Introduction
Sripadaraya or Lakshminarayana Tirtha or Sripadaraja (1422-1480) was a Dvaita scholar, composer and the pontiff of the Madhvacharya mutt at Mulbagal. He is the founder of Haridasa movement along with Narahari Tirtha. His songs and hymns which were written in praise of Lord Krishna, and also contain the concepts of Dvaita principles. He has composed several kirtanas praising Lord Hari. He was the Guru of Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya and he guided the young Vyasatirtha. He has also written a commentary on Jayatirtha's Nyaya Sudha called Vagvajra.
Life of Sripadaraya
Sripadaraya was born in Abbur, a village in Channapatna taluk, Karnataka. His father, Sheshagiriappa, worked as an accountant while young Sripadaraya looked after the cattle, and studied Vedic texts in his free time. He was the guru of Vyasatirtha. Once, Svarnavarna Tirtha who was a great scholar, met young Sripadaraya on his way to Abbur and after a brief discussion, he was astonished by the young Sri Padaraya’s intelligence. He educated the youth and made him as a saint with the name Lakshminarayana Tirtha. Lakshminarayana Tirtha eventually succeeded Svarnavarna Tirtha as the pontiff of the mutt at Mulbagal. He was affectionately known as Sripadaraya.
Devotional works of Sripadaraya
He wrote a commentary on Nyaya Sudha of Jayatirtha called Vagvajra . He is considered as the pioneer of Dasa Sahitya with his simple worded and spiritual hymns to music. He composed 13,000 suladis, which are songs and contains different ragas and talas. Vyasatirtha, the disciple of Sri Padaraya succeeded him as the pontiff, continued the musical journey of his guru by giving further importance to the Haridasa movement and composed several kirtanas.
Avatar of Bhakt Dhuruva
He is considered as an avatar of Bhakt Dhuruva. Similar to Dhuruva, he also possess Hari Bhakti. He was born with an intention to spread the Hari Dasa movement and to invoke Sanatana Dharma Principles in this world. He was a great scholar and possessed super natural powers. He has helped people to lead a good life by his teachings. He has led a simple life and he was a humble and soft spoken saint.
Aradhana of SriPadaraya
Every year his aradhana will be celebrated in Mulbagal as well as in several Raghavendra Swamy Mutts also. Generally free food will be served during his aradhana in Madhwa mutts after performing pooja to Sri Moolarama,Hanuman and Sri Padaraja.
Mutt’s Branches
The mutt’s head office is situated at Mulbagal Town,Karnataka. It has various branches at Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh and Tamil nadu.
CONCLUSION
Let us pray to the humble saint and an avatar of Bhakt Dhuruva, and put all of our problems on to the lotus feet of Sri Padaraya. He will immediately answer to our problems and will give a good solution. He is shining like a star in his brindavan. From his brindavan, he carefully notices all of his devotees and remove their difficulties and brings happiness in their life. He is the saviour for us and the one who helps in tackling difficult situations in our life and cures several chronic diseases by his amazing super natural powers. The only thing which we have to do is to praise him for his Bhakti and to continuously chanting his nama ‘OM
SREE PADARAYARE NAMAHA
R.HARISHANKAR
