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The Legacy of Mahadashoha Peetha

Sharanabasaveshwar Samstan and Mahadasoha Peetha has a glorious tradition and history of more than 200 years. It was established by the great saint of the 18th century Sri Sharanbasveshwar. So far nine Peethadipati have ascended the throne- the Peetha. They have rendered unprecedented and unparalleled service to humanity to emancipate and enlighten common masses in the social, religious, spiritual, and educational fields of this region. The glory of Peetha is carved out and reverberates in the hearts of the people of this region.

• Saint Sharanabasaveshwar was the pioneer and first Peethadipati from 1746-1822
• The present Peethadhipati Poojya Dr. Sharanabaswappa Appaji is the 8th Peethadhipati who ascended the Peetha in the year 1983
• In the last forty years, Poojya Dr. Appaji has rendered yeoman service to uplift the moral, spiritual, religious, and educational standards of the common people of the Kalyan Karnataka region of India.
• Because of the giant leaps taken by visionary Poojya Dr. Appaji, today, the Kalyan Karnataka region has become the Hub of educational institutions.

Early Life

Poojya Dr. Appaji was born on 14.11.1935 to the devout couple Poojya Sri Doddappa Appaji, the 7th Peethadhipati, Sharnbasveshwar Mahadasoha Peetha, and Matoshree Godutai. He had a graceful and blissful childhood and has grown under the ambience of spirituality, God's consciousness, incarnation of divinity.

Poojya Dr. Appaji inherited the legacy of Dasohambhava precept and practice from his ancestors. He rededicated himself to the cause of providing Annadasoha (mass feeding) and Jnana Dasoha (enlightenment and illumination of minds of youth through quality education) to devotees.

Marital life

Poojya Dr. Appaji entered marital life by marrying Matoshree Komaladevi on 17.02.1957. By divine blessings, the pious couple gave birth to four children-daughters. Matoshree Komaladevi breathed her last on 23.03.1993 due to illness. Later he got married to Mathoshree Dakshayini Avvaji on 30.11.1993. God blessed the couple with four children. The fourth son is Chi. Doddappa Appa. He succeeded to Peetha as the 9th Peethadhipati.

Education

Poojya Dr. Appaji had his initial education at Mahadasoha Mahamane in Gurukul tradition, school education at N. V. School, and obtained his Degree from Govt. college. He had his higher education M. A. Philosophy at Karnataka University Dharwad under his mentor Dr. D. C. Pawate, the then Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka University, Dharwad.

Unique Contribution to the field of Education

• At a young age he took over the reigns of Sharanabasveshwar Vidya Vardhak Sangha as its Secretary.
• Started Sharnbasveshwar Residential School on the model of the Public School system in 1971. It was the first of its kind in this region.
• Under his stewardship, it has now grown into a giant tree with five thousand students pursuing their education and shaping their careers.
• He was elected unanimously to the Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society, which is another significant education society in the region.
• Worked as a member of the Senate, Syndicate of Karnataka University, Dharwad
• Worked as Chairman of the Infrastructure Development Committee, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga thereby laid a solid foundation for the Gulbarga University campus way back in the year 1980.
• He Undertook Women empowerment through women's education with missionary zeal and established many schools, colleges, Engineering and Technical institutes exclusively for women.
• He is a patron of art and literature and set up the Dept. of M.A. Fine Arts in 1975. It was the first of its kind in South India run without grants from the government.
• To provide a boost to tourism, Poojya Dr. Appaji started the Master of Tourism Department in 2010, which is the pioneer institute in North Karnataka
• To crown the glory of his missionary zeal, he started Sharnbasva University under the Karnataka Private University Act in 2017
• Poojya Appaji is at the ripe age of 89 but is still dynamic in providing vibrant and able leadership to a group of educational institutions established by him. He is at the helm of affairs by shouldering the responsibilities of Chancellor of Sharnbasva University, as it is his brainchild.
• As a Peethadhipati, he provides spiritual and emotional solace to lakhs of devotees who throng in as pilgrims to the temple of the Saint Sharanbasva and Dasoha Mahamane.
• At present thirty thousand students are studying in educational institutes established and managed by Appaji. More than two thousand teaching and support staff are working in these institutes.

Philanthropist

Poojya Appaji is a renowned humanitarian and philanthropist. Every day hundreds of devotees and common people meet him and seek his Darshan. They walk in with their various kinds of problems and prospects – emotional, intellectual, familial, financial, religious, spiritual, mystical, social, physical ailments, and so on. Appaji interacts with each one of them. He provides a viable, amicable solution and settlement to the most intrinsic issues faced by people. He is such a generous man, who wants youth to shape their life during students’ days. Therefore, he is a pioneer and frontrunner to extend Anna Dasoha and Jnana Dasoha to many people in this region.

Poojya Dr. Appaji has a missionary zeal to disseminate the noble ideas and ideals of Shivasharanas of the 12th century all over the world. To accomplish the task, he met the speaker of Lokasabha, the Prime Minister, and the President and convinced the relevance of the vachana literature of Basavadi Shivasharanas. He succeeded in installing an 18-foot bronze statue of Basaveshwar at the 9th gate of Parliament Bhavan on April 28, 2003.

Poojya Dr. Appaji is an ardent lover of Kannada language and literature. He had shouldered the mammoth reasonability of organising the 59th Akhil Bharat Sahitya Sammelana during the year 1989 which was held on the campus and playground of Sharanabasaveshwara Vidya Vardhak Sangha. The hospitality extended by Appaji was very much admired and appreciated by office bearers of Kannada Sahitya Parishat and luminaries of the literary world.

• Poojya Dr. Appaji was nominated unanimously as President of the Akhil Bharat Veerashaiva Sammelan held at Belagavi. • Appaji is a patron of literary artists, besides being himself a great poet of eminence. The poetic talent germinated in his tender age. All India Radio Hyderabad organised a competition on composing poems for children in 1948. His Poem “Pencil” was considered the best poem by the jury. During his student life, he has written many scholarly works on Veerashaiva philosophy. Of them, his “Shatsthala Siddhanta” is quite noteworthy. He has composed “Dasoha Sutras” on the model of Brahmasutras of Sanskrit literature. It is considered as a unique genre of poetry. Originally, they were written in the Kannada language. They were set to music by the great music director of South India Vijaya Raghavan, and sung by the famous playback singer Vani Jayaram. They were recorded into cassettes and CDs and became household songs among devotees. After considering their merit, the well-known Kannada writer and scholar L. Basavaraju and American poetess Judith Kroll in collaboration translated them into English. Besides the English version of Dasoha Sutras, they were translated into Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, and Urdu languages. Being a poet and Philanthropist, he is a fountainhead of inspiration to many budding poets and writers hence he could publish their literary works from his organisation.

• Many luminaries have visited Mahadasoha Peetha of Appaji. They have expressed their heartfelt opinion and comments. Here are a few selected extracts

1. “The Principle of Sharnbasveshwar on which institutions are built and operated is that “No religion is greater than service, and Service to humanity is service to God.” It is a beautiful thing. You serve human beings. You are serving God. It is very inspiring indeed.”

- Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,

Former President of India

2. Dear Sir, Thank you for the book on Dasoha Sutra and the views on communal harmony by Poojya Sharanabasavappa Appa.
Let us pray and do all we can to protect peace and unity in our country.
I pray that your efforts to spread the message of His Holiness Sharanabasavappa Appa may be blessed by God and bear fruit.

-MOTHER TERESA

Noble Laureate

3. “I find very rare qualities in Poojya Sharanbasavappa Appa who possesses the eternal quality of cheerfulness and disposition... He takes on the onerous responsibilities of leading mass, but he never feels the burden of it. He gets things done with ease. Sobriety and spontaneity are his prime characteristics. A kind of peculiar radiation is sensed in his personality... Others always find peace and tranquillity in his company no matter in what distress and despair. One approaches him and seeks his blessings. The beauty of his attitude is that he never feels mundane and is not particularly attached to anything in his life.

-Dr. S. Raju

Director, Rau’s IAS Guidance Bureau, New Delhi.

4. “Shri Appaji puts this thought beautifully. See the spirit of dasoha in all that is around you. That is the universal religion.
There is universality in service. Service is not exclusivist. It is not confined to one people, one race, one class or one religion. He spoke to and for all mankind. And that is the core of this sutra. Dasoha embraces other fields like knowledge. To know is also to serve.
Without knowing it, perhaps, Gandhiji was expressing the spirit of dasoha. Whether it is Dr. Raman, Mahatma Gandhiji. Dr. Radhakrishnan, and Swami Vivekananda, they have their own interpretations. But in all cases, Shri Appaji’s exhortation holds good. Listen to them all. But go beyond their words to the inner core of their thought, there lies dasoha.”

- Dr. M.V. Kamath,

Former Chairman, Prasara Bharathi, New Delhi

Awards and Honours

1. In 1974 Dr. Appaji was selected as HKE’s President unopposed.
2. In 1988 Govt. of Karnataka awarded the “Karnataka Rajyotsava” award to Dr. Appaji
3. In 1991 Dr. Appaji was elected as President for “Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha”
4. In 1999 Dr. Appaji was awarded Honorary Doctorate from Gulbarga University, Kalaburagi.
5. Dr. Appaji was nominated as a Syndicate and Senate member for Karnataka University, Dharwad for several years.
6. Dr. Appaji was awarded as “Vidhya Bhandari” by citizens of Hyderabad Karnataka region and HKE’s, Kalaburagi.
7. Dr. Appaji was awarded a Doctor of Literature (D. Litt.) by Gulbarga University, Gulbarga in the year 1992.
8. Dr. Appaji was awarded "Punyashlok Shiva - Parvati Adyatmik" by Gokhale Education Society, Nasik on 4th March 2002
9. Siromani Gurudwara Prabhanaik Committee (SGPC) honoured Dr. Appaji at Golden Temple, Amritsar on 22nd March 2002.
10. Dr. Appaji was awarded "Kalaposhaka" by Lalithakala Academy, Govt. of Karnataka, Bangalore
11. Dr. Appaji was honoured by "Gouda Prasasthi" from Shree Shubhas Chandra Patil Smarkha Jana Kalyana trust, Palla - 01-01-2024
12. Dr. Appaji was honoured by "Shree Channarenuka Basava Prasasthi" from Harkod Matha, Param Poojya Shree Sha. Bhra. Dr. Channaveera Shivacharya - 02-10-2022.
13. Several prestigious other organizations too have honoured him recognizing his yeomen services to the fields of education, literature, culture and spirituality.

Poojya Dr.Sharnbaswappa Appa Family Trust

The Saga of a Great Visionary, Philanthropist and Educationist