Dr N. Venkatesh who is popularly known as Thirukudanthai Dr. Venkatesh is a renowned Vaishnav Sampradhya’s Upanyasakar of the 21st century. He is a qualified medical practitioner as well. Apart from practising medicine, he is engaged in giving discourses on a variety of religious topics which are interesting to the younger generations as well. He is a disciple of Dr. U.Ve Karunakarachariar Swamy and Brahmasri Subramanya Sastrigal, Kumbakonam. He learnt Vedanta,Ithigasas and Nalayira Divya Prabandham from them in a traditional way and his Bhakthi towards his Gurus are incredible.
He is very popular with his one story for each Nama of the Vishnu Sahasranamam. This discourse has been very lucidly told tying naming with a story from Upanishad and Ithigasas. He regularly gives discourses in many popular Indian T.V channels like Star Vijay, Jaya, Polimar and Podigai as well in many Sabhas/Satsangs across India. He has visited
UK, USA & European countries apart from closely situated Chennai and other places. He also candidly answers Sampradhaya’s queries quoting from religious scriptures to the satisfaction of the enquirer.
He never wanders away from the given Topics and be specific to the subject with numerous quotes and examples. His in-depth knowledge of Upanishads, Ithikasas, Divya Prabhandhams gives him an edge over others in the field of Upanyasams. His talks are always filled with lots of small stories and true incidents which makes the audiences pound spell.
He has been awarded many different titles which includes Viruvurai Vendhan, Acharya Ramanuja Vipradasan, Pravachana Tilakam, Pravachana Vidyadhara and the youngest ever recipient of the Vaishnava Ratna award when he was 24 years old.
He arrives in NZ on the 14th of February, stays in Auckland for a couple of discourses, and then traveling to Wellington for a couple of days. Across the ditch, he gives discourses in six centres, covering Perth to Brisbane.
In Auckland, the discourses are happening at Balmoral Community Centre located at 258 Balmoral Road, Sandringham, and this free event starts at 6.30 pm on February 14th (Friday) and February 15th (Saturday). The topic for the February 14th will be Sundara Kandam in Kambar Ramayanam delivered in Tamil and for the February 15th will be “Relevance on Sanathana Dharma in Modern Life”. Devotees are requested to come in and relish in the discourses and the Mahaprasadam will be served after the discourse. He will be delivering the topic” Rama in Sahasra Nama” in English during his visit to Wellington on February 16.
Saranagathi is a registered Charitable organisation formed by like-minded Sri Vaishnav community people in Auckland in early 2000 but Incorporated in NZ in 2017. Younger
generation members of the association are so involved in the participation of Saranagathi’s activities in propagating Vaishnav values in NZ. They are having regular Divya Prabhandham (Tamil hymns on Sri Narayanan rendered by twelve Alwars) classes on Sundays, celebrating Vaishnav Saints Birthday’s celebrations and participating in Sri Balaji temple activities in Hamilton.
Sarangathi has been organising such events by inviting Upanyasakar and Scholars from India every year. Sri Velukudi Krishnan and Sri Dushyant Sridhar are among the few who came to NZ under the auspices of Sararagathi. Last year Sri Dushyant Sridhar’s discourses were very successfully organised and attended by more than 200 people.
For more information about this event, call Sundar Ranganathan at 021620621, Aswini Sundar at 021 031 6288, or Krishnan at 021 229 9515.-TIN Bureau