|| Shri Raghunatha Teertha Gurubhyonamha ||

Introduction to Shri 1008 Shri Raghunatha Teertharu :

Diksha Accepted on 1444, Raktakshi Preceptor Shri Vidyanidhi Teertharu Brindavana Pravesha 1502, Shavari Pithadhipati   Aradhane Margashira Krishna Pratipada Brindavana at Malkhed River Kagina Dist Gulbarga State Karnataka Poorvasharama   Name Vishnu Shastri

|| Shri Gurubhyonamaha ||
|| Shri Hari Om ||

Shree Raghunatha Teertharu was eleventh great scholar and saint of Shri Uttaradi Matha who received the patronage of Shri Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagar. This was an eventful epoch in the history of the Matha, when several incidents revealing the highest status of Shri Uttaradi Matha occurred. The outstanding personality of Sri Raghunatha Teertharu among the Vaishanava pontiffs of the school of Madhvacharya heralded a glorious renaissance in the religious history of the Vijaya Nagar empire and also constituted an important landmark in the histroy of Dwaitha vedantha. He was a contemporary of Shri Vibhudendra Teertharu and Shri Lakshminarayana Teertharu alias Shripadaraju, Shri Vyasrayaru and Shri Purandara Dasaru. He was like an emperor in the spiritual realm of unlimited prowess.

Shri Raghunatha Teertharu, the immediate disciple and successor of Shri Vidyanidhi Teertharu, who was ordained to Vendantha Samrajya at Yaragola flourished between 1444 to 1502 AD. He was formerly known as Vishnu Shastri. He was an embodiment of vyragya and travelled all over India on foot by carrying his samsthana deities on his shoulders. He toured extensively and defeated many a scholar in scholarly dispute and strengthened the cause of Madhva Vaishnavism. He had under his tutelage as many as twenty eight monks who were called Shripadas. This was the most illustrious period of the Uttardi Matha. Re-emphasising the divine message of Shri Madhvacharya the exponent of the Dwaitha Philosophy, Shri Raghunatha Teertharu exhorted the devotees to love Shri Hari and live happily.

Shri Raghunatha Teertharu was the leading figure in the social and religious revolution of the times. His magnetic influence spread to all classes of people, By severe penance and high learning His Holiness developed mystical power and became honored everywhere by all classes of people including the great saints who lived during his regime.

A story goes that once in a village on the bank of River Krishna, a lady whose husband was hopelessly ill, desired to die along with her husband. At that time she heard the greatness of Shri Swamiji who is having extraordinary spiritual power and divine vision and who is touring in the surrounding places. She immediately rushed to the place where Shri Swamiji was camping and had the darshana of His Holiness. He blessed her to have eight children. With the divine blessings of the Swamiji her dying husband fully recovered and she had eight children by him.

In the process of his regular tour, once he came to Koppara in Karnataka, a place of worship of Lord Narashima swamy. There he camped for some time. Shri Vibudendra Teertharu met Shri Raghunatha Teertharu and presented his pupil, Shri Laxminarayana Teertharu in order to obtain recognition by the highly learned Swamiji. Shri Vibhudendra Teertharu ordered his student to submit an exposition of the first Adhikarana of Shriman Nyaya Sudha. Shri Swamiji was pleased at exposition of Shri Laxminarayana Teertharu and bestowed on him the title Shripadaraja.

Later, Shri Raghunatha Teertharu went towards "Nivritti Sangama", where His Holiness spent some time. When Swamiji grew very old, he ordained Shri Raghuvarya Teertharu on the pontifical throne of the Shri Uttaradi Matha and made him his assistant. He visited Navabrindavana situated on a rock in the middle of the river Tungabhadra. Shri Raghunatha Teertharu worshipped the samsthana idols with the help of Shri Raghuvarya Teertharu on a rock. At the time of Nirmalya Visarjana, one of the five Vyasa mushties fell in the river. All efforts were made to recover the Vyasa mushti but it was not recovered. He fasted for seven days. On the night of the seventh day Lord Vedavyasa comforted him in a dream saying that many stones in the form of tortoise will come up in the water and that form of tortoise which will revolve while pouring milk on it is the Vyasa mushti which fell into the water. Accordingly, the next morning many Kurma shaped stones were floating in the river and out of them Shri Raghunatha Teertharu took the one which revolved, while performing the Kshiraabhisheka. Thus he restored the lost Vysa mushti, that is the Kurma Saligram for which Abhishekam with milk is being done even today in the Matha.

This strange movements of the tortoise were witnessed by Shri Vyasarayaru, Shri Purandara Dasaru, Shri Raghuvarya Teertharu, and the king of Vijayanagar Shri Krishana Devarya. They were struck with wonder that he was such a mystic pontiff. On this occasion Shri Krishana Devarya honoured his Holiness Shri Raghunatha Teertharu.

Shri Purandara Dasa in one of his kirtanas gives an account of the pooja of Shri Raghunatha Teertharu. How devoted was Shri Raghunatha Teertharu towards god, how great a mystic of unflailling penance swamiji was, how fortunate the swamiji was in his devoted worship of Shrimad Acharya's devatarchana containing the 28 sacred Murthi's in the following verses.

Madhvarayara Devatarchaneyu (Pallavi)
Prasiddha Raghunatharu Pujisuva Sobaga (anupallavi)

The pooja box of Shrimad Acharya, containing 28 sacred Murthi's is being possessed and adored by the saints of Shri Uttaradi Matha in succession till this day.

Thus Shri Raghunatha Teertharu stands as the most ruling guru of all vaishanava in particular and of all satwic adhikari in general. He enjoyed a long and eventful pontificate throne of Shri Uttaradi Matha for 59 years and entered the Brindavana in the year 1502 AD near the Brindavana of his beloved guru Shri Jayateertharu at Malkhed, Gulbarga Dist, Karnataka.

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