JINNURU NANNAGURU
SELF REALISATION KEY TO HAPPINESS
Born to Bhupatiraju Suryanarayana Raju and Rajayamma at
Jinnuru village in West Godavari district in 1934, he studied up to SSLC. Right
from his childhood, social work was his first love. When he was in elementary
school, he started the mid-day meal scheme with voluntary donations
collected from the villagers for the benefit of poor
students. He also helped sick people.
Bhupathiraju Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Raju, popularly known as Jinnuru
Nannagaru, has taken upon himself the task of taking people to a `sorrowless'
and `tension-free' state. In his own words -
"In 1957, the saint of Tiruvannamalai, Ramana Maharshi,
appeared in my dream. He took me into his arms and kissed my hand. At that time
I did not know who that old man was. Six weeks after that incident, I was
reading THE HINDU. There was a small advertisement in the inside page about
Ramana Maharshi. As I was reading it, I felt as though current was passing
through my body. The address of the Ramana Ashram was given in the
advertisement and readers were asked to read about the life of the saint
through the literature published by the ashram. I immediately wrote a letter
and got the literature from Tiruvannamalai. I was attracted by his teachings
and decided to follow them." Ramana Maharshi attained `samadhi' in 1950.
In 1959, Nannagaru visited Tiruvannamalai and from then onwards started
observing his guru's jayanthi every year. Later, he started touring different
districts in Andhra Pradesh and spreading the message of his guru. During
1984-85, Nannagaru built a Ramana Kshetram at Jinnuru. He also constructed three
ashrams at Tiruvannamalai for the benefit of devotees visiting the Ramana
Ashram. His devotees started affectionately calling him `Nannagaru', meaning
father and started a trust in his name.
The present day society is only concerned about how much wealth a person
has and not how he had earned it. People are now concentrating only on `artha'
and `kama' leaving the other two-- `dharma' and `moksha'. "All men want happiness, which is in
one's spiritual heart. Instead of looking for it within oneself, they start
searching for it elsewhere. When one is in the working state (awake), he/she is
not happy and when in deep sleep, they are happy but unaware of it. Realisation
is simultaneously experiencing both happiness and awareness", says
Nannagaru recalling the words of his guru.
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