Saturday, June 30, 2012

Family Tree


Initiating Guru - Ghana Vishnu

In those days a famous Vaishnavite saint by name Ghana Vishnu was serving the Lord on the hills of Tirumala. Lord Venkateswara Swamy once appeared in his dreams and gave his Shankha and Chakra Mudrikas (Symbols of Wheel and conch shell and wheel) and instructed him to do mudra dharana to Annamayya. The Lord indicated the place where he can find him. Next morning Ghana Vishnu walked in search of Annamayya to the place instructed by the Lord in his dreams. On reaching the place he found a young boy around the age of 8 years singing a great song in the praise of Lord. Ghana Vishnu mesmerized by hearing his song and felt very lucky to be able to meet such a great poet. Saint Ghana Vishnu then narrated the incident he had last night in his dream to Annamayya. He felt very happy and saluted Ghana Vishnu politely with respect. The sage Ghana Vishnu then converted Annamayya to Vaishnavism by offering “Pancha Sanskaras”. Annamayya thus became “Annamacharya” at the tender age of 8 years on the sacred hills of Tirumala.

His Guru - Narada Muni

Finding Annamayya in a pitiable condition Narada Muni appeared before him in the form of an old pilgrim and asked Annamayya.

Son, I have been noticing you for long and even the fellow pilgrims told that you haven’t taken any food and water for many days. Why don’t you eat something? Annamayya replied that he had decided to stay on deeksha (fasting) until he had the darshan of Lord Venkateswara.

The old man said, you are still at Alipiri, if you climb the hill in this condition, you may end up losing your life. Annamayya said that he doesn’t care about life. In a journey to serve the Lord of Seven Hills, he would happily sacrifice his life.

Finding eternal bhakti (devotion) in the heart of Annamayya for his Narayana, he gifted his musical instrument and blessed him that he is going to become a great singer. Narada muni also shared his secret with Annamayya that Srimannarayana loves music and he will find Him at any place where there is a pleasant music.