SWAMI SRI VEERABRAHMENDRA

A Monograph on Pothuluru Veerabrahmendra Swamy

The Basic Material

As I begin to write this monograph, I am reminded of the saying of Thomas Carlyle that “The History of the World is but the Biography of Great Men.” Potuluru Veerabrahmam is, by any test, a great man. The biography of such a great man, if portrayed in its true colours, will, undoubtedly, contribute to the history of the World.

How many great men were not born on earth? How many great souls did not dwell bound in mortal flesh? But how many of them could preach commoners the gospel of common brotherhood which Is still as true as a bird gong? Most saints of the common rung bewilder us by their super human holiness. They some¬times overawe us with miracles. The pleasure we derive out of them is momentary. The saints of the highest order care little for such miracles. Of course, they too might have performed a few, here and there, as and when the occasion demanded. But the ultimate goal of a true saint is not that trivial.

The true saint aims, primarily, at self-realization and through self-realization alone he extends his helping hand to those who grope in spiritual gloom. He never talks aloud; nor does ha speak too much. He is always a silent spiritual worker.

At times, he sings as silently as the pious swan that seldom sings. That song consoles us and bestows peace on our soul. That song of His, is but a human song. Such was the song which Potuluri Veerabrahmam sang some three centuries ago to console the afflicted human souls which gathered around him in his mutt at Kandimallayapalle of Cuddapah district.

Kandimallayapalle is, an interior hamlet of Somireddipalle (Lat. 14°50N; Long. 78°50E) of Badvel Taluk which was noted for its mutts. By far, the most famous of these mutts, till today, is the mutt of Potuluri Veerabrahmam.

Sometime in 1970, when I first visited this mutt, a feeling of wonderment haunted me.

Is this the place where once the great soul garbed in human flash preached its gospel to the fellow beings? Is this the place where the great Guru, with a smiling face, taught the common man, the most complicated system of Advaita philosophy in simple spoken Telugu? Is this the place, where common brotherhood was enjoyed by both upper caste and the outcast with no barriers of caste and creed? Oh! what a wonderful place I The physical contours of a small hamlet were raised to the status of a ‘ Brahmapuri’ just because 3 great man, no less than Potuluru Veerabrahmam, lived there for a major part of his life.

I stood there in front of the main shrine of the mutt listening to the chanting of Vedic hymns of the Archaka. I went round the mutt and strolled on the green grass. A few old men, perhaps the residents of that place sat beside me. I asked them to tell me the story of Veerabrahmam. They narrated stories and stories in a legendary fashion, a large part of which included miracles of the great man.

Although I listened to them with utmost curiosity, my sole interest was to note down only such points which would help me to record human aspects of the life of Veerabrahmam.

I had gone through a few books written on the greatman and some books proclaimed to have been written by the greatman himself. I have collected authentic books and articles written in Telugu and a few pamphlets published in English on Veerabrahmam’s life.

These books and articles together with several mystic songs and poems in Telugu constitute the basic material for this monograph on Veerabrahmam. The material gathered from traditional scholars as wail as street singers adds radiance to the basic material.