Radhanath Swami at the Ananteshwar Temple

Parasuram conquered these kshatriyas twenty one generations. He performed tapasya and that was at Kurushetra; and after doing his tapasaya, he gave all of the land that he conquered to the Brahmanas.

And he wanted the place where he could do his bhajan as a Brahman. He came to this part, and he did not want to take back what he had given to the Brahmans. He had already given away all the land on earth, so what he did is, he shot his arrow in to the sea, and Varuna, who was the servant of the Lord reciprocated by withdrawing the sea. From approximately the place of Gokarna, down to Kanyakumari, the sea withdrew, and a land manifested which was new land. That was called Parasuram Kshetra, where he performed his bhajan.

“Now, there is a wonderful story in which Lord Parasuram instructed Lord Shiva with a various mantras and various arts of battle. And then Parasuram asked Lord Shiva to teach him. So lord Shankar, Mahadev, trained up Parasuram in the art of fighting. And then Parasuram asked Lord Shiva what dakshina he would like? And Lord Mahadev said, “In this place I want you to be worshipped in the form of a Shivalingam.” So that was agreed upon. Lord Parasuram who is actually Vishnu Avatar agreed to be worshipped in the form of Shivalingam.” – Radhanath Swami

Later on there was a Brahman who wanted to have children. He was a very great devotee, and he came to this place and he performed puja. Ananata Padmanabh Vishnu, sitting on the beautiful Ananata Sesha appeared before him and told him that there was a beautiful silver platform where Yajna was to be performed from ancient times. “If you were to offer oblations in the center of that platform, then a Shivalinga would appear.” But he said, “In fulfillment of Parasuram’s boon to lord Shiva, you should know that that Shivalinga is actually Anantapadmanabh Vishnu.”

“So he performed that Yajna, and therefore Shivalinga appeared. That linga is actually Lord Vishnu. It is understood in two ways: one is that Vishnu appeared in the Shivalinga, and also that Vishnu is always in the heart of Lord Shiva, because Lord Shiva is the greatest of Vaishnavas; so it is Shiva being worshipped with Vishnu within the heart of Shivalinga. This Shivalinga is actually Ananteshwar, because it is Vishnu who is always laying on Ananta, the Lord of Ananta who appeared. In this way, Anateshwar.” – Radhanath Swami

And this is the place where Madhigeha Bhatt came and performed tapasya every day for twelve years in front of this deity, worshipping and praying for a great son who will deliver the world. It was here, at this temple Ananteshwar, that one day as he was performing his prayers the pujari said that a great avatar of Vayu will soon be born by the mercy of Ananteshwar Vishnu. And we know that that great personality was Madhvacharya.
Madhavacharya would regularly give teaching’s here for many many years and in this place… through this window behind this you will see a sliver simhasan. And there is a platform in the middle of that; that is where Madhavacharya would sit and give his lessons from the scriptures to his disciples. And when he was 79 years old, while giving lecture in this place, in the midst of his narration his body disappeared from earthly vision and went to Badrikasharm. And the garland that he was wearing just fell down. It was understood by his explanation before this wonderful pastime that his body would go to Badrikashram to be with his Gurudev Vedavyas. But that his spirit would always be in Udupi.

This particular place, sitting place of Madhavacharya, is very very important. So important that years later one of these Swamis of the Madhava Sampradya decided to install a deity here. So he had carved beautiful stone deity. The night before the installation, Madhavcharya appeared to him and told him, “You may not see, but I am always sitting on that seat. And you should not put this big piece of stone on my head.” So they decided to not install the deity. But devotees with faith can understand that Madhvacharya is always sitting there. At this time we can have darshan.

“The tradition in Udipi is, when people come, they first go to Chandramouleshwar temple, because lord Shiva instructed Lord Vishnu in military sciences. So first we offer obeisances to him, and then we come to Lord Vishnu within this beautiful form of Shivalinga, Ananteshwar. Then we take the blessings of Madhavacharya, and then we go to the Udipi Krishna temple. First you are supposed to see through the window outside, and then go in. So we will do like that.” – Radhanath Swami

At this time everyone offer your prayers and obeisance to Sripad Madhavacharya, Ananteshwar Narayan and continue kirtan. Hare Krishna.