shrI vAdhirAja was a great saint, scholar, philosopher, devotee and what not. shrI vAdhirAja  theerTha was a great treasure of the time and had a long life of 120 years. Though shrI vAdhirAja theerTha's real 'swarUpa' was not revealed during his life time,  it was known to each and every one  that  shrI rAjaru was 'aparOksha jnAni' and  'devAmsha samButha'. The temples established by shrI rAjaru, the places visited by shrI rAjaru, the volumes of works left behind by shrI rAjaru, each one tell us about  great personality of shrI vAdhirAja.  There are three works narrating the  life history and one work narrating the 'swarUpa' of shrI rAjaru.

1) vRuththa rathna samgraha : This  volume was created  by shri  raghunAtha achArya,  around 1590 AD,  and provides a brief outline of shrI vAdhirAja's life and 'mahimA'. This consists  of three chapters and 187 shlokas.  This is the most authentic document since this was written  by the author  during shri  vAdhirAja theerTha's life time itself. This does not contain any information about the last paRyaya and 'vRandavana pravesha' of shrI vAdhirAja.

2)  shrI vAdhirAja guruvara charithAmrutha: This work created by shrI rAmachandra AchARya, around 1645, provides grate details about shrI  vadhirAja theerTha's 'swarUpa' and 'mahima' This was written by the same devotee who wrote the 'akhyana' shlokas, told  by  shri rAjaru. This consists of 9 chapters and 501 shlokas.

3) shrI vAdhirAja guNa rathnamAlA : This is the latest work created by shri shahapura Acharya.

shrI swApnavRumdhAvanAkhyAna
Brief Introduction:   This is the  most authentic volume, narrating the greatness of shrI rAjaru and 'pancha vRandhavana'.  Through this volume, with plenty of evidence it is proved and well established that shri rAjaru is none other than 'shrI   lAthavya' who is next to shri vAyu, in the hierarchy order. As per the scriptures, at the end of 100  brahma years (brahma kalpa), shrI brahma completes his 'sadhana' and attains 'moksha'.  Then,  shrI vAyu  of this brahma kalpa attains the position of shrI brahma  of  shri lAthavya attains the position of shrI vAyu in the next kalpa. Hence shrI vAyu is called 'bhAvi brahma' and shrI rAjaru is well known as 'bhAvi samEra'.

        The creation of this volume itself is quite interesting and spiritually uplifting.  The whole volume  was told by shrI rAjaru, over several years,  to his disciples 'Laxmipathi' in his dream.  written down by shrI rAmachandra AchArya. Through this volume, the following  identities are proved.

shrI vAdirAja thErTha   - shrI lAthavya
shrI vEdavEdya thErTha  - shrI gavya
shrI vEdanidhi thErTha  - shrI bhAvi garuda
shrI vRundAvanAchAryaru   - shrI bhavi indhra

yO mAm dhEvam vijAnAthi RujusTham puNyakRunnara:
sa yAthi nilayam puNyam yadhgathvA na nivarthathE ||

thathpUrvamasya vamSEthu RujusThO hi surESwara:
vAdhirAjayathirbhUthvA chaithadvisthArayiShyathi ||
         (braHmAmda purANa - rajathapITa puramahAthme)

sujana shirOmaNi vAdhirAjanu tha |
nijavAgi bommAmda purANa sADhakadhimdha |
ajapadhasalvadhu lEsha samshayabEdi |
nijanijanijavemdhu nithyadhi komdAdi ||
          (shrI vijaya dAsaru in one of his suLAdIs on shrI rAjaru)
 
The detailed story:

A braHmana (vipra) named 'Lakshmipathi', who was witness to many aManusha mahimas of shrI vAdirAja theerTha, had pure, dedicated devotion & bhakthi towards shrI rAjaru.  His only aim was to serve his Master towards reaching the final goal. Hence he kept himself away from worldly matters & pleasures and acted as if he was dumb and mentally non elevated person. (EdamUkam dhwijam swapnE - vA.gu.cha)  (akushala dEshiya braHmana swapnE - swA.vRun.A. vyAkhyAna)

shrI rAjaru was very much impressed by his unparalleled devotion - 'guru bhakthi'.  Having understood the greatness of his master, Laxmipathi  a strong desire to realize  the 'mUla swarUpa' of his master and the right way to worship him to get  liberation from this world.  With utmost devotion, he used to request shrI rAjaru time & again, to bless him with the 'upadesha' and each time shrI rAjaru kept saying that he would let him know of those details at the right time.

vaxyAmyEthadh dhwayam thubhyam | sowmya kAlAmtharE sphutam ||
ithyukthvA sAmthvayAmAsa prEshTam shishyamaSESHavith || - vA.gu.mA

During the last stages of his 'avathAra', shrI rAjaru, due to reasons known only to him, left behind this braHmana in Udupi and returned to sOde.  shrI rAjaru installed 'pancha vRandavana' much before his entry into them, worshipped them by establishing the 'sannidhana' of shrI hayagrEvadEvaru, anantha bhagavadrUpAs, shrI vAyudEvaru with avatAra rUpAs ( of shrI hanuma, shrI bhIma & shrI madhvaru), all dEvathAs, pancha shrI hari rUpAs (anirudhdha, pradyumna, sankarushaNa, vAsudEva, nArAyaNa), pancha prANa rUpAs (prANa, apAna, vyAna, udhAna, samAna).

panchavRundAvanE puNyE pancharUpAthmakO hari: |
panchEkruthya swarUpANi nithyam sannihitha: swayam || - swA.vru.A

shrI rAjaru entered pancha bRundAvana in the year 1600. Within no time,  Laxmipathi came to know of this incident and realized the reason for him being left behind in Udupi. Immediately  reached sOde and started  praying and weeping uncontrollably for not having met his master on last moments.  ShrI rAjaru, being impressed by his disciple's bhakthi gave darshan for a short span. Though Laxmipathi felt happy at that  moment, was depressed since he could not get the 'upadesha'  for his liberation.  He continued his sEva with the highest devotion towards his Master praying for the 'jnanOpadesha'. In the course of time, shrI vEdavEdhyaru entered bRundAvana in 1612 and shrI vEdanidhi tIrtharu came to the crown of shrI sarvajGny~a  pITa.

As the days rolled over, after 30 years,  in 1630, one divine morning, during braHmi muhurtha, shrI rAjaru appeared in Laxmipathis's swapna for a while(dream).  Pleasant faced and eyes filled with kAruNya, bestowed his grace on the bhaktha, started giving the pearls

               hayagrIvam chidhAnamdha vigraham sadhanugraham |
               dhashagrIvachchidham shApAnmaNigrIva viespressonam ||

in a poetic form, with appropriate rAga and disappeared from the dream. Laxmipathi's happiness   knew  no bounds.  He rushed immediately to shrI vEdanidhi thIrtharu and started reciting the pearls bestowed by his Master.  ShrI vEdanidhi thIrtharu was literally surprised & dumb struck.  He could only realise that it was all due to supremacy of shrI rAjaru and asked his shisya shrI rAmachandrAchArya to document them.

This went on for  almost 10 years.  As the upadeshA proceeded, shrI vEdanidhi thIrtharu started  understanding the meaning of the shlokas, realizing the  'mahima' of shri rAjaru and the 'pancha vRundavana.  This volume  clarified many of the doubts and explained the importance of sOda kshetra.  Even though, shrI rAjaru gave lakhs of pearls, only a few could be documented for the  benefit and upliftment of  devotees (sAdhaka prapancha) and the rest were taken over by dEvathAs for their sAdhana. (... nAkibhi: nIyathE kRuthi: ||). This collection of shlokas, told to Laxmipathi in dreams, narrating the importance of  the vRandavana, is thus named as 'sapna vRandavana Akhyana' .

shrI vEdanidhi thIrtharu as per the orders of the revered shrI rAjaru, divided the grantha into adhyAyAs and started performing pUja from  then on. A condensed version of this volume, called 'anu vRundAvana Akhyana' was inscribed on a stone plaque, next to vRandavana of shrI vEdhavEdhya theerTha.
 
Later, after  around 135 years, this devotee brAhmaNa born in a pious brAhmin family (around 1776), got initiated into yatyAshrama in the sOde MaTha itself with the name of shrI vishwapriya thErTha.  It is he who brought this grantha into light & as per the orders of his Master shrI rAjaru, sub-divided each chapter (adhyAya) into  sections (prakaraNa). Thus the grantha came to the  present form.  swApna bRundAvana AkhyAna has 22 adhyAyAs and each adhyAya has many prakaraNAs.  With the able support of his disciples shrI raghupravEra thIrtharu of bhimanakatte maTha and shrImushNa AchArya, shrI vishwapriya thIrtharu provided proper proofs ( pramANa samarthaka grantha ) &  illustrations (vyAkhyAna grantha )respectively to devotees, for their understanding.  Being the prime contributor to this grantha, shrI vishwapriya thIrtharu was aptly called vRundAvanAchAryaru.

Even though the braHmaNa was the principle  audience, this grantha is directed  to all  disciples, thus explaining them their duties. This grantha is the essence of dwaitha sidhDhantha. There are many meanings  for the shlokas and can be understood only as per the capacity of individual.  The book is a combination of the description and doings of Sri vAdirAja as a R^iju, the power of vR^indAvana in Soda and the surroundings.

The first four chapters are called Bhajana parva or devotional chapters. They contain descriptionsof splendor of Vishnu, confirmation of vadirAja's status as a R^ju. Sri vAdirAja tells in many places about his R^ijutva, how he is close to Sri hari and laxmi and that he is one of the their favorite devotees. The glory of the vR^indAvana is recounted. Sri VadirAja tells of how the indra and other gods come and visit him in the vR^indAvana. He also tells about the divine nature and the special attributes of the vR^indAvana. Sri vAdirAja also tells about how the brahmin (to whom these verses are given in the dream) is going to be born as a yati in the future. The fact that this happens less than 200 years confirms the aparoxaj~nanitva of Sri vAdirAja. In the book he tells of several events in the future in the lives of his devotees.

Chapters 5 thru 12 are called vaibhava parva. Here the splendors of Sri VadirAja on the earth and in dEvaloka. The chapters also explain the joys of worshipping Lord vishnu and the happiness of the devotee. Rest of the chapters from 12-22 give advice to the devotees of sri vAdirAja to follow the right path. sri vAdirAja gives examples of instances of events in the future to increase their devotion. Here, Sri vAdirAja talks about his specific devotees like Shesha, laxmIpati, sItApati etc. Sri vAdirAja tells us when they are not performing their duties and what should they do to please him. It looks like, he is using them to address all his devotees and how they should be in the path of Bhakti and sadhana.

Sri vAdirAja also takes about the Madhva philosophical aspects in some places. The main flavor of the book is on Bhakti, true nature of himself and the vrindAvana and how the devotees should worship him and sri hari. The wonderful description of his splendors and Bhakti that permeates this book.

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( This article is prepared  by shri Prasanna Krishna , based on  the book "shrI sodhEsha dharshana",  by Dr. Gururaja Acharya, Nippani )