NE SRS Brundavan or New England Shri Raghavendra Swami Brundavan is a registered non profit organization whose mission it is to establish a permanent self sustaining prarthana mandir/ Mutt for Shri Raghavendra Swami in the Greater Boston area that provides services across the New England region.
Shri Raghavendra Swami is a renowned Madhwa saint, philosopher and proponent of Dvaita philosophy. He is believed to be an incarnation of Prahallada and is worshiped as a Guru. Raghavendra Swami voluntarily attained ‘Jeeva Samadhi’ by entering a tomb structure called a Brundavana in the town of Mantralayam in Andhra Pradesh on the banks of the river Tungabhadra. He is believed to live in this spirit form and guide and cast his benevolence on his devotees for 700 years since his samadhi. People from all walks of life to this day experience small and big miracles and feel his divine presence in their lives. Today, his devotees are not just people of the Madhwa sect but people across regions (especially in South India), castes and even religions.
The Mantralayam Raghavendra Mutt has maintained an unbroken lineage of gurus from the time of Shri Raghavendra Swami. The current swami H.H. Shri Subudendra Theertha, has recognized the presence of the devotees of Raghavendra Swami all across the globe and their desire to have this saint be accessible to them not just in their hearts but in the form of temples in their communities. NE SRS Brundavan is the second chapter of his global outreach program and the first initiative in North America. Our sister organization Great Britain SRS Brundavan recently established the first Raghavendra Swami temple in Slough, UK.
Even though NE SRS Brundavan is not yet a year old since it has opened up to community members, it has already been a medium to bring like minded devotees come together and make miracles happen. Without a formal team or seed money, the first Raghavendra Swami Aradhana mahotsav in the Boston area took place and saw an unprecedented 400+ devotees gather from near and far. Teams formed out of the blue and fueled by devotion, volunteers organized, crafted, cooked, cleaned and served in the saint’s name and the event felt like a grand and traditional celebration back in Mantralayam. The grand celebration included a free and elaborate banana leaf lunch spread of over 30 items all prepared and served in a traditional manner by volunteers, many of whom were meeting each other for the first time.
Since then, the organization has celebrated Madhwa Navami, conducted a Carnatic music concert by Vidwan Shri R.K. Padmanabha and also gathers weekly on Skype to recite Raghavendra Stotra as a group on Thursdays. NE SRS Brundavan is now planning the second Aradhana of the saint on August 12th and is inviting community members to join in once again to volunteer, take charge and contribute in many different areas to making this an even bigger and grander celebration.
One of the key messages of the Global outreach program is that this initiative is not focused only on Madhwas or Kannada speaking people. Shri Raghavendra Swami is open and accessible to anyone that has pure devotion in their hearts and NE SRS Brundavan IS and WILL BE an open and inclusive community offering hope and faith to all who seek it.
To learn more about NE SRS Brundavan, please visit http://www.ne-srsbrundavan.org and to stay informed or volunteer, find the NESRSB group on Facebook or email info@ne-srsbrundavan.org to join the mailing list, volunteer or express an interest to start another chapter in this global outreach program.
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