Genesis
The
need for a Dharma Guru
Man
in his search for enlightment and knowledge was longing to see God. In order to
reach God he was to lead an ideal life- the life that gives him the inner and
outward happiness with perfect tranquility of mind. Such life would lead him to
salvation in the other world also. This ideal embraces all aspects of Dharma;
Dharma is the way of life, manners, and virtues necessary for ideal life. Its
characteristic principles are courage, forgiveness, conquest-of-mind,
non-coveting, cleanliness, non-discrimination, education, honesty and wrathless
ness.
For achieving all this, man was to move in
the company of Sadhu-Saints or the God-fearing.
To practice any Sadhana, man had to be guided and blessed by a Guru.
Self-contemplation, Concentration, Worship, Devotion – all became
futile without a Guru’s initiation.
Man’s longing for liberation was truly impossible without a spiritual
Guru.
Hence the supreme importance of a master in Spiritual life - The Guru.
Guru should be one who can make a ‘Gift of God’ to his disciples –
he gives god in pose to the disciples who in turn realises him in ease by
following the path prescribed for him by the Guru.
The Guru’s grace neutralises the poison of self-pleasure- leading him
to ecstatic bliss.
The Guru instills in his disciple the light of self-knowledge.
Guru is dispassionate, engaged in spiritual discussion and meditation; he
should be free of doubts, thus living in god.
Initiation by such a master alone is fruitful, and leads the disciple
God-ward.
Guru- is thus in our culture, equal to God – Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara
– the Trio who light the lamp of knowledge in man.
He is the person who can show the right path of Mukthi.
Guru Bhakti is the only path on which we can tread to attain Bhakti in
Parameshwara.
Coming
to the community – the
Gowda Saraswaths who settled on the Konkan coast were the followers of Madhwa
philosophy in which, Sri Vishnu the preserver is Sarvotham in the universe.
The Dwaita Philosophy advocated by the great Madhavacharya is the
evolution of the investigation about the ‘evolution of souls and their
ultimate destiny’.
The
Gurus of Vaishnava Saraswaths: -
All the Vaishnava Saraswaths were originally the disciples of the
Uttaradi Math of Jayatheerth.
In course of time Ramachandra Thirtha of Uttaradi Math adopted two
disciples, one of whom, Vibhudendra Thirtha established a Math at Kumbakonam.
The Gowda Saraswaths of South Kanara and Kerala transferred to the newly
formed Kumbakonam Math.
The people residing in Cochin invited their junior guru Sri Vijayendra
Thirtha Swamiji of Kumbakonam Math to Cochin for Chathurmasya vrita in about
1539 –1540 and requested him to initiate a Brahmachari among them to Sanyasa
Ashram.
In 1541, Sri Hanumantha Bhaktha was selected and taken to Kumbakonam.
The new Sanyasin was named Yadavendra Thirtha who eventually became the
head of the newly formed Kashi Math at Banaras on the banks of holy Ganga.
It was Sri Vijayendra Thirtha, with his Guru’s permission, who
persuaded the people of Cochin to buy the land at Benaras and established the
Math.
GURU
PARAMPARA
Yadavendra
Thirtha, the first Guru was the founder of the principal Math at Banaras and
he was gifted with another at Bhatkal also. The Swamiji resided in Bhatkal
and his Samadhi is on the bank of River Gopi.
The
Second
Guru, the Shishya of Sri Yadavendra Thirtha was Sri Keshavendra Thirtha who
established a Math at Basrur. Another one was gifted to him by Shishyas near
Kundapur.
He attained Samadhi at Basrur.
This History is being completed.