Sumadhva Vijaya 16: Shodasha Sarga
Purnapragna Madhvacharya’s honor as leader of monarchy was spreading everywhere and his Shishyas
started giving pravachanas on noble characters of Shri Madhvacharya’s preaching
of dvaita philosophy.
Near Gomati river an ordinary king who was ruling that place argued
with Shri Madhvacharya that if a sentence in Vedas is wrong or untrue then the Vedas
will be completely wrong or untrue. To
substantiate it he said that he has tried a mantra in Veda which claims that
seeds would turn into fruits if that mantra is uttered and he has tried several times but he has
not succeeded in his efforts. Hence he
concludes that Vedas cannot be accepted as a true concept. Acharya advises him that one who has the
capacity or who is well versed in Vedas can do such wonders.. Still the King continues to argue that nobody
is capable of doing such things. Immediately Acharya taking moong grain seeds in
his hands uttered the Veda mantra which converted the moong grain into ankura,
dala and phala. This indicates the mystic
power of Acharya who at that instance proved that Vedas are not false. Once
when Acharya was taking a lesson to his Sishyas the current went off. Then
Acharya by pressing his thumb finger nails of his feet he made the whole place
bright and helped them to read the Granthas. In his sanchara, Acharya found a boulder
weighing 10 tons near Bhadra river at
Kalasa (Chikmagalur district) on the road.
Acharya enquired the people of that area why they have not shifted that
boulder to some other place. He got the
answer that it is not possible for them to lift that boulder as it is very
heavy. Acharya moved the boulder to a
safer place single handedly with his hands and surprised everybody assembled
there. Even today the big boulder can be
seen by visitors. In the boulder an
inscription with Acharya’s
figure can be also observed.
During Solar eclipse, it is
customary to bathe in Sea and is said to be very auspicious. Hence Acharya along with his devotees went to
take bath ln the Sea. Before taking bath
in the sea one should take bath in a river.
So all of them went to take bath in Kanva river which was close to the
sea. After taking bath in Kanva river
they started taking bath in the sea.
Sometimes the waves were very strong.
The wise people were very happy to be with Acharya at that time. But some wicked people who had accompanied
them made fun of Acharya. It did not make
Acharya unhappy. But one stern look at
the sea converted that area into a pond (thataaka). To examine the
strength of Acharya a very strong person by name Gandavata and his brother with
Acharya’s permission went on pressing
the neck of Acharya strongly but nothing happened to Acharya. Instead, they became very much tired and had
to leave Acharya. This shows Acharya’s
personality. After their recovery
Acharya challenged then to lift his thumb finger from the ground. However much they tried they could not lift
the thumb finger. In another incident
Acharya showed his laghima (weightlessness) power when he sat on a Vatu doing
pradikshane namaskara in Lord Nrusimha temple.
Once when Acharya was
delivering a lecture another strong man by name Purva Vata tried to stop his
lecture by pressing the throat of Acharya.
But he could not succeed in his attempt.
He sweated in his attempt and had to leave as Acharya s voice became
stronger in his lecture. Acharya asked
him to lift his anguli placed on the ground.
He failed there also. All this
indicate the previous avatars of Bhima and Hanumantha.
Shri Madhvacharya (Shri
Poornapragna) won against all odds and guided his devotees. Acharya also reinstated Hari
idol which was worshipped by Pandavas in Paranthi temple in Paranthi
grama. Acharya surprised everyone by his
power filling the pond only by getting rains in a place called
‘Saridantara’(Idethukde). Now this place
has become very popular and it is near Ramakuknja and is known as
Erkimatha. Acharya prepared a grantha
“Shri Krishnaamruthamahaarnava” and presented to his devotee Idappadithaya in
Kokkada kshethra. The Vaidyanatheshwara
temple is very popular in Kokkada kshethra now. Beside this temple Shri
Madhvacharya’s installation of Vishnu vigraha can be seen. This kshethra is about 10 kms from
Ujare. There is a sarovara nearby. It is believed that by taking bath here many
diseases are cured. Some Pundits in
Ujare asked Acharya to give the meaning of “Karmartha Shruthi”. Acharya explained the meaning of the Beda
Shasthras, But Pundits said that this is not the correct
meaning. Then Acharya asked then to give
the correct meaning of the shasthras. The Pumdits ran away from there as they were
not knowing the meaning of Veda
manthras, Again the same Pundits asked the
meaning of Brahmana Khanda. Acharya’s
grantha on this is known as ‘karma nirnaya’ and can be found in the “Dashaprakarana”
grantha. Even Gandarvas and Rudradi
devathes have praised Acharya by singing and dancing.
Devathes have offered prayers to the three
avatars of Shri Hanumantha, Bhimasena, and Madhvacharya who are the devotees of
the three roopas of Shri Rama, Shri Krishna and Shri Vedavkyasadevaru
correspondingly By making pranams to
these three avatars Author concludes this great Grantha. It is believed that Shri
Madhvacharya disappeared from Udupi when Indradi devathes offered innumerable
flowers to him. He disappeared and
reached “Dodda Badari” in Pingalanaama Samvatsara in Magha Masa on shudha
(shukla Paksha) Navami(1318) according to “Anu Madhva Charithe”. According to Shri Vadhiraja Swami, Shri
Madhvacharya went to “Dodda Badari” and served Vedavyasa for 100 years before
attaining the moola roopa. There is
another school of thought which believe that Acharya is still present even now
in “Dodda Badari”.
Prepared by: J. Sudhindra Simha, Bengaluru.
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