Sri Vijaya dasaru Aradhana [Tirobhava tithi – Disappearance day]
November 24, 2020
Srila Prabhupada: This verse indicates that oṁkāra, or praṇava, is a direct representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, if at the time of death, one simply remembers oṁkāra, he remembers the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is therefore immediately transferred to the spiritual world. Oṁkāra is the basic principle of all Vedic mantras, for it is a representation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, understanding of whom is the ultimate goal of the Vedas, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ). Māyāvādī philosophers cannot understand these simple facts explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, and yet they are very proud of being Vedāntīs. Sometimes, therefore, we refer to the Vedāntī philosophers as Vidantīs, those who have no teeth (vi means “without,” and dantī means “possessing teeth“). The statements of the Śaṅkara philosophy, which are the teeth of the Māyāvādī philosopher, are always broken by the strong arguments of Vaiṣṇava philosophers such as the great ācāryas, especially Rāmānujācārya. Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya break the teeth of the Māyāvādī philosophers, who can therefore be called Vidantīs, “toothless.” https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/7/128
Vijaya Dasa (Kannada: ವಿಜಯದಾಸರು) (c. 1682– c. 1755) was a prominent saint from the Haridasa tradition of Karnataka, India in the 18th century, and a scholar of the Dvaita philosophical tradition. Along with contemporary haridasa saints such as Gopala Dasa, Helevankatte Giriamma, Jagannatha Dasa and Prasanna Venkata Dasa, he propagated the virtues of the philosophy of Madhwacharya across South India through devotional songs called devaranama written in the Kannada language.[1] An integral part of Kannada Vaishnava devotional literature, these compositions in praise of the Hindu god Vishnu are called dasara padagalu (compositions of the dasas).[2] These compositions can be more specifically categorized as keertanas, suladis,ugabhogas, and simply padas. They were easy to sing to the accompaniment of a musical instrument and dealt with bhakti (devotion) and the virtues of a pious life
Compositions – He has composed 25000 + Devaranamas, Suladees, ugabogas.
Paramatha Khandana – At Kashi he defeated an Advaitha Vidwan named Ramashastri and he sought the Vaishnava Deekshe, which he obliged and took him to Vadeendra Tirtharu for taptamudradharana.
Theertha yatre – He has done theertha kshetra yathre not less than 18 times during his life time and he has spent not less than 20 years of his for theertha yatra. “Saagi baarayya Bhavarogada vaidyane” –
Once he had gone to Tirupati during Brahmotsava, and was doing dhyana. The time for Rathotsava arrived but he could not go for the Rathotsava in time. The people started pulling the Chariot but it was not moving at all. Even elephants failed to pull the chariot forward. At that time Srinivasa entered one of the devotee’s body and told the public that one of the devotee has bound him and that is why the chariot is not moving. Then the people were searching for that man, and they found in Vijayadasaru and was brought in front of the Chariot. He composed a song starting “saagi barayya bhava rogada vaidyane” and the chariot started moving.
Tamburi – Purandaradasaru gave him a tamburi in his dream, but when he got up in the morning, he was surprised to find that the tamburi was real. That Tamburi is still available in Chippagiri. You can also find tala, Gopala butti in Chippagiri. In Chippagiri, there is a Vijayarayara Katte, which is a piligrimage.
Kalluru Subbannacharyaru –
He was a renowned Sudha Pandit. Alongwith his panditya, he has some prejudice for Vijayadasaru, as he was singing only Devaranamagalu without any Sanskrit Grantha. Once he was rendering Sudha Pravachana. Almost all the people from the place were invited except Vijayadasaru, because of Kalluru Subbannacharya’s prejudiced opinion about the Dasaru. He had thought the Dasaru and he devaranamas are nothing comparable to Great Granthaas. Those who are not well versed with Shastra Granthas were neglected.
For Sudha Mangala naivedya, “Mandige bhojana” was arranged, but the cook who had to do the Mandige never turned up. Vijayadasaru when he learnt that the cook has not turned up, went to the cooking hall and did the mandige for the entire people. After completing the cooking, Vijayadasaru, went to listen to the pravachana of Kalluru Subbannachar. On seeing Vijayadasaru, the anger in Subbannachar grown, and he teased that “you are an ordinary daasa, “koosi maga daasa”. You know only something about Kannada sahitya. What you can understand about Srimannyaya Sudha?”. Dasaru felt very sad about the teasing by acharyaru. Dasaru called an innocent man who was supplying water for the bhojana, (who was not even able to speak properly), and by putting his hand on that innocent man, he asked him to do the anuvadha of the Sudha, where Acharya had stopped. All of a sudden, that man did the pravachana of that portion of Sudha where Kalluru Subbannachar had stopped, that too in Sanskrit. As soon as he removed his hand from that man, that man went to normal status, and was an ordinary man only. Watching the incident, Kalluru Subbannacharya was shocked and went near Vijaya Dasaru to beg his pardon for his egotism and asked him to accept him as a shishya.
Ankita to Kalluru Subbannacharya – Sri Vijaya Dasaru told his shishya Venugopala Vittala Dasaru to give ankitha to Kalluru Subbannachar, and he was given the ankita “Vyasavittala”. With the ankitha prapthi, subbannachar prepared a stotra on Vijayadasaru, titled “Vijayarayara kavacha”, which starts like “smarisi badukiro, divya charanakeragiro”….
Jagannathadasaru & Vijayadasaru –
Sri Srinivasacharyaru, son of Karnika Narasimhacharya, had studied under Sri Balaramacharyaru (Sri Varadendra Thirtharu in his poorvashrama) and had a profound knowledge of Madhwa Shastra. He had done 108 times sudha mangala. Because of his great panditya in Sanskrit, he had least respect for Daasa parampare. Once Vijayadasaru had visited Srinivasacharyaru’s place. He had sent his shishya to invite Jagannatha Dasaru for Theerthaprasada. Srinivasachar agreed to come. After the pooja is over, Vijayadasaru, sent his disciple to call Srinivasaacharyaru for the bhojana, Srinivasacharya told that he suffering from Stomach pain, and could not come. Vijayadasaru did not say anything, said OK and had his Theertha prasada. After this incident, immediately Srinivasacharya developed severe stomach pain, which could not be controlled by any medicine. He was restless, not getting sleep at all, not able to eat anything. Day by day, the pain grew and it was untollerable. He went to Tirupathi, Mantralaya, Ghatakachala, everywhere in vain. Rayaru came in his dream and asked him to meet Vijayadasaru only for remedy. So, he came back to Vijayadasaru and sought his excuse for his ignoring Dasaru. Vijayadasaru immediately directed Gopaladasaru to give Ayurdana of 40 years. Gopaladasaru readily agreed and gave 40 years of his life to Srinivasacharyaru. Then Srinivasacharya got ankitha in Chandrabhaga river by Sri Purandaradasaru as “Jagannatha vittala”, and he never turned back, he went on to write Harikathamruthasara, and many many devotional songs, suladees, ugabogaas in Kannada and Sanskrit.
Suladi Dasaru –
As he has written so many suladees, he is popularly called as “Suladi Dasaru”. Some of his famous sulaadees are Kapila Suladi, Narasimha Suladi, Durga Suladi, Vayudevara Suladi, Haridasa Lakshana Suladi, Gurubhakuti Suladi, Hayagreeva Suladi, Dhanvantri Suladi, Parashurama Suladi, Vedavyasa Suladi, Naivedya Suladi, Habba Suladi, Mangalacharana Suladi, Mantra mahatmya Suladi, Stotra Suladi, Tatvabhimani Suladi, Taratamya Suladi, Srusti Prakarana Suladi, Upasana Suladi, Theerthakshetra suladi, Atmanivedana Suladi, Apattu parihara Suladi, Vyadhiparahira suladi, Apamrutyu parihara suladi, and many many more.
Shishyaas –
Bhaganna Dasaru (Gopaladasaru), Mohana dasaru (his adopted son), Panganama Timmanna (Venugopala Vittala dasaru), Ramachandrappa (Ramachandra Vittaladasaru), Kondali Madhwacharya (Madhwesha Vittala Dasaru), Sheshagiri dasaru (Hayagreeva Vittala Dasaru), Modalakallu Sheshagiri dasaru (Guru Vijaya Vittala Dasaru),
Contemporaries –
Sri Satyabhinava Tirtharu, Sri Satyapoorna Tirtharu, Sri Satyabodharu, Sri Styavijaya Tirtharu, Sri Satyapriya Tirtharu, Sri Sumateendraru, Sri Upendra Tirtharu, Sri Vadeendraru, Sri Vasudendraru, Sri Vyasa Tatvagnaru, Divan Venkannapant, Jagannathadasaru, Prasanna Venkata Dasaru, Helavanakatte Giriyamma, etc
Life Saving by Vijaya Dasaru –
a) He gave two years of life to his son Sheshagiri.
b) He wrote an ugaboga “omdu kaiyali Kadga, ondu kaiyali halage” and saved Sri Gopaladasaru from the attack of terrorists.
c) Vijayadasaru knew that Mohanadasaru, had some apamrutyu. So he gave Mohanadasa’s wife some mantrakshate, and told her to do the smarana of Sriharivayu in time of difficulty. Vijayadasaru went to Theertha yatre. One day, Mohana dasaru, who was healthy, died all of a sudden in Cheekalaparavi. Seetamma remembered the words of Vijayadasaru during his departure to Rameshwara yatre, and did the stotra of Vijayadasaru. The surrounding people were demanding the body to be given for burial. In the meantime, Vijayadasaru went to Yamaloka directly and had a chat with Yamadharmaraja, where it was convinced that the life term of Mohanadasaru had not been completed, and by mistake they had taken the jeeva of Mohanadasaru instead of another person.
d) Once, Baagi Keshavaraya Desai, who had once served Vijayadasaru longback, by offering food during Dhanurmasa, was facing his death. His wife, when came to know that Vijayadasaru was staying in the Pranadevaru’s temple, in Cheekalaparavi, approached him. Immediately Vijayadasaru composed 15 ugabogaas, starting “Rudrantargata Narasimha mrutyu nivari”, etc., and gave him three years of his life to Baagi Keshavaraya. Came to know about the ayurdana by Vijayadasaru, Keshavaraya’s mother also offered her 10 years, which Vijayadasaru consented and made arrangements for Ayurdana of total 13 years to Baagi Keshavaraya (3 of dasaru + 10 of Keshavaraya’s mother).
e) Ayurdaana to Jagannathadasaru through Gopala Dasaru – When Jagannathadasaru had severe stomach problem, and was in the last stage of his life, Vijayadasaru ordered Gopaladasaru to give him 40 years of his life, which enabled Jagannathadasaru to have more life, and he wrote Harikathamruthasara, and many other granthas.
Vijayadasaru and Tirupati Timmappa –
Vijayadasaru had great devotion to Tirupati Timmappa and wrote many songs on Timmappa. He has written Suladi starting “venkateshana yatri entado varnisalu”, and “Venkatachala parvata mahime suladi”, and many suladees on Venkatachala parvata. “baabaa baabaa bakutara hrudaya mandira”, Saagi barayya bhavarogada vaidyane, “venkatesha mantra onde”, etc.