A staff saved him from snake bite

He was asleep when Lord Hari came in his dream and asked hi to stop working as a clerk. The Lord directed the man to approach Jagannatha Dasa of Manvi and take instructions from him.

Lord Hari also told the man that he should become a disciple of Jagannatha Dasa and become a Haridasa. When the dream ended, the man got up and he determined to follow his dream.

The man went to Jagannatha Dasa who then was living in Manvi. He served Jagannatha Dasa devotedly for twelve years. One day, he was ruing his fate at having to spend 12 years when Jagannatha Dasa came to him and said he had asked him to stay back here as he would have otherwise died. He then gave him a staff and warned him that he would be bitten by a snake. However, he would live of he kept the staff on the wound. He then blessed Narasimha and asked him to leave.

Narasimha then took leave of Jagannatha Dasa and came under the influence of Hundekara Dasa or Srisha Vittala. He was given the ankita Sreesha Vittala Dasa by Hundekar Dasa. When a snake bit him, he remembered the words of Jagannatha Dasa and kept the staff on the wound. Sreesha Vittala Dasa survived the snake bite. 

He then settled down in Kuntoji village on the banks of the Tungabhadra.

After staying for some time in Kuntoji, he made Kampli his home. Kampli too was on the banks of the Tungabhadra. By then, this man had earned name and fame as Kuntoji Dasa or Narasimha Dasa or Kuntoji Narasimha Dasa. He was also known as Shreesha or Srisha Vittala Dasa.

Born in Kanakagiri, his father was Thamanna, a clerk. Thamanna had performed seve and pooje to the famous Narasimha of Kanakagiri to beget a son, whom he named as Narasimha.

Thamanna decided to retire from service and he asked Narasimha to take over his duties. He stopped working as a clerk only after Lord Hari asked him to do so. 

Like Jagannatha Dasa, his Guru, this Haridasa too was a devotee of Raghavendra Swamy or Rayaru and he has composed some of the most evocative and beautiful songs on the bard of Mantralaya.    

“Nodele Manave, Kondaadu Gurugala Padaa, Eedillavo Punyake, NadOge Guru Raghavendra Rayara Seve Madidhava Parama Dhanya Maanya”, is one of his best known songs on Rayaru.

His composition, “Guru Madhwarayarige NamO NamO, Guru Madhwa SaMtatige NamO NamO” is another famous work that even today is sung at the beginning of any Bhajan programme or Haridasa Sammekana.

“Baro Guru Raghavendra, Barayya baa Baa Narahari Priyane Baa, Guru Shreesha Vitalana KaruNa Patrane Bega Baa Guruvarane Parishoshisennanu Mareyadhale tava CharaNa Koteyalirisi Charambujavva Thorutha Twarithadhali Ododi Baa Baa”, is another popular song by this Haridasa.

He has written a beautiful commentary on Sriharikathamrutsara. Born in 1740, he lived for more than a hundred years. He died in 1846.

The aradhane of this great saint is being held at Kampli from January 1.