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.
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.
.