is known as Anantheshwara. On Makara Sankranthi, a sign of the avatara of Vayu Devaru was expressed through a devotee in Udupi. By climbing the ‘dvaja stamba’ of the temple and dancing on it he proclaimed that a great soul who is a ‘sarvajna’ is going to be born shortly.
At that time a renowned Brahmin scholar by name Madhyageha Bhatta was residing in Karma Bhoomi of Bharathakhanda, Udupi. The name of the grama of that place was “Shivalli”. Madhyageha Bhatta was a very learned person. He had a great knowledge of Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharatha. Madhyageha Bhatta married a virtuous girl who resembled Veda vidye. As Kardama had Kapila roopa Shri Hari, as Parashara had Vedavyasa roopa Shri Hari, and as Pandu had Pandavas, through the grace of Lord Narayana, Madhyageha Bhat also surrendered to Lord Narayana and the couple served Lord Shri Anantheshwara for 12 years. (This is the indication of “Dwadasha Stotras offered to Shri Hari by Shri Madhvacharya). The couple made Shri Hari happy by observing difficult vruthas like payo vrutha. During Sharath kaala, Madhygeha’s wife became pregnant and only at the time of her delivery, Vayu devaru made obeisance to Lord Anantheshwara with one amsha and walked back to Madhygeha Bhatta’s house. As Bhimasena Devaru during the ajnaathavaasa (remaining incognito) had taken the “Paachaka” vesha, Vayu Devaru’s avatara took place in ”Paajaka” with 32 sallalakshanas. A pond created by Shri Parusharama (avatar of Vishnu) was also present there. P means Parusharama and “aja” means the one who occupies the place of “Brahma” i.e. “Shri Madhvacharyaru”. The baby was named as “Vasudeva”. A devotee by name “Poorvalaya” gave a cow to Madhygeha Bhatta. Because of this punya, Poorvalaya was born as son to his son and became a scholar in Madhva shaastra. Madhyageha Bhatta took the baby to Anantheshwara temple to get the blessings of Anantheshwara. At midnight on the same day Madhyageha Bhatta with his well wishers made the journey back to Paajaka. On the way to Paajaka, a Pishachi (Brahma Rakshas) attacked a person and he started bleeding. Pishachi made remarks that because of baby’s protection, the others have been spared. This indicates that those who surrender to Shri Madhvacharya and those who follow Madhva shaastras are protected and are not bothered by Brahma Rakshas (Pishachis).
Once when the mother of Vasudeva wanted to go somewhere else, she handed over the child to her elder daughter to look after the child. After sometime the Child started crying. However much, she tried to console; the child did not stop from crying. Then she feeds the child with the baked horse gram, thinking that feeding with cold milk may cause heat to the child. When the mother comes back and comes to know this, she becomes very angry and scolds her daughter. But she was surprised to see the child being happy and healthy. In the shruthi purana it is explained that kaalakoota visha (deadly poison) was completely drunk by Vayu devaru after a little consumption of visha (poison) by Rudra Devaru. By the little consumption of visha (poison), the throat of Rudra Devaru became blue and he became “Neelakanta”. But by digesting the whole (deadly poison) visha Vayu devaru came to be known as Jeevothama. When the visha could be digested in the previous avatar, it could be imagined that consumption of horse gram in this avatar was not a great surprise. However, mother again fed the child and father prayed with “Danvanthari” japa for the welfare of the child as they were not aware of the strength of the child. Just to show the world that he is a child, Vasudeva started crawling, walking and talking as the other children do.
When Vasudeva was just one year old, holding the tail of Ox, he went around the forest (vana) and came back home surprising the people who had gathered in front of the house. In Shaastra it is said “Ox is the symbol of dharma and forest (vana) is the symbol of Shastra”. By holding the tail of Ox and moving around the forest he has shown to the world that he is the protector of shaastra and dharma.
The child Vasudeva, one day called his father Madhyageha Bhatta to take meals with him. Madhyageha Bhatta whispered in the ears of Vasudeva that he cannot take meals without clearing the debts taken from a rich man (Dhanika) for buying an Ox. Then Vasudeva offered a handful of tamarind seeds to the rich man who was waiting to get the money. The rich man became very happy and went away. After sometime when Madhygeha Bhatta went to the rich man to clear the debts, the rich man told him that the debts have been already cleared by his son. This shows the mahatme of Vayu Devaru. Dhanika (rich man) became Thapo Dhanika. This illustrates that loukika (worldly) dhana (money) is nashwara (perishable) and jnaana dhana (complete knowledge) is shaaswatha (permanent). That is, the earthly materials are temporary and the tattva knowledge is always permanent.
The other leele of Acharya during childhood were creating Vasudeva Theertha in Paajaka, making a dry stick as stick with leaves, jumping from Vimanagiri to the house when mother called him for meals (the footmarks can be seen even today in Paajaka).
Vasudeva made all the sajjanas (righteous people) very happy by showing his leele in this manner.
By: - J. Sudhindra Simha, Bangalore.
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