Narasimha Saraswati

About Narasimha Saraswati

Narasimha Saraswati (1378−1459) was a guru. According to the Shripad Shrivallaba Charitra, he is the second avatar of Dattatreya.

Life

Shri Narasimha Saraswati lived from 1378 to 1459 (Shaka 1300 to Shaka 1380). Saraswati was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family in Karanjapur, which is modern-day Lad-Karanja (Karanja), in the Maharashtra Vidarbha region of India. His father (Madhav) and his mother (Amba-Bhavani) initially named him Narahari or Shaligramadeva, with the surname Kale.

Saraswati was a quiet child, who did not speak much during childhood. This lead his parents to worry about his speech ability; however, Saraswati showed through hand gestures that after his upanayana (munja), he would be able to speak. He started speaking after his munja, which so impressed the vedas and Brahmins in the village that it was talked about, with senior learned Brahmins coming to him for learning.

Saraswati left home in 1386 and went on a pilgrimage to Kashi. He took Sannyasa at Kashi from Shri Krishna Saraswati. The second part of his name came from this guru, who eventually named him Shri Narasimha Saraswati. (This is a Sanskrit name.)

After becoming a guru, Saraswati visited several holy places before returning to Karanja at age 30 to meet his parents. He visited various places before settling in Ganagapura (Gangapur) (now in the state of Karnataka) for the last 20 years of his life.

Towards the end of his life, Saraswati met with the Muslim king (Sultan) of Bidar who is possibly Allauddin-II of the Bahamani Sultanate, who was the area ruler at that time. to be revived again. Now his karma for that avatar had completed. Thus he decided to take samadhi. He left for the jungle of Kardali. Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot, who is considered as his Avatar, is supposed to have come from Kardali-van (Jungle of Kardali) to meet with him, although the time difference between them is a few centuries.

Saraswati took nijanandagaman (a type of samadhi) in 1459.