Kalakarshana of Sri Sushameendra Teertha Swamy at Mantralayam Raghavendra Swamy Mutt

By U Sudhakar Reddy

Kalakarshna of Sri Sushameendra Teertha Swamy was conducted at Mantralayam on November 4th in which tens of thousands of devotees took part and had darshan of the preserved body of Swamiji.

Backgrounder

The ‘Kalakarshana’ a holy ritual of installing permanent Brindavan with the preserved mortal remains of immediate past Pontiff of ‘Sri Madhvyacharaya Moola Maha Samsthana Raghavendra Swamy Mutt’ Sri Sushameendra Teertha Swami in Mantralayam was indefinitely postponed after the Tungabhadra flood ravaged the temple town.Kalakarshana a rare religious ritual conducted after a few months of the death of the Pontiffs of the mutt is supposed to be held on October 6th.It was expected by the mutt authorities that 1.5 lakh devotees from across the country to have the darshan of preserved body of Sri Sushameendra Teertha who passed away in April 2009.All arrangements made for the event including three crore rupees worth of food grains and other material stocked for making prasadam perished in the floods. The mutt authorities are still cleaning up the slush in the temple premises.The Brindavan of Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy is the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. There are five other sacred permanent Brindavans of the past Pontiffs of Sri Madhavacharya lineage and that of Sushameendra will be the seventh one where it is believed that the pontiffs guide and guard the devotees.Mr R Prabhakar the former DGP and honorary administrator of the holy mutt said ,”we were expecting devotees even from United States for Kalakarshana of Sri Sushameendra Teertha to be conducted from October 4th for three days with darshan on 6th. Sri Sushameendra Swamy passed away in April and his mortal remains are kept in temporary brindavan after preserving the body as per sashtras . Several of the disciples and devotees of Sushameendra who may not had an opportunity to have darshan of his mortal remains in April are supposed to have the darshan on 6th,”He added that the the present Pontiff of the mutt Sri Suyateendra Teertha Swami( who came back from Karnataka on October 6th after airlifted from the temple on October 3rd) and archakas and pandits will decide on the next date of Kalakarshna.Mr Raja H Srinivasachar one of the organisers at the Mutt says ,”the body of Sri Sushameendra Teertha Swamy was preserved using salt, karpuram, mustard seed powder, patika and it remains intact. The Swamijis will be a guiding spirit for the devotees from these Brindavans,”