INTRODUCTION
Sri Narasimha Teertha was a great eminent and an able Madhva scholar, philosopher, saint, and a poet belonging to the Dvaita tradition. He was the main poet of the Great Vijayanagara Empire. During his period, great religious developments were took place under the assistance of his divine disciples Krishna Dasa and Chandra Dasa. He was born into a Brahmin family and named as Narasimha. Sri Narayana Tirtha, the pontiff of the Mutt at Karnataka, taught him the Vedic education and the philosophy of Madhwa.
He served as a Guru to Srinivasa Deva Raya at Chandragiri and also had the association with the Great King Rama Deva. With the patronage of Rama Deva, Sri Narasimha Teertha had expanded Dvaita into a massive scale. In this regard, he has written several poems in praise of Lord Krishna. He has helped in the development of village people during the reign of King Sri Rama Deva.
He along with his disciples, are considered as the great saints of south India. They have helped the people and the ruler of the kingdom. All these three saints are considered as UNIVERSAL SAINTS and they are not left to a particular community alone. Sri Narasimha Teertha during his period has constructed several hanuman temples all over India. He has helped in the construction of more than 100 hanuman temples. Hanuman is considered as an incarnation of Vayu and similar to that, Guru Madhwacharya is also an incarnation of Vayu. With the command given by Lord Hanuman, he has developed those temples.
Sri Narasimha Teertharu was an incarnation of Sri Tumburu Bhagavan( A celestial horse faced musician and a friend to Rishi Narada). He was a great scholar and humble saint. He argued about Dvaita philosophy among great scholars and finally he defeated them. He was a great devotee of Lord Krishna who used to do Sri Krishna Puja daily during his period. Once he was poisoned by one wealthy man’s cook due to jealousy against him. Even after knowing this from his spiritual powers, he accepted the poisonous food, and after chanting the Mantra, “SARVAM SRI KRISHNARPANAM”, miraculously, he had got relieved from that poison. This was happened due to his sincere devotion on Lord Krishna. He has done lot of miracles to his devotees and cured their diseases, blessed people for child and also gave them peace of mind.
Sri Narasimha had visited several temples during the time of his pilgrimage. Narasimha has chosen his disciples in the Dvaita movement without seeing their caste or creed. He maintained a cordial relationship with Smartha and the Sri Vaishnava sect of Brahmins in the court of the great King Sri Ramadeva and encouraged them for their divine works. He interacted with a variety of people including tribal leaders, foreign dignitaries and emissaries from the North India. He has established several mutts and shrines across the subcontinent and patronized large scale irrigation projects at various locations.
Some of the songs written in praise of Lord Krishna by Sri Narasimha Teertha are as follows:-
Oh
my Dear Lord Krishna, you have easily killed your enemies with your
great powers. You are the lovely son of Nanda gopa
and
Ma Yasodha,
you used to wear nice fragrant flower garlands,
looks
very pretty with your wonderful costumes,
contains lotus
eyes,
contains the face of the bright sun,
you are our
worshipful Lord Vishnu. After falling in love with you, I am finding
it very difficult even to eat and sleep properly!
Oh,
my dear Krishna, let me fall on your holy lotus feet, with full of
love, dedication and devotion,
you are the one who sleeps on the
divine ocean of milk, the great ‘PARKADAL’,
contains lot of attractive features, you always acts gently and
softly towards your devotees, you are the one who would free us from
our sorrows, and would relieve us from our worldly bondages. After
falling in love with you, my entire thoughts are focussed only on
you, you and you only!
Oh my dear Krishna, let me sing songs in praise of you, let me keep on dance and dance, and cherish your divine beauty, you are the one, Who had measured the entire universe with your little lotus foot, who gives happiness to us, who makes the birds to fly, makes the fish to swim, makes the bees to sip the honey, makes the cows to pour milk, makes the insects to crawl, makes the animals and the people in the earth to walk, and you activates all the living beings through your great powers, whose powers cannot be measured fully by anyone in the universe. After considering you as my lovely consort, I am very anxious in uniting with you!
Oh
My dear Krishna, let me always keep worshipping my dear Lord,
you
act as the rain in the parched, dry and drought desert regions, you
act as an umbrella to us during rainy season, you acts as the food
and water to us during the times of hunger and thirst, you makes us
to properly function by dwelling on our soul, you blows the holy
conch which gives a melodious sound, and invokes your Chakra to the
cruel ones, I worship you sincerely, in order to make this world
happy, and let me joyfully take the early morning bath in month of
Margazhi,
in order to worship my dear Lord Krishna on my soul.
After I found you on my soul, I decided that henceforth, I have to
worship you more and more sincerely!
Oh my Dear Krishna, I am finding great pleasure on keep chanting your glorious names, in order to receive great comfort from you. Let me sleep on your lap since you are my precious dear Lord. You are always eagerly waiting for my call, and respond to me immediately, and would come forth for rescuing me from the troubles. I am getting unlimited pleasure by reciting your wonderful names, like Gopala, Govinda, Madusudhana, Achutha, Ananda, Adikesava, Mukunta and Amala. I have been attracted with you like the bee which gets attracted with the tasty honey. I have fully lost my consciousness on this world, since I have developed strong bondage on you!
Oh my Dear Krishna, I can see the precious divine child Krishna on each and every one, since I am worshipping you sincerely. I am mesmerised very much with your pleasing divine smile. I am able to find you on all the objects present in the earth. Even if the creator god Brahma could not tell about your entire significance, then how could I tell about your full significance? You are greater than even Lord Shiva, since Lord Shiva himself chants the Mantra, “OM SRI KRISHNAYA NAMAHA”. I have no other words to praise, since whatever word come from my mouth shall be considered only as praises, and I used to sing only in praise of you, since you have occupied fully on my heart!
You are the one who never cheats your sincere devotees and you are present on all the objects in the universe. You are being praised by Lord Brahma, Indra, Shiva and all other devas in order to get your blessings. You are my wonderful Lord, Lovely consort, the great Divine Master. Oh Krishna, you are everything for me! You are consoling your devotees like their affectionate mother remove their tears and providing sufficient food and water to them. You cannot be ignored by anyone in this world, since you are the only god!
“SARVAM SRI KRISHNAMAYAM”
Sent By
R.HARISHANKAR
