dupi Sree Krishna Temple.........“The Kingdom of God on Earth.”

Udupi Sree Krishna Temple.........“The Kingdom of God on Earth.”

SREE KRISHNA TEMPLE- UDUPI

How Krishna Came to Udupi.............

UDUPI SREE KRISHNA

Krishnaya Vasudevaya

Devaki Nanda Nayacha|

Nandagopa Kumaraya

Sri Govindaya Namo Namaha||

“Canto 1 Chapter 8”. Bhagavad Purana (Srimad Bhagavatam).

Meaning.....

I bow and pray to lord Krishna, son of Vasudeva and Devaki, also the son of Nandagopa, who takes away sorrows, sufferings, pain and trouble.

The amazing account of how one of India’s greatest saints met a beguiling Krishna Deity of a bygone era.

The holy town of Udupi lies on the Arabian Sea in the South Indian state of Karnataka. The town is famous as a place of pilgrimage because of the temple Sri Krishna Mata.

This temple was founded by Srila Madhvacharya (A.D. 1238-1317), one of the greatest saints, philosophers, and religious reformers of India. Udupi is said to have attained the status of Vaikuntha, the kingdom of God, because the Supreme Personality of Godhead came and stayed there in response to the desire of His pure devotee Srila Madhvacharya.

Even before Madhva’s time Udupi was renowned as a holy place. People throughout South India frequently went there on pilgrimage because it was a center of Vedic scholarship and the site of two ancient temples, Sri Ananteshvara and Sri Candramauleshvara. In the Sri Ananteshvara temple, the more famous of the two, Lord Vishnu and His personal expansion Lord Ananta-shesha are said to reside within the Siva-linga, the deity form of Lord Siva, who is the most powerful demigod and the greatest devotee of Lord Vishnu, or Krishna. Sri Candramauleshvara is a temple of Lord Siva, so named because he carries the crescent moon (chandra) on his head.

Not much else is known about Udupi prior to Madhva’s advent, except that the town is named after Lord Siva, “Udupi” being derived from “Udupa,” another name of Lord Siva meaning “he who carries the moon on his head.”

Srila Madhvacharya, in the years before he founded the Sri Krishna Math, was affiliated with the Sri Ananteshvara temple. Here he used to hold audiences spellbound with his learned discourses on the science of Krishna consciousness. Within the temple compound he would regularly hold debates with scholars opposed to pure devotion to Lord Krishna as the ultimate end of Vedic knowledge. Madhva never lost a debate. After founding Sri Krishna Math, Madhva made it the center for all his activities.

Tradition still has it, however, that pilgrims go first to Candramauleshvara and offer their respects to Lord Siva, then to Ananteshvara to offer respects to Lord Vishnu, and finally go across the street to Sri Krishna Matha to worship Srila Madhvacharya’s original Deity of Lord Bala Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a young child.

The amazing story of how the Bala Krishna Deity crossed the ocean from faraway Dvaraka in Northwest India to Udupi in the south is told in Madhva-vijaya,the biography of Srila Madhvacharya. Madhva wanted to have a temple of Lord Krishna in Udupi; the devotees could then worship and serve the Lord and ennoble their souls. Well, it so happened that in Dvaraka, one of the main places of Krishna’s pastimes on earth five thousand years ago, a Deity lay concealed within a large mass of gopi-chandana clay (the yellowish clay Vaishnavas use daily in marking their freshly bathed bodies as temples of Lord Vishnu). No one knew the Deity was there, but because the lump of clay was exceedingly heavy, some sailors loaded it onto their merchant ship as ballast. On the ship’s southward journey, just off the coast of Udupi, a tempest blew the ship aground on a sandbank.

On that very day, Srila Madhvacharya absorbed in composing Dvadasha-stotra, his famous twelve-part poem praising Lord Krishna, had gone to the beach to bathe or, as some say, to receive the Lord. Upon seeing the ship caught fast on the sandbank and hearing the cries of the sailors in distress, Srila Madhvacharya waved his cloth in their direction. This calmed the stormy seas, and the ship floated free. Madhva then guided the vessel to safety. Eager to show his appreciation, the captain offered Madhva whatever he wanted from the ship’s cargo. Madhva chose the heavy lump of gopi- candana clay.

Disciple attendants of Madhvacharya had just started back to Udupi with the large lump of clay when, but a short distance from the beach, the lump broke in two, revealing the handsome Deity of Lord Bala Krishna. But now the combined effort of thirty of Madhva’s disciples could not budge the Deity. Only when Madhvacharya himself embraced and lifted the Deity as if He were a child did the Deity consent to be moved. In great transcendental ecstasy Madhva carried the Lord the four miles back to Udupi. On the way he completed the remaining seven parts of Dvadasha-stotra, reciting the verses out loud. Back in Udupi, Madhva bathed the Lord in the lake known as Madhva-sarovara and enshrined Him in the Sri Krishna Matha. Srila Madhvacharya instituted rigorous standards for worshipping Sri Krishna, and whenever he was in Udupi he would personally perform the thirteen daily worship ceremonies for the Lord.

Dwadasha Stotra........The Sacred Strotam..... in English

Vande vandyam sadanandam vasudevam nirajanamh |

Indirapatimadyadi varadesha varapradamh || 1||

Namami nikhiladhisha kiritaghrishhtapithavath |

Hrittamah shamanearkabham shripateh padapankajamh || 2||

Jambunadambaradharam nitambam chintyamishituh |

Svarnamajnjirasamvitam arudham jagadambaya || 3||

Udaram chintyam ishasya tanutveapi akhilambharam |

Valitrayankitam nityam arudham shriyaikaya || 4||

Smaraniyamuro vishhnoh indiravasamuttamaih |

Anantam antavadiva bhujayorantarangatamh || 5||

Shankhachakragadapadmadharashchintya harerbhujah |

Pinavritta jagadraxa kevalodyoginoanishamh || 6||

Santatam chintayetkantham bhasvatkaustubhabhasakamh |

Vaikunthasyakhila veda udgiryanteanisham yatah || 7||

Smareta yamininatha sahasramitakantimath |

Bhavatapapanodidhyam shripateh mukhapankajamh || 8||

Purnananyasukhodbhasim andasmitamadhishituh |

Govindasya sada chintyam nityanandapadapradamh || 9||

Smarami bShavasantapa hanidamritasagaramh |

Purnanandasya ramasya sanuragavalokanamh || 10||

Dhyayedajasramishasya padmajadipratixitamh |

Bhrubhangam parameshhthhyadi padadayi vimuktidamh || 11||

Santatam chintayeanantam antakale visheshhatah |

Naivodapuh grinantoantam yadgunanam ajadayah || 12||

Dwadasha Stotra Meaning:-

Dwadasha Stotra was composed by Acharya Madhva. At the time of Lord Krishna Idol in Udpi, Dwadasha means twelve so there are 12 Stotras which are in praise of Lord Vishnu. Although all twelve stotras are in praise on God but the third stotra is the philosophy of Madhvacharya. It is a ritual to recite Dwadasha Stotra at the time of “Naivediya” of Bhog (offering Food to God) in Madava Temple.

Dwadasha Stotra Benefits:-

Dwadash Stotra is dedicated to Lord Krishna; it is believed that while offering Food to God we should recite Dawadasha stotra which means we are requesting God to accept our offerings. As we make food at home, firstly we should offer food to God as Naivediya and thanks to God for fulfilling our daily needs, then we should eat it food.

How the Deity of Bala Krishna had come to be buried in Dvaraka is told in Prameya-navamalika-tika, a work from the seventeenth century by Raghuvarya Tirtha, an acharya in succession from Srila Madhvacharya.

Once, during the time of Lord Krishna’s manifest pastimes on earth, mother Devaki lamented to the Lord over her misfortune at never having witnessed the Lord’s childhood pastimes in Vrindavana. She entreated the Lord to make her happy and fortunate, like mother Yashoda, by showing some of His childhood feats and frolics.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, just to give pleasure to His pure devotee, at once assumed the form of a small child and clambered all over Devaki’s lap. Later, when Devaki went to churn butter, Krishna, acting like an ordinary mischievous child, broke the churn, ate the lumps of butter, and even smeared butter all over his transcendental body. He then snatched the churning rod and rope from Devaki’s hands. After sporting like this for some time, the Lord again assumed His usual form of eternal youth. Mother Devaki was thrilled beyond measure to see this childhood pastime of the Lord.

Queen Rukmini-devi, Lord Krishna’s consort, witnessed these pastimes, and the Lord’s mischievous behavior and childhood features enthralled her. To preserve the memory, she had a Deity made of child Krishna holding a churning rod and rope. Queen Rukmini began to worship this Deity regularly. Later, after the Lord returned to the spiritual sky with His retinue, Arjuna deposited the Deity in a place called Rukminivana. In the course of centuries the Deity became completely covered with clay, and it remained in that condition near Dvaraka until merchant sailors brought it to Madhvacharya at Udupi.

Before his departure from this world, Srila Madhvacharya appointed eight of his sannyasi disciples to take charge of the worship at Sri Krishna Matha and to continue propagating Krishna consciousness in the region. Today the responsibility for the worship is rotated in two-year periods called paryaya among eight sannyasis in disciplic succession from the original eight. During the fourteen-year interim period between turns at paryaya, each sannyasi travels and preaches and raises funds for use when his turn for worship comes. During his paryaya,he personally performs the thirteen daily ritual services to the Deity.

Udupi Shri Krishna as it is headed and governed by the Ashta mathas.
Sri Vamana Thirtha, Shiroor MathSri Rama Thirtha, Kaniyoor MathaSri Adokshaja Thirtha, Pejawara MathaSri Hrishikesha Thirtha, Palimaru MathaSri Narahari Thirtha, Adamaru MathaSri Janardhana Thirtha, Krishnapura MathaSri Upendra Thirtha, Puttige MathaSri Vishnu Thirtha, Sode Vadiraja MathaKrishna Matha.The daily sevas (offerings to god) and administration of the Krishna Mutt are managed by the Ashta Mathas (eight monasteries). Each of the Ashta Mathas performs temple management activities for two years in a cyclical order. They are collectively known as the Ashta Mathagalu in Kannada language.
The Krishna Matha is known throughout the world for its religious customs, traditions, and learning in Dvaita or Tatvavaada philosophy. It is also the centre of Daasa Sahitya, a form of literature that originated in Udupi.
These eight Mathas are Pejavara, Puttige, Palimaru, Adamaru, Sodhe, Kaniyooru, Shirur and Krishnapura.
The expenses of Udupi Krishna Matha are borne by the voluntary contribution of devotees and by Ashta matha's which manage the Krishna mutt. The contribution may be in cash or kind. The Krishna matha which owned large tracts of land lost all land due to the implementation of Land reforms act 1975 by the Government of Karnataka.

Each sannyasi also heads his own matha, where other Deities, ones given by Madhvacharya to the original eight sannyasis, are worshipped. These eight mathas are located along Car Street, a road that circles the Chandramauleshvara and Ananteshvara temples and runs right past the main entrance to Sri Krishna Matha. Car Street is where parades such as the one pictured at the opening of this article are held. According to the significance of the festival being observed, sometimes only one cart and sometimes all three are used. A fourth cart, completely covered in silver, is used for special festivals.

Replete with a decorated elephant and a musical band, a parade on Car Street is an almost nightly event in Udupi. Residents and pilgrims alike turn out en masse to see the Lord riding high upon His cart and smiling beneficently upon the adoring devotees. The procession stops at intervals along the route, and the Lord is entertained by fireworks displays or worshiped by offerings from His many devotees. The parades start at eight and are usually over by nine-thirty.

Seeing the enthusiastic devotion of the residents of Udupi engladdens the heart of any devotee. Even a hardened non devotional heart would be touched. Udupi is one of the few places left in India where devotional, spiritual traditions, for which India is famous, are still practiced intact. Such a pure devotional atmosphere is the principal symptom of the spiritual world. Thus a fitting epithet for Udupi is “the Kingdom of God on Earth.”

J.KANNAN, M.Com, FIATA

"WE DON'T THINK TO BREATHE

 WE BREATHE TO THINK"