Shirdi Baba Shrine with Samdhi

Written by London Swaminathan
Post No.1099; Dated 11th June 2014.

Hindus believe that by visiting the Samadhis of saints they can be cured of diseases or their problems can be solved in a trice.

Is it true? Yes, “It is true”, say great saints.

Thousands of devotees visit Manthralaya, where Sri Ragavendra Swami’s Samadhi is located, Shirdi where Sri Baba’s Samadhi is located, Govindapuram Adhistanam where Sri Bodendra Saraswati’s Samadhi is located and several Samadhi’s of Muslim saints in North India.

A Samadhi is a place where an enlightened soul is laid to rest after his or her death. Such holy places are called Brundavanam or Adhishtanam. Usually a Tulsi (holy basil) plant or a Shivalainga is installed on the Samadhi.

Bodendra was the 58th pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peedam. In the calm silence of the night, a melodious voice, uttering Rama Nama (name of Lord Rama) is heard, rising from subdued tones to a crescendo, and then fading into silence again. Sri Bodendra recited Rama Nama throughout his life.
Kanchi Paramacharya (1894-1994) liked to meditate in the serene atmosphere of the Bodendra Adhistana. When he was staying at Tiruvidaimarudur, Paramacharya used to go to Govindapuram and do meditation in the stillness of the night unattended and unseen. That is, nobody would have noticed his departure and suddenly he would be seen sitting there in meditation. Kanchi Paramacharya said that one can hear chanting of Rama nama in the Govindapuram Adhistanam of Sri Bodendra Saraswati.

Mantralaya: Sri Ragavendra’s Samadhi

Miracle by Sri Ragavendra
Devotees of Sri Ragavendra believe that his power will remain in the samadhi for 600 years. Sir Thomas Munro, Bellary District collector (later he became Governor of Madras), went to Sri Ragavendra’s Samadhi on the banks of river Tungabadra to discuss a dispute between the Mutt and the Government in the 1800s. When other officials told him that they couldn’t solve it, he himself went there, removed his shoes and hat and went in to discuss the issue. Instead of meeting the Mutt officials, he saw Sri Ragavendra himself emerging from his Samadhi. No one else could see Swamiji. The invisible discussion went in for some time and he went back and quashed the government order. It was duly gazetted.

Famous South Indian temples attract millions of people because the Siddhar (enlightened souls) Samadhis are located in their vicinity. Eighteen famous Siddhars attained Mukti in 18 famous shrines of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Following is the list of 18 Siidhars and the places where their Samadis are located:
1.Agasthiyar – Thiruvanathapuram
2.Idaikkadar- Tiruvannamalai
3.Kamalamuni- Tiruvarur
4.Karuvurar- Karur
5.Kuthampai- Mayavaram
6.Konkanar- Tirupati
7. Gorakkar- Perur
8.Sattaimuni – Thiruvarangam
9.Sundaranandar – Madurai
10.Thanvanthiri _ Vaitheeswarankoil
11.Thirumular _ Chidambaram
12.Nandeeswarar – Kasi
13.Pathanjali – Rameswaram
14.Pambatti – Sankarankoil
15.Bogar – Pazani
16.Machamuni- Tirupparankundram
17.Ramathevar – Azakarmalai
18.Vanmikanathar – Ettukudi

(There are alternate lists with slight variations)

Sri Bodendra Adhistanam, Govindapuram

Bones say God’s Name!!

Following anecdote told by Swami Ramdas also prove this point:
A famous saint of Maharashtra once paid a visit to a place called Mangalwedha, about eight miles from Pandharpur. At that time a huge fort was under construction at Mangalwedha. While the saint was passing by the high wall of the fort, where hundreds of labourers were working, the wall collapsed and many including the saint were killed, smashed down by the fall of the wall. The devotees of the saint missed him and started a search. After a long and arduous search, they could not find him. Some people of Mangalwedha reported that in all probability the saint must have been crushed to death beneath the fallen wall of the fort.

Accordingly, a large number of devotees joined in together in the work of removing the fallen wall. When they did so, they found a number of skeletons of people who had died in the accident. The devotees of the saint wished to single out his bones so that they could raise a tomb over them. The difficulty, however, was that the bones of the people killed were mixed up and they did not know which were the bones of the saint.

Sri Bodendra Adhishtanam

Now a great devotee of Pandharpur Vithoba — the Deity of the great temple there – happened to pass that way. He understood the perplexity of the devotees and said,“ I shall be able to pick out the bones of the saint”. So saying he took out the bones that were lying helter-skelter and holding them one by one to his ear, he was able to separate saint’s bones from those of others. Such of the bones as were singing the name of the Pandharpur deity – Vithal – he separated from others. The sound of name of God had entered into the very marrow of the saint’s bones by his unceasing practice of chanting the Name. Such is the power of the Name.

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