Guru Parampara

Sri Swaprakasananda

(Gurugaru)

Fondly known to his disciples as Gurugarau, Swami Srilasri Swaprakasananda theertha avadhootha was born in 1915 in a small village, Vidurbarthi in Andhra Pradesh. Hailing from the Dattatreya lineage, Sri Swaprakasananda had not received any formal education, yet with the Mother's Blessings, has vast knowledge of the Vedas and Sastras and is well versed in Sanskrit.

Sri Gurugaru came in contact with some of India's finest spiritual gurus during his twentieth year. He received Dhiksha from Sri Poornananda Yogi, a disciple of the tibetian guru, Maru Maharishi. He was introduced to SriVidya upasana by Sri Kesari Kameswara Rao of the Madhvacharya sampradaya. In his 32nd year, Sri Gurugaru received Dhiksha in the mahavidyas of Sri Rajarajeswari, Vanadurga and Saptasathi Chandi. He attained Poorna dhiksha from Sri Gnanananda Saraswathi of Anakapalli.

He travelled the length and breadth of India to enhance his spiritual knowledge. By the time he was 40 years old, he had mastered the 64 tantras, from Orissa and Rajamandri. At 43, he had learnt 70 million mantras from the teachings of 18 peetams and many gurus. He spent a few years in Kasi contemplating and analysing the source of the mantras he had learnt. He was greatly aided by Sri Dakshinamurthi Paramahamsa of Lalithanagar, Vishakapatnam.

In addition to the siddhis he had already received, he became a vedic scholar at the age of 58 with the grace of Chintamani Mahavidyeswari.

By 1980, in his 65th year, Sri Gurugaru felt the urge to renounce the material world and take up sanyas. To this end, he travelled to the Sri Bhadrakali Mahapeetam at Haridhwar's Saptarishi sarovar. Sanyasa dhiksha was showered on him by Srilasri Kalyanananda Bharathi theertha Maharaj. Years later, with his Guru's blessings, Sri Gurugaru took up the Avadhootha Ashrama.

Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswathi

Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswathi (Dr.N. Prahalada Sastry) was born in Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, the first child of Sri Narasimha Rao and Srimati Lakshminarasamma. Guruji, as he is fondly referred to, started his spiritual quest at a very young age. Blessed with divine experiences early in his childhood,his young mind was teeming with questions, searching for the truth. The stage was set for his spiritual inclination that was to intensify later in life.

In the course of time, his interest turned to science. He graduated from the Andhra University with a masters in Nuclear physics and received his doctorate from the University of Bombay, while working at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Guruji spent 23 years at TIFR, involved in research. In the final years there, he was working on a defense project for the air defense. But his spiritually inclined conscience was not comfortable with the destructive nature of his research.

In the meantime, in 1977, Guruji visited the Balaji temple in Hydarabad. He went in and prostrated before the Lord. He felt an extreme thrill pass through his body; and Guruji had his first intitiation from Balaji, that is Balatripurasundari. This proved to be the turning point in his life. After deep thought, he decided to look into the spiritual aspects a little deeper and devote time to work for the upliftment of soceity. He received SriVidya Poorna Dhiksha from Sri Swaprakashananda Natha Thirtha Avadhutha of Anakapalli. And he was showered with the Grace of Devi Saraswathi and given the dhiksha name of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswathi.

Involved in defense research at TIFR, his mind was in search of the truth within himself. It was at this juncture that he was offered a position of Professor of Physics at the Lusaka University in Zambia. Realising that this was an opportunity to take a fresh look at one's self, he accepted a two year contract to work in Zambia. It was there that Guruji met his "spiritual son", Sri Wijayaharan and accepted him as his disciple, in SriVidya upasana.

Guruji returned to India in 1981. He resigned from TIFR and settled down in Vishakapatnam, into SriVidya upasana and worship of the Devi. He slowly started working on means to help improve the standard of living of his fellow men.

In 1983, during Devi yagna, Guruji was approached by the brothers of the Putrevu family, with a request to build a temple for the divine Mother. In addition to the three acres of land that they had donated, Guruji bought the adjoining ten acres and it was registered as land for the Devi temple. Having acquired the land, Guruji was looking for divine guidance, a sign of approval to commence construction of the temple.

In the vicinity of the donated land, there was a small hillock where Guruji would often spend time in meditation. On the slopes of the hillock, he noticed a formation very similar to that of the Kamakhya Peetam in Assam. One day, while in meditation he experienced himself lying on the Peetam, while four others were performing a homam with the flames emanating from his body. And during purnahuthi, he felt a heavy object being placed on his heart. Awakening from his meditative state, Guruji was prompted to dig that site. Unearthed from that very spot, he found a Sri Chakra MahaMeru made of panchauloha. It was later discovered that a huge yaaga had been performed in that area more than 250 years ago.

Guruji had visions of the Devi as a sixteen year old girl. With Her Blessing's, he built the Kamakhya Peetam on the hillock and a Siva temple on the peak, in 1984. Construction of the Sri Meru Nilaya in Devipuram was started in 1985. Built covering an area of 108 square feet, the temple has 3 levels and stands 54 feet tall. The temple has the idols of all the Devis described in the Devi Khadgamala Stotra. The temple construction was completed in 1994 and the kumbhabhishekam celebrated with great pomp and piety. This temple is unique in allowing the devotees to perform puja to the Devi themselves, without distinction of caste or creed.

With numerous loving disciples all over the world, Guruji and his wife, Srimati Annapurnamba (lovingly known as Guruji Amma) have dedicated their lives to the service of the people. They have established the Sri Vidya Trust for this purpose.

Sri Karuna - Chinna Guruji

Sri Karunamaya Baba - The new pontiff of Devipuram

“There is nothing you cannot be; there is nothing you cannot do. There is nothing you cannot have.”

Thus wrote Neale Donald Walsch in his book, “Conversations with God,” a volume that Sri Subbaraogaru treasures, and one that explains his determination and willpower – characteristics you recognize within moments of conversing with him.

Sri Subbarao Kompella was born in 1953, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is the youngest child of Sri Surya Narayana Murthy and Smt. Yasoda. As a young child, Sri Subbaraogaru was extremely fond of his mother and spent most of his childhood under her guidance. Sri Subbaraogaru embarked on his spiritual journey with the blessings of his guru, Sri Amritanada, in 1978, at the age of 25. By the grace of his guru, his love for his mother blossomed into love for the Divine Mother.

Having graduated from the University of Madras with a BE in Civil Engineering, Sri Subbaraogaru moved to Andhra Pradesh and, in December of 1981, married Usha Ratna. A year later, the birth of his first daughter, Yashoda Sri Lakshmi, brought him much joy. It was during this time that his interest in the Divine Mother blossomed. The supportiveness of his wife and the absolute blessings showered by his guru intensified his devotion and dedication to Goddess Mother, Lalitha.

In 1985, the year his second daughter, Purnima Sri Vidya, was born, Sri Amritananda bestowed real amrit (nectar) upon Sri Subbaraogaru by teaching him the great mahayagna known as Navavarna Puja. As the years went by, Sri Subbaraogaru’s dedication to Sri Vidya Upasana and his extraordinary love for Goddess Lalitha began to attract the attention of many, whom he inspired to practice Sri Vidya. He shared the knowledge imparted by his Guru with others and taught Navavarna Puja to all who were interested in the Divine Mother.

With time his desire to spread the name of the Divine Mother, Lalitha, and to foster a deeper understanding of Sri Vidya, intensified. In 1995, with the blessings of his guru, Sri Subbaraogaro and his family immigrated to New Zealand. While there, Sri Subbaraogaru began performing pujas for the Indian community there in order to spread cultural and religious awareness. Working for New Zealand Income Support Services on the weekdays, he dedicated his weekends to performing and teaching pujas to everyone. His unique approach of explaining the deeper meanings of each mantra attracted hundreds of people from all over the country to experience the rituals.

In 1998, Sri Subbaraogaru moved to the United States alone and spent eight months struggling in search of a job. Though he continued his daily spiritual practices, he was disheartened to be away from his family and experienced a great sense of loneliness. His only companion during these tough times was an icon of the Goddess Bhairavi that he brought with him from New Zealand.
One night before going to bed, Sri Subbaraogaru was overwhelmed with feelings of despair and questioned the icon of Bhairavi as to whether she was with him or not during these dreary times. He asked her to show him some sign of hope. The next morning he awoke to find that the icon of the Goddess and the area surrounding it were a little sticky; but in his inattentive state of mind he did not give it much thought. On returning from work that evening, however, he returned to the Goddess only to find her drenched in honey. This honey flowed from the icon steadily for two full days. Seeing this extraordinary sight, Sri Subbaraogaru was ecstatic – and his faith in the Divine Mother has been unerring ever since.