Introduction
Gopannacharya was a direct disciple of Guru Raghavendra Swamigal, similar to Sri Appanacharya, and he was born in a village in Adoni District of Andhra Pradesh. Adoni is situated some kilometres far away from Mantralayam. Gopanna has studied Vedas and other devotional scriptures at his younger age itself, and he had got the golden opportunity of serving the Great Madhwa Saint Sree Raghavendra Swamigal.
He has also helped his guru towards performing Moola Rama puja and also helped in other daily routine devotional activities like fetching water from the water, bringing palm leaf manuscripts for reading purpose etc. He had also written Stotras in praise of our great Guru Raghavendra Swamigal. It is also known as Sri Guru Bhagavatham, and this wonderful text is recited till today by the followers of Raghavendra Swami, by his devotees, and especially by the Madhwa community people, who would consider Guru Raghavendra as their second Kula Deva, next to Lord Vishnu.
He lived during the period of Sri Raghavendra Swami and served him till the time of his Maha Samadhi. He took care of his guru in a proper manner, and served him sincerely and meditated him day and night. Through the blessings of his guru, he had got great spiritual powers, and he had obtained it through his staunch guru bhakti.
The contents present in the sacred “GURU BHAGAVATHAM”, are as follows:-
Oh my Dear Rayaru, you are like the busy bee, and similar to that, you fetch (bhakti) honey from the (God) flower, and your followers are also doing like that.Oh my Great Guru Raghavendra, you are like the ant, which taste the sweetness (sugar) from the sweet (God), and we are also want to do like that.Oh my Kind Guru, even if you appear in any form or formless, I would never get afraid of you, since you have been fully filled up on my entire soul.
Oh my worshipful Guru, even if you appear in front of me in the form of dark clouds, I would consider it as a form of Lord Sri Krishna (NEELA MEGA SHYAMALAN), whose colour would also be in the form of dark clouds.Oh my Deva Guru, even if you ask me to build mutts for you, I am ready to build wonderful mutts for you by seeking the help of your devotees.
Oh my Kula Guru, even if you appear in the form of a poisonous snake, I would consider it as Lord Sri Adisesha, and I would watch it with a smile, since, I clearly know that you are the one who protects even the tiny ants from dangers.
Oh my Universal Guru, even if you push me into the heaven, I would not prefer to stay there, since I want to dwell permanently only at your holy lotus feet.Oh my Universal Guru, I don’t want to live even in the divine places, since I want to live only at your Temple, at least by taking the form of a small insect.Oh my Respectful Guru, even if you grant me monetary wealth, I would never touch it, since I want to obtain only the spiritual wealth from you.
Oh My Knowledgeable Guru, I am very afraid to live in this difficult world. Please help me to cross the ocean of life, and grant salvation to me.Oh My beautiful Guru, I am getting more and more cheerfulness and pleasantness by reciting your holy names, and I consider your Mantra as equivalent to the great Sri Vishnu Mantra, “OM NAMO NARAYANAYA NAMAHA”.
Oh my wonderful Guru, even if you didn’t bless me, still then I would feel as if I had received your everlasting blessings.
Oh my precious Guru, I consider you as everything in my life, as my father and mother, friend, philosopher, Guru, Guide and God.
Oh my marvellous Guru, I would never get any sort of fear, since I have been always protected by you, supported by you, blessed by you, and even during the time of my sleep, I wants to remember you, you and you only.Oh my Guru Raja, you are the true follower of the principles of Guru Madhwa, and apart from religion, you are lending your helping hands on everybody in this earth. You are like a full moon amongst the stars, and you contain brightness equivalent to thousands and thousands of suns, and you are the holy Sri Dhruva Star.
Oh My Madhwa Guru, you showers great mercy on your devotees, you have been described as the Holy divine Cow Kamadhenu and the divine wish fulfilling tree Kalpavruksha.Oh my Lovely Guru, even during the time of sleep, I want to dream only about you, and even in my imagination, I should think only about you.Oh my Noble Guru, I want to think only about spiritual matters, I want to lead a peaceful and satisfactory life, and I want to control my senses.
Oh my pretty Guru, you look very nice, you are the great Prahalada, the great Bahlika Raja, and the great Guru Vyasaraja, and for me, you are the Holy Guru Sri Madhwacharya!
Oh my Divine Guru, you are the sincere devotee of Lord Narasimha, and the perfect assistant to Lord Brahma Deva, you are the Spiritual son of Ma Saraswati, and you are equivalent to Guru Brihaspati. Those who worship you sincerely would get good knowledge in all the subjects, and their life would become bright.
Oh my Sweet Guru, you have been praised even by the Sapta Rishis, Navagrahas, and by Lord Indra, Chandra and Surya. Your name and fame would never diminish, and you would be alive even during the time of deluge.
Oh my immediate god, Sri Raghavendra, I also want to worship your foot wear, similar to the holy Bharata who has once performed puja to the foot wear of Lord Rama for about 14 years.Oh my life Guru Raghavendra, I want to do some service at your holy place Mantralayam, and for that I need your recommendation. Even by the way of offering flowers to your daily puja, I would be greatly satisfied.
Oh my saviour Guru Raghavendra, I feel jealous with your things like Thulasi Mala, Padukas, Kamandala and saffron dhoti, since it has got the golden opportunity to decorate your body permanently.
“OM SRI GURU RAGHAVENDRAYA NAMAHA”
Sent BY R.HARISHANKAR
