Sri Sripadaraja (the saint of saints) is none other than the very incarnation of Shri Dhruva raja, the son of King Uttanapada.
Dhruva Raja also called as Sripadaraja doing prayer to Narayana
Prince Dhruva at the age of five aspired to sit on the lap of his father, king Uttanapada. But he was denied this privilege by his step mother, Suruchi, who exercised great influence on his father and was told that he could enjoy the privilege aspired for, only on being born as her son. Being vexed at this, he was advised by his own mother, sunithi, to pray God to accomplish his desire. Accordingly, Dhruva went to the dense forest to offer prayer to Lord Shriman Narayana.
On the way to the forests, Narada Maharishi blessed him with Dwadasaksara mantra for his prayers. Prince Dhruva faithfully and strictly followed the advice and started his penance standing on the toe of his right leg with folded hands and prayed the Lord.
During his prayers he preferred to pray merely eating fallen green leaves and water for some time and continued the penance with mere water for some more time.
Further his prayers were continued with no food or water but by mere breathing. When he could not see the Lord even at the cost of deep devotional prayers, he stopped breathing and prayed the Lord by holding his breath.
This was the height of penance anybody at any age (dhruva was only five then) could undertake. This resulted in the blocking of the breath of all the divine beings of the other world and having suffered suffocation, the Devas prayed the supreme to relieve their suffocation.
When the Supreme Lord could not test any further the boy's sincere prayers, he immediately came down to the Dhruvaraja's place without even informing his concert Shri Lakshmi and stood before the boy. However, Dhruvaraja did not open his eyes inspite of the Lord standing before him. Thus the Lord who was being seen by Shri Dhruva in his inner vision disappeared from his inner vision when Shri Dhruva opened his eyes to see the same form of the Lord as was seen in his inner vision.
At the sight of the Lord, Dhruva was dumb founded and could not speak anything because of over joy. By the grace of Mahalakshmi he was able to praise the Lord who bestowed him the kingship of the kingdom for 36000 years after which he was made the Emperor of Dhruva Mandala for a period of one Brahma Kalpa, which is 100 years of Brahma.
Dhruvaraja now being the king of Dhruva Mandala is in-charge of controlling the Navagrahas, the Kalachakra, etc. His Loka Dhruvaloka is situated 13 Lakh Yojana above Rushi Mandala from where he controls the movement of Sun, Moon & other planets. Dhruvaraja holds his office of the emperorship of the Dhruvaloka for that period.
Since this is an official post - Dhruvaraja thought that he would not be entitled to attain Moksha, the desired goal of every soul. He wanted to know the attributes of God in a disciplined manner during a lifetime in a place designated for the purpose in the universe i.e. Bharata. Accordingly, Dhruvaraja came down to the earth in an Amsha and assumed Sanyasa to complete his Sadana and goes by the name Shri Sripadaraja
Birth of Sri Sripadaraja
Abbur, a remote village of Chennapatna taluk of Bangalore District, is a place of abundance in Nature's gift and a sacred place too. A hermitage in the midst of a dense forest close to Kanva river where devotees throng to bathe in the river and get the blessings of the saint Sri Brahmanyateertha. The brindavan stands gloriously. He was a great ascetic and a brahmarishi, who had siddhi in tapas and chastity in speech. He is a depository of manthras and had control over senses, pure in practices and earned the love of Lord Krishna.
Studies of Sri Sripadaraja
The details of Sripadaraja's life are mainly culled out from the songs of Shri Vyasaraja, his illustrious disciple and his Sanskrit composition Pancharatnamala stutis. Other sources are the famous suladi by Shri Vijayadasa, and Shri Shrinidhi Tirtha's Sripadarajastakam and lastly Bhimacarya's Shri Purnabhoda Guruvamsha Kalpataru.
Sanyasa Diksha of Sri Sripadaraja
The boy was none other than Druvamsha. Sri Swaranarna yathi was a great tapasvi and the radiance arising out of bramacharya resulted in the form of Sri Swarnavarna that brightened up the surrounding like the golden hue spilling out a brightly polished gold prathima which lights up the area around.
Speciality in teaching :
During his life time Sripadaraja taught sarvamoola granthas for forty times together with teeka. He used to take lessons himself paying full personal attention to students in dwaitha vidyapeeta at Mulubagilu so that the students absorb Madhwa's tatvajnana completely, Sripadaraja guru's style of teaching is explained through the following story.
Ganga near Sri Sripadaraja:
Sripadaraja has his brindavana at a place called Narasimha Theertha, about a mile from Mulabagilu, on the Bangalore and Madras national highway. There is an interesting anecdote about Narasimha Theertha which goes as follows: