Shri Shri 1008 Shri Vishwottama Teertha

Here are the details about the last few hours of Shri Shri 1008 Shri Vishwottama Teertha's yatra on Saturday August 18, 2007, which was witnessed by many devotees of Shri Vadiraja. Shri Hari Narayana Vittala Dasa, disciple of Shri Guru Govinda Vittala Dasa of Mysore also happened to be at Sode Kshetra during the sumuhurta. For the benefit of sadhakas, herewith we are providing a first hand account of the same. Towards the end of this page, please find the audio providing the first hand account of the yatra.

The disciples of Shri Guru Govinda Vittala Dasa were conducting jnAna satras for the past one year to propogate the sahitya of Shri Guru Govinda Vittala Dasa at different Teertha-kshetras. The mangala mahotsava, the 25th jnAna satra, was scheduled at Soda kshetra as Shri Guru Govinda Vittala Dasaru was an ardent devotee of Shri Vadiraja. The jnAna satra started as scheduled and was going on in full swing. Many scholars including Shri Pushkarachaya of Tumkur, Shri Nippani Gururajacharya of Bellary, Shri Atmakur Anandateerthacharya of Atmakur and many other direct disciples of Shri Guru Govinda Vittala Dasa were at the venue.

In the moring hours Shri Swamiji after performing his regular morning pooja graced the function and he was found to be in his full spirits. The organizers of jnAna satra offered a garland to Shri Swamiji at the beginning of the function. Usually the garlands offered to Shri Swamiji get collected by his shishya’s and later it would be distributed to devotees with phala mantrakshate. But on that day Shri Swamiji insisted that the garland be left there and not taken out for distribution. This surprised many including his shishya vrunda but no one could make out the reason behind this act of Shri Swamiji. Probably he meant to have this garland offered to himself after he leaves his mortal body.

Later, in his anugraha bhashana Shri Swamiji stressed upon bringing out the hidden tatvas in the sAhitya of Shri Guru Govinda Vittala Dasa and praised Shri Guru Govinda Vittala Dasa as an ardent devotee of Shri Vadiraja and as a person who brought out many literary books propogating the Rujutva & BhAvi Sameeratva of Shri Vadiraja.

After gracing the function during the morning session, towards the end, he repeatedly asked the organizers to continue with the mangala mahotsava (which was a 2 day event) even in his absence. Once again the stress with which Shri Swamiji asked the organizers to continue with the jnAna satra was something unusual. Many understood the meaning of this act of Shri Shri Swamiji in the afternoon. Probably he knew what was to happen in next few hours.

He performed the pooja of Shri Hari, Shri Vayu & lAtavya chakravarti and towards the afternoon after teertha-prasada while offering the phala-mantraxate to devotees in the presence of only a selected few he left his mortal body reciting Shri Rama-nAma twice.

Shri Atmakur Ananda Teerthachar checked his nADi and declared that Shri Swamiji has left his mortal body. He was 73 years old. Shri Swamiji was offered Shri Vadiraja mRuttika and he was made to sit in padmasana posture. As ordered & wished by him the jnAna satra continued in the afternoon.

Junior Swamiji Shri Shri Vishwavallabha Teertha arrived around 7.30 pm and towards night performed the bhu-sthapana of the mortal body of Shri Swamiji.

It is indeed a great loss to all the devotees of Shri Vadiraja. He was a representative of Shri Vadiraja. As can be seen from history of Sode maTa, once in every 200 years we happen to see a mahatkArya that proclaims the bhAvi sameeratva of Shri Vadiraja. Once such event was the construction of Shri AkhyAna Mandira. It was through Shri Vishwottama Teertha Swamiji Shri Vadiraja made this possible.

A gentle and unassuming scholar, Sri Vishwothama Teertha Swamiji was born in 1934. He took to “sanyasa ashrama” in 1943. He collected works on “Vedanta”, poetry, ayurveda, astrology, “Lakshana Shastra” and the manuscripts of the earlier “Gurus”. He was instrumental in renovating MaTa's at Sode, Teerthahalli, Narala, Udyavara, Undaru, Hovinakere and Naduvanthady.

Sri Vishwothama Teertha Swamiji completed four “Paryayas” during 1946-48, 1962-64, 1978-80 and 1996-98. He annointed Sri Vishwavallabha Teertha as his junior swamiji at Sode in June 2006.

Undoubtedly Shri Vishwottama Teertha Swamiji is an AkhyAnOkta vyakti.

Let us pray Shri Vishwottama TeerthAntargata Shri Vrundavanacharya TeerthAntargata Shri BhootarajAntargata Shri Vedanidhi TeerthAntargata Shri Latavya Chakravarti Bhavi Sameera VadirajAntargata Shri Hanuma Bheema MadhwAntargata Shri Ashwini Hayavadana to bestow His blessings on all of us.

For more detailed information about this holy incident please click on this audio link.

Shri Harinarayana Dasa who considers himself blessed to witness those divine precious moments first hand, has explained this once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity over telephone during a pravachana on the ArAdhana day of Shri Ibharamapura Appavaru conducted by SVBM, California, USA.