Mantralaya-2069
(The towering spiritual personality of Sri SumatheendraTeertharu part 1)
Date : Nov 20, 2025
Dear Devotees : Namaskara.
| Sri MannMoolaRamastu Mannmathe Moolamahasamsthhaana Mantralaya Sri Rayaramathe||
|| OM SRI RAGHAVENDRAAYA NAMAHA||
Background
The towering spiritual personality of Sri SumatheendraTeertharu part 1, is described in Mantralaya (2069).
Meaning
Today
we are going to enter the divine life of a towering spiritual
personality in the lineage of Sri Madhwacharyaru and Sri Raghavendra
Teertharu. He is Sri Sumatheendra Teertharu, a saint whose brilliance,
devotion, and scholarship shine like a sacred lamp in the Madhwa
tradition. We will cover this in two parts this week and next week.
Sri
SumatheendraTeertharu stands in the blessed parampara of Sri
Raghavendra Swamy as one of the most radiant scholars and spiritually
powerful ascetics. Sri Raghavendra Swamy himself composed many profound
and voluminous works covering the entire Vedic ocean. Once, the
disciples of Rayaru humbly approached him and said that even
understanding one book consumed an entire lifetime. They wondered who
would study all the granthas he had written.
Sri Rayaru listened
with his gentle divine smile and revealed a sacred prophecy. Rayaru
said that “in the future, in this very holy Mutt, there would arise a
saint who would occupy the seat of the pontiff. That saint would study
every grantha written by me, understand them completely, and justify
their deep meanings. Not only that, he would author new works and
commentaries based on his complete grasp of my writings”. Sri Rayaru
then revealed that this great soul would be none other than Sri
SumatheendraTeertharu.
Muddu Venkata Krishnacharya, who later
shone before the world as Sri Sumatheendra Teertharu, was born into a
family that was nothing short of spiritually radiant. His grandfather
was Guru Rajacharya, the poorvashrama elder brother of Sri Raghavendra
Swamy. This lineage was steeped in devotion, scholarship, humility, and
unwavering dedication to Sri Hari and Sri Madhwacharyaru. From his
early years, Muddu Venkata Krishnacharya absorbed this sacred
atmosphere and grew into a seeker of rare brilliance and deep inner
purity.
Guru Rajacharya’s family was especially blessed with
three illustrious great grandsons: Sri Venkannacharya, Sri
Vasudevacharya and Sri Muddhu Krishnacharya. Each one dedicated his
entire life to the propagation of Madhwa Siddhanta, making their home a
divine garden where three ascetics blossomed in perfect harmony. A
striking feature of Sri Gururaja’s lineage is that the women were
embodiments of piety, the children surpassed their fathers in learning
and character and the younger brothers often mirrored the qualities of
their elders with astonishing exactness.The eldest brother, Sri
Venkannacharya, embraced sanyasa and rose to great prominence as Sri
YogindraTeertharu. Sri Vasudevacharya followed the same sacred path and
became Sri SurindraTeertharu. It was Sri SurindraTeertharu who would
later bestow sanyasa upon Muddu Venkata Krishnacharya, initiating him
into the ascetic order as the revered Sri SumatheendraTeertharu.
All
the brothers, along with the young and eager Sumatheendraru, were
blessed with the rare fortune of studying directly under Sri
Raghavendra Swamy. Few families in history have received such divine
grace. Under Sri Rayaru’s compassionate guidance, their minds were
shaped by tattva, their hearts were filled with bhakti and their lives
were moulded by discipline and tapas. This made their household one of
the most spiritually enriched families ever to serve the Sri Mutt.
As
they grew, each brother became a living lamp carrying the radiance of
Rayaru’s teachings into the world. Every one of them reflected a unique
facet of devotion, scholarship and renunciation. Together, they stood
as shining embodiments of Sri Gururaja’s blessings, illuminating the
path of Madhwa Siddhanta for the generations that followed.
From
a very young age, Muddu Venkata Krishnacharya drank deeply from the
fountain of divine wisdom. Sitting at the holy feet of Sri Raghavendra
Swamy, he absorbed the entire Vyasa Traya, the profound Srimannyaya
Sudha and all the sacred Sarvamoola granthas. Such an opportunity is
granted only to the most blessed souls and even among them, very few
have mastered these texts with the depth, clarity and inner
illumination that he displayed.
Each lesson he received from
Rayaru was not merely instruction but prasad, shaping his mind,
refining his intellect and awakening the spiritual power hidden within
him. This extraordinary grounding in shastra prepared him for the
divine role he was destined to assume as Sri SumatheendraTeertharu, the
radiant torchbearer of his Guru’s teachings.
The luminous Sri
Raghavendra Swamy, had kept Mudduvenkatakrishnacharya close to him
during his years of higher learning. Sri Raghavendra Swamy’s affection
for the young scholar was deep. Sri Raghavendra Swamy rejoiced in his
quick grasp of subtle scriptures and saw in him a spark that very few
possessed. With his divine foresight, Sri Raghavendra Swamy
understood that the one who would carry forward and propagate his
teachings in the generations to come would be none other than this very
Muddu Venkatakrishnacharya.
It was with this divine clarity that
Sri Raghavendra Swamy once called Sri YogeendraTeertharu into solitude
and instructed him with unmistakable authority. “After you,” he
declared, “Sooreendra shall ascend the peetha. After Sooreendra,
Mudduvenkatakrishnacharya must take the mantle. This is the will of the
Mahasamsthana. This is how the parampara must continue.” Could the
prophecy of such a realized master ever fail? As ordained,
SooreendraTeertharu entrusted the great responsibility of the
Mahasamsthana to his own brother, Mudduvenkatakrishnacharya and
bestowed upon him the ascetic name Sri SumatheendraTeertharu, the name
that would shine gloriously in history.
Only a few days had
passed since Muddu Venkata Krishnacharya had received the sacred ochre
robes and become Sri SumatheendraTeertharu, yet his divine radiance had
already begun to shine like the rising sun. The fragrance of his
tapasya and the brilliance of his learning spread swiftly, and the very
air around him carried a sense of something holy unfolding.
On
Sri SumatheendraTeertharu’s first journey as a sanyasi, he arrived at
the small but proud jahagir of Arani in the Madras region. The land was
ruled by Subhanuraya, a disciple of the Uttaradi Mutt. Subhanuraya was
famous far and wide for his sharp intellect, powerful memory, poetic
skill and astonishing physical strength. These gifts had come to him
because he had once consumed the mystical Jyothishmathi oil. Ancient
tradition said that if three people drank that oil together, one would
die, one would lose his mind and one would receive extraordinary
brilliance. It was believed that Subhanuraya was the one who had
received brilliance and strength together.
But with great talent
often comes great pride. Subhanuraya became arrogant, intoxicated with
his newfound abilities. He began defeating scholars everywhere,
humiliating them and gaining a reputation not for devotion but for ego.
When he heard that the newly initiated Sri SumatheendraTeertharu was
travelling through Arani, he resolved to prove his superiority.
Subhanuraya welcomed the saint with grandeur but inside his heart
burned the desire to showcase his learning and defeat the
SumatheendraTeertharu.
With a voice filled with pride,
Subhanuraya opened a challenge on a very complex point of grammar. The
debate began like a storm. Day after day it continued, while the court
gathered in awe to watch. For eight long days the argument raged, each
point twisting deeper into the subtleties of grammar. Subhanuraya
attacked like a warrior with words. But Sri Sumatheendra Teertharu,
serene as a still lake, answered every question with perfect clarity
and divine grace. On the eighth day, Subhanuraya’s arguments collapsed
before the saint’s mastery. He bowed his head, forced to accept defeat.
But
his ego was not ready to surrender. He challenged the Swamiji again,
this time to a contest of poetry. Subhanuraya knew he was a gifted poet
and believed that no one could surpass him here.
Sri
SumatheendraTeertharu looked at him with compassion, not anger. With
the calmness of a sage who had surrendered entirely to Sri Hari, he
spoke words that resound even today with divine confidence. “I have not
worshipped Kali.I have not consumed Jyothishmathi.I have not used any
sorcery. I have not taken the words of others.Yet within me resides the
power to weave poetry of incomparable beauty. Let the world see who can
stand against this blessing of Sri Hari.”
The court fell silent.
These words pierced Subhanuraya’s pride like a lightning strike. The
poetic duel began. Subhanuraya recited with force but the saint
responded with verses that flowed like the Ganga from the Himalayas.
Every phrase was luminous, every metaphor was divine, every stanza
carried a fragrance that no mortal poet could replicate. His poetry did
not come from human talent but from a heart surrendered fully to the
Supreme.
Subhanuraya’s arrogance crumbled. His voice fell
silent. His hands trembled. His mind grew still. Before him stood not
just a scholar but a saint touched by the grace of Sri Raghavendra
Swamy and blessed by Sri Hari Himself.
The transformation was
instant and complete. The man who had come burning with pride now stood
with tears streaming down his face. Subhanuraya folded his hands and
bowed deeply before Sri SumatheendraTeertharu.
With a trembling
voice he said, “Every Mutt has scholars. Every Mutt has ascetics. But O
Sumatheendrare, who in this world can match your brilliance? You are
blessed by the divine. You stand beyond comparison.”
With
reverence Subhanuraya placed before the saint Sri SumatheendraTeertharu
the sacred musical instruments Rahu Kethu Vadhya and a pair of
beautifully crafted Chitrasanas. These were not mere gifts. They were
symbols of surrender, symbols of humility, symbols of the
transformation of a proud scholar into a devotee touched by the
radiance of a true sanyasi.
The people of Arani witnessed that
day the power of divine knowledge, the grace of humility and the
difference between human intellect and spiritual brilliance. The story
of this great victory spread quickly and Sri SumatheendraTeertharu’s
name began to shine like a rising star across the South.
In the
next Mantralaya episode, we will unfold the extraordinary and divine
journey of Sri Sumatheendra Teertharu , a saga of prophecy, devotion
and boundless spiritual grace.
The devotion towards
Sri Raghavendrateertharu is the ultimate truth and is the most simple
and effective way to reach Sri Hari - "NAMBI KETTAVARILLAVO EE
GURUGALA"! “Those who have complete faith in this Guru will never be
disappointed.”
|| BICHALI JAPADAKATTI SRI APPANACHARYA PRIYA MANTRALAYA
SRI RAGHAVENDRATEERTHA GURUBHYO NAMAHA||