JINNARU NANNAGURU

JINNURU NANNAGURU

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. 

Self Realisation key to happiness.      More details in http://www.srinannagaru.com/snrb.php 


The following video on Arunachala Siva is taken from youtube.