श्रीRaghavendraashtakshar stotra for Women !

गुरुराजाष्टाक्षरम् स्यात महापातकनाशनम् । एकैकमक्षरम् चात्र सर्वकाम्यार्थ सिद्धिदम् ॥ रकारोच्चारणमात्रेण रोगहानिर्न संशयः । घकारेण बलं पुष्टिःआयुः तेजश्च वर्धते ॥ वकारेणात्र लभते वांछितार्थान्न संशयः। द्रकारेणाघराशिस्तु द्राव्यते द्ृतमेव हि ॥ यकारेण यमाद्बाधो वार्यते नात्र संशयः । नकारेण नरेंद्राणाम् पदमाप्नोति मानवः ॥ मकारेण माहेंद्रमैश्वर्यम् याति मानवः। गुरुर्नाम्नाश्च महात्म्यम अपूर्वम् परमाद्भुतम् ॥ तन्नामस्मरणादेव सर्वाभिष्टं प्रसिध्यति । तस्मान्नित्यम पठेदभक्त्या गुरुपादरतस्सदा ॥श्रीराघवेंद्राय नमः इत्याष्टाक्षरमंत्रतः । सर्वान्कामानवाप्नोति नात्र कार्या विचारणा ॥ अस्टोत्तरशतावृत्तिम् स्तोत्रस्यास्य करोति यः । तस्य सर्वार्थसिद्धिस्यात गुरुराजप्रसादतः ॥ एतदष्टाक्षरस्यात्र महात्म्यम् वेत्ति कः पुमान । पठनादेव सर्वार्थसिद्धिर्भवति नान्यथा ॥ स्वामिना राघवेंद्राख्य गुरुपादाब्जसेविना । कृतमष्टाक्षरस्तोत्रमगुरुप्रीतिकरम् शुभम् ॥

इतिश्रीगुरुजगन्नाथदासार्यविरचित श्रीराघवेंद्राष्टाक्षरस्तोत्रम संपूर्णम ॥ श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु ॥

Vyasaraja Vaishishtya !

ARTHIKALPITAKALPOYAM PRATHYARTHI GAJAKESARI | VYASATEERTHAYATIRBHUYAAT ASMAD ISHTARTHA SIDDHAYE ||

Vyasaraj pratishthita HANUMAN

Bhrigu rishi is Manas putra of Bramha . Bhrigu rishi amsha came on to earth as Shri Vijaydasaru , who was aparoxa gyaani . NArad Muni the guru of Bhrigu rishi also became guru to Vijayadasru through Narad amsha Purandar Dasaru .

As both of them  were aparoxa gyanis they could see many extraordinary events and have recorded them in their compositions

Vijayadasaru says

” Prahalaadane Vyasmuni Raghavendraru | ahudendu bhajisiro vijayviththal oliva |”

Madhvacharya says there is no difference between amsha and amshi ..so also there is no difference between VYASARAJ and RAghvendra Swamy , so also Vijaydasaru confirms that and directs all the devotees to believe that they are one and  same  jeeva and worshipping thus will only  bring the grace and favour of VijayVIththal

Though a Rakshas Prahalaadraya did not have any qualities of demons . That is because he is a DEVATA in his moolaswaroopa . He is SHankukarna a devata in the service of LOrd Brahma ..Every day Shankukarna used to bring tulasi to the Pooja of MOOLARAMA in the Bramhaloka .. once he failed to bring Tulasi in time for the pooja of MoolRAAMA . Bramha Deva cursed him to be born as Demon ..

MAdhvacharya says Devatas are all aparoxa gyaani , they do not have sanchita agaami karma phala .. so Shankukarna getting cursed is not owing to the mistake or karma [ either sanchita or agaami ] but it is Prarabdha ,. so therefore Bramhadeva cursing him is also a anugraha and not shaapa per se … the result of which is that even after being a DEMON , Prahalaad still had devaswabhava , he had divine qualities despite being born as Demon .

Hiranyakashipu went into penace and with it he made all the lokas unbearable for dwelling due to the heat emanating from him .. pleased Bramha asked him to seek a boon ..

Could he not ask for Gyaan Bhakti vairagya ! atleast some sadgunas , good qualities . BUt how could he ask for it ? his heart was filled with HALAHAL ..not a ordinary halaahal , but poison of HARIDWESHA in his heart [ by the avesha of KALI ] Dwesha means hate, this hate is reason for all the bad qualities [durgunas] in any person .

Hiranyakashipu was this hate personified . his mind was boiling with the precipitated force of ahankaar and mamakaar . Siddhis obtained with such mind is of no use . The whole puranas stress this point .

There is no enemy equal to fame and self honour ..Bhagavat upholds this view .

” I am great , all are my servants , everywhere my greatness should remain ” keeping this motive , without caring for society or good people  ,immersed in pride if one pursues his obstinacy and does all sorts of misdeeds is the trademark of evil .

disturbing the family who is dependent on , or without realising being the centre of gravity for the well wishers , spreading terrorism,unhappiness,jealousy ,hate in society is the very personification of Hiranyak..

By his radiance , knowledge devotion and vairagya ,one who demolished such a viewpoint , keeping self and others unaffected by such evil and upholding the EVERTRUE LORD and showing that he alone is ever  VICTORIOUS is the personality of PRAHALAAD .Who is first among the greatest DEVOTEES .

OUR VYASARAJ is the avatara of Prahalaad and again took avataara as RAGHAVENDRA swamy .

Madhvacharya says Same Prahalaad with special VAYU avesha took avatara as BALHIKA in the times of MAHABHARATA .

BALHIKA raja took birth as VYASARAJ owing to the boon of BHEEMSEN .

Vijayadasaru writes , BALHIKA raja was son of KING PRATIP and elder brother of SHANTANU [ uncle to BHEESHMA ]  . just before the Marraige of PRATIP , his father in law had asked for a promise that one of his sons will be given in adoption to the father of Bride … as father of bride did not have any sons and wanted a successor . This is known as PUTRIKA PUTRA arrangement , So he was given in adoption to BALHIKA king even though born in Kuru vansha he ascended the throne of BALHIKA .

Balhika was a devamsha  kshatriya , every kashtriya desires to die in battlefield to reach higher lokas. In mahabharata war he fought from the side of Duryodhan . [ HE was more aged than BHEESHMA ] .

Balhika raja had special VAYU avesha [ MADHVACHARYA confirms this tatparya nirnay ] ..SO he had tremendous strength . He could not be defeated or killed by anyone except BHEEMSEN .

Bheemsen had taken  a vow  that He would not raise weapon first  all by himself against anyone who is VAISHNAV .BAlhika was VAishnav and had desired to die at the hands of BHEEMSEN . SO using the avesha strength of VAYU within himself ,RAJA BALHIKA hit BHEEMSEN with gada mace [ 732 times ] . This moved the body of BHEEMSEN a bit , owing to which in a reflex BHEEMSEN hit KING BALHIKA and he immediately rolled onto ground .

BHEEMSEN  asked BALHIKA to seek a boon .BALHIKA offered his chariot and asked a boon to be born as bramhin [ as he knew Bheemsen would take birth as bramhana ] and ascend the peetha established by him ..and should get opportunity to worship all the idols that he is worshipping . Bheemsen said ‘tathastu’ THUS PRAHALAAD amsha Balhika took avatara as VYASARAAJ .

Out of the 14 top gotras  Vishwamitra gotra is one such gotra . Sheshagiri Sharma belonging to Vishwamitra gotra was married to the daughter of landlord and village head of BANNUR village VALLABHDEVA , her name was BHARATIDEVI .

JAYATEERTHA muni is one of the greatest peethadhipati of MAdhva Sampradaya . his sisters’ two sons were taught by him and made them great scholars . After VIDHYADHIRAj teertharu ascended the peetha of MOOLAMAHASANSTHANA , he gave sanyasa ashrama to the two scholars and named them Shri RAJENDRA TEERTHARU and Shri KAVEENDRA teertharu .. The peetha mahasansthaana was branched into two ..

SHri MoolRAAMa and DIgvijay RAama were given to Kaveendrateertharu and Satybhama Rukmini sahit Gopala Krishna was given to RAJENDRAteertharu ,

SHESHAGIRI SHARMA was sisters’ son of RAJENDRA teertharu . SHESHAGIRI sharma had five sons .. All the five sons became later in seriatim peethadhipatis namely

1. Purushottam teertharu
2. Swarnavarna teertharu
3. Bramhanya teertharu
4. Laxminarayana teertharu
5. SURENDRA teertharu

After Purushottam teertharu Bramhanaya teertharu came onto peetha . Bramhanya teertharu is amsha of SURYA .

Braamhanya swamy once cane to BANNUR and there one BALLANA SUMATI along with his wife pleaded swamiji to bless them as they did not have any children for a long time after marriage .

Swamiji blessed them under one condition that last born will be handed over to the mutt . As the couple agreed . Bramhanya teertharu made a YAGNYA and havishyashesha was given to the wife of Ballana  shrimati LAxmidevi . SHe became pregnant and gave birth to a girl by name BHEEMAKKA .  Second time she gave birth to a son by name MADHVAPATI .

Third time when she was about to deliver she had in her womb PRAHALAAD with VAYu and Shesha avesha .

Prabhava naam samvatsara ADHIKA VAISHAKHa sudhdha saptami  Sunday . AD 1447 april 22 .  VYASARAJA . was born .

The Boy born was not touched on to the ground [ so was the order of BRAMHANYAteertharu ] ,  so as soon as the boy was delivered , he was taken in a golden HARIVAANA [ the plate on which saligrama is kept for abhisheka etc ..]  and taken to mutt and handed over to SWAMIJI ..

Bramhanyateertharu took the baby to KANVA river , washed his umbilical chord and raised the new born baby with the milk given as ABhisheka to GOPALAKRISHNA .

 ” what was the reason for raising the baby without BHUSPARSHA? “

Dasaru says ” Devatas when in womb also always do PARAMATMA dhyaana [ ie they could see the LORD and prasie him through stotras even in womb ], as they are delivered , after Bhusparsha [ touching of the ground ] the parmatma dhyaana suddenly disappears . SInce there was vayu avesha and SHesha avesha , Bramhanay teertharu knew it and without Bhusparsha , raised the baby so that its devata Dhyaana did not stop and continued even after it came into world out of the womb .”

Secondly .. there is no instance of SANYASI raising a  baby that too from the day of birth ... this is the first instance .. and then Baby was named VYASARAAJ and this name continued even after SANYASA showing This boy was born to spread the LORD’s name like VEDAVYASA .

VIJAYDASARU says

at the age of 5 chaula , at six aksharabhyasa and at the age of SEVEN VYASARAJA was given sanyasa . YATI at the age of SEVEN that means VAIRAGYA was complete even by SEVEN . taking river bath at birth , growing drinking only abhsheka milk , raised by a Peethadhipati , all these are pointers to vishesha VAYU AVESHA and Vyasaraj being a devamsha .

Further Vyasaraaj was sent to SHRIPADARAJ to study . Shripadaraja though lesser in tartamya [ sripadaraja is DHRUVA avatara ] but this gave Sripadateertharu immense fame and also contributed to event that VYASARAJ worshipped TIRUPATI BALAJI for 12 years continuously in garbhagudi [ even today VYASARAj mutt is famous in Tirupati and is accorded  morning pooja ] .. such a opportunity is not seen in anyone till date .

AD 1500 Vyasaraaj established 732 HANUMAN temples . [ Pratishtha of 732 PRANA vigraha ] [ perhaps because of this RAYARU brundavana are twice thrice this number all over INDIA ]

AD 1498 VYASARAJ came to Vijayanagar empire there He became RAAJ GURU to CHAKRAVARTI SALUVANARSIMHA  and NARSANAYAK’s son Veersinha and KRISHNADEVARAYA .

AD 1521  Krishnadevaraya was forewarned of KUHUYOGA which endangered his KINGDOM and his LIFE . Then A congregation of all the scholars MAntrikas and MAntragya  were consulted and called to do remedies . BUT  the force of YOGA was so high that even the most able and stalwarts did not come forward to take on the remedies as they felt they were not capable to face it .

Shri VYASARAAJ then sat on the throne of the KRISHNADEVARAYA . At that instance KUHUYOGA to swallow [ kill ] KRISHNADEVARAYA , came in the form of SNAKE .. while everyone ran helter skelter , SHRi VYASARAJ , threw his orange robe onto the snake and it died on the spot due to the TAPAH shakti [ also due to SHESHA AVESHA ] Krihsna devaraya was relieved of great danger ..

To show his gratitude , KRISHNADEVARAYA  donated the village of KANDAKUR

VYASARAYARu built a pond in KANDAKUR . and he donated all the lands to able bramhins .. these are recorded in the GAZETTE and can be seen even today .

DAAN PATRA in the gazzte at present in museum on pages 269 to 271  says

as having given to three sons of PURANDAR DASARU //

” dheeman Laxmandasakhya shri purandardasjah | vasishtha gotrajo vruttidwaya matriti yajush ||

vashishthaanvaya sambhoota shri purandar dasajah | dwijo hevandasakhyo yajushotra dwivrittika ||

vashishtha gotra sambhoota shree purandardasajah | shreeman madhvapatidasakhyo yajushotra dwivrittika || ”

Quoting Vaaman purana MAdhvacharya says

one who builds the tank pond lake etc gains Preeti of HARI , and give moksha . Vyasaraj did this great work .

shi Vyasaraj took brundavan in AD 1539 -3-8 . Vilambi naam samvatsara phalguna bahula chauti shanivaar in NAVABRUDAVAN ,

At the time of departure  vyasaraj left his mortals through BRamharandra .. He was taken to Vaikuntha through a divine plane , accompanied by gandharvas ,singing , devatas showering flowers and HARI himself giving him a hand to seat onto plane ..taking him to VAIKUNTHA ..

PURANDAR DASA says he has seen him seated in adivine plane and leaving for VAIKUNTHA .

Purandar dasaru writes ‘

” chittasida vyasaraya chitaajanayyan sabhege ….. ”

these words have a special meaning ..

MADHVACHARYA has explained chitti chitta two words as follows ..

chittirbuddhirgnyeya chittantu smruti kaaranam ” – shabdanirnay

the part of the buddhi which is responsible for reasoning and coming to stable conclusion is known as chitti …

the part which is responsible for recollection and memory is chitta ..

fixed minded [chitti ] vyasaraj  rasied his udaan vayu in the heart , lifting the jeeva in the hrudya kamala and slitting the head crown  he left for the abode through sushumna .Such a death takes one to VAIKUNTHA .

Purandardasaru writes VYASARaj as ” suryamandalgeri ”

Mahabharath says ” only two types of persons cut through Suryamandal  after death ..

1. Kshatriya who die in the ranaranga ie battlefield
2. sanyasi – yogi who does dhyaan of bramharandra .

Vysarajaru went to  VAIKUNTHA through both types ..

Purandardasaru says ” PURANDAR vitthaalanu sirisahitadi bandu karapididettiddu kande ”

I saw ,LOrd VITTHALA alongwith sridevi , gave a helping hand to VYASRAJA into a plane .

VYSARAJA stayed in AMUKTA VAIKUNTHA and enjoyed the closeness of HARI for over 50 years , After 50 years due to Prarabdha he came back to earth ..Vijayadasaru writes

TImmanacharya even though he had a son .. to get a son who would enrich their dynasty he did tapasya for 12 years in TIRUPATI along with his wife .

Venkateshwar as if to point out 12 years of WORSHIP of  VYASARAJ . gave the couples VYASARAJ himself as son .. VYASARAJ was born as VENKANNAchar to the divine couple .. later after study , Venkanna took sanyaasa under the tutorship of SHRISUDHEENDRA TEERTHA as SHRI RAGHEVNDRA SWAMY , who is sitting in MANTRALAYA for 700 years .

AS VYASARAJ he worshipped MOOLGOPALAKRISHNA  for 86 years without a break of single day …. [ as BHEEMSEN had given boon to worship all the idols , by then MOOLRAMA was with KAveendrateertharu ] so HE again came back to WORSHIP MOOLARAMA as SHRIRAGHVENDRASWAMY for 50 years

But didnt RAYARU sit in Samadhi then has he not stopped worship of IDOL ..

MADHVACHARYA says[ quoting KAPIL samhita ]  if a ordinary jignyasu stops pratimaarchana he gets dosha ..but if APAROXA gyani does pratima archana he gets increase in happiness in moxa .. but if he stops worsip of pratima he does not get any dosha .

GOPALADASRU says .. RAYARU has four HARI rupas in BRUNDAVANA ..

1. RAAMA
2. KRishna
3. NARHARI
4. VEDVYASA

• AS NARHARI sitting in brundavana , LOrd removes obstacles , miseries , dangers ,abhichara and bramhahatya dosha ..[ of devotees of RAYARU who do seva in mantralayam ]
• As SRIRAAMA , staying in brundavana , Lord gives stability of career , food to those who have lost food , work , career due to displacement of place . those who are suffering from repeated transfers also get stability .
• as Shri KRISHNA staying in Brundavana , Lord gives marraige , son ,festivities , upanayana and other desires [ mannat ] and fulfilling all those gives immense happiness .
• As VEDVYASA Lord , drives away durvaadis , evil debators , and puts down their evil  philosophies . upholding the HARISARVOTTAMATVA .

LORD can do all this activity in one single rupa only ..why he takes so many rupas ?

Madhvacharya quoting bramhatarka in MADUKAUPANISHAT bhashya says

Though there is no diference between HARI rupas ..due to vishesha bala ..He shows himself as BAHURUPA ..and he does only some karya through one rupa and others through other Rupa even though each rupa is capable of doing all karyas .

Those who worship VYASARAJ and RAYARU [ as one and same ] will get complete anugraha of SRIHARI ..

VIJAYEEDRATEERTHARU says

” vyaasraaj vyaas raj  iti bhaktya japan | muchyate sarvadukhebhyo stadantaryamiNo balaat ”

Those who say VYASARAj VYASRAj with devotion will get out of all miseries by the grace of NARAYANA as present in the Guru .

After MADHVACHARYA , JAYATEERTHA if anyone on this earth can completely fulfill desires it is VYASARAAJ and RAYARU only if one worships them as one ..

Oh RAGHEVNDRA SWAMIYE , you are a greatest YAti . you do not have any defects , but on the contrary infinite qualities are there in you like a ocean ,Those who believe in you , you remove all their defects ..You bestow all the desires of those who serve you near your brundavana like kamdhenu and kalpavruksha …. You are complete personality in all respects .. with a mine of good qualities , SRIKRISHNA could not leave you and came back to you as santaan gopala krishna .. and as you have infinite blissfull persona .. So also VISHWAKARMA NIRMITA BRAMHAKARARCHITA MOOLRAAMA came into your hands and thus JAGANNATHDASARU writes and praises RAYARU as

“ MOOLARAMAR PAADA KILALAJ  MADHUPA “

krishnarpanamastu ..