Shri Vidyadharteertha | Shri Sannidhi

Shri Vidyadharteerth Guruji

"Science can be seen with your eyes. Spirituality is Experience" said Shri Vidyadharteerth Guruji (Dr. R D Kanamadi ) in an interview to a TV program "Science Swamiji" in SuvarnaNews channel.
He never calls himself as Swami nor even his disciples. They affectionately call him Guruji or Sir.
An atheist, Prof. Dr. R. D. Kanamadi, an erudite scholar, pioneering scientist, academician and able administrator of Karnatak University Dharwad, transformed into Shri Vidyadharteerth by the blessings of his Guru Shri Dattaswarupi Padmatai. His constant sadhana and religious practices have made him a savior.He has given solace to tens of thousands troubled people over the years.

Birth and early Life

Dr R D Kanamadi was born in a small village known as Athani in the year 1948 on 4th of Jan. A very devout couple Shri Dundappa Khanappa Kanamadi and Shrimathi Seetabai Dundappa Kanamadi had four sons and three daughters and the young Ravishankar Kanamadi happened to be the fourth son. His father admitted his first three sons to school, but took the young Ravishankar for agricultural work in his fields. Young Ravishankar had very keen interest to learn. This was identified by the neighbours who convinced his father to educate him. Then Ravishankar finished his schooling at Athani. Later he joined RLS Science college in Belgaum for studies in Science. During his college days he used to argue with his friends that God does not exist. Here he joined NCC and inculcated a sense of discipline and sincerity. After completing B.Sc he joined Karnataka University Dharwad to pursue Masters in Zoology. He obtained his Master of Science in the year 1970.

He started his career as a lecturer from RLS Science college and later taught at Karnataka University Dharwad also. He obtained Ph.D in the field of reproductive Biology of amphibians. He conducted extensive research in the field of Bio Acoustics. For this he had to visit Germany as a part of collaborative work with Dr Han Schneider of University of Bonn. He has to his credit more than 70 scientific publications. Dr kanamadi in the later days of his career also worked as an Administrator. He was the syndicate member and dean of Science centre during his retirement in 2008. Even after superannuation, Dr Kanamadi used to work as an honorary professor to enlighten the students which he did successfully for a period of 5 years. Later he dedicated his entire time for Sannidhi Ashram and its devotees.

Married Life

Dr Kanamadi was married to Smt Gangutai in the year 1973. He started his family in Belgaum and had three daughters. He had a son whom he lost at a very tender age. Dr Kanamadi never neglected his duties as a father and provided all the facilities for his three daughters so that all of them complete their higher education. Amidst his busy schedule as a researcher and performing all the duties at Ashram, he successfully married all the three daughters who are now well settled and have happy families. To have a constant vigil on Ashram, Dr Kanamadi constructed his house in the premise of Ashram itself.

Dr R D Kanamadi - A Scientist (in his own words)

In my research h career 11 Phds. 5 Mphils and 75 publications in National and International Journals . My school was first to take up the work in Bio Acoustics in Frogs in India . The work in Bio Acoustics is recognized internationally and the work has been cited in various books . We also worked in the field of Limnology and studied the quality of water at Dharwad , Haveri , and some parts of North kanara distrcts . The work bas cited widely . One of my student worked in the field of Bio Remeditation ie removal of toxic chemicals by the biological substances . We were successful in removing the toxic metals from the water bodies by the husk of ground nut , coffee, tamarind and peas . the work was recognized in IISc Bangalore. And this tech is being used in Tamilnadu .

Gangutai – Hand-in-glove

His wife Smt Gangutai is an epitome of sacrifice, generosity and motherly love. Even after loosing her infant son, she never hesitated in assisting Dr Kanamadi in his activities at Ashram. She became the backbone of Dr Kanamadi in every aspect of his life. She takes every care about the arrangements at Ashram ranging from preparation of the prasada and distribution of customary traditional blessing gifts to women devotees (Udi tumbuva Karyakrama). She also helps the devotees in understanding the verbal advice that comes from Shri Dattaswarupi Padmatai through the voice of Dr Kanamadi. She also makes it a point that the devotees perform the advised rituals perfectly. She showers her motherly love on all the devotees even if she is extremely tired and exhausted. Gangutai herself continues to walk the path of Sadhana along with Dr Kanamadi. In the recent days Dattaswarupi Padmatai is giving instructions directly to Gangutai as to which rituals to be performed during homa. She is also blessed by Padmatai as she also is receiving certain verbal communications from Shri Dattaswarupi Padmatai.

She never tried for any Sadhana, inspite of that somehow she has communications with Guruji. This itself prove that any individual with a deep desire to follow Padmatai may achieve anything. But this requires sincere dedication and devotion.

Dr R.D. Kanamadi – A personality

Ravishankar is a simple and clear minded person. He has a hospitable and welcoming nature towards everybody . he has a keen sense of discipline and sinciereity which he cultivated right from the days as an NCC cadet . He was known among students as an excellent teacher. Because of his simplicity, everybody liked his company. During his career in the RLS college he was a highly enthusiastic teacher which made him a favourtie among the students. He also took care of his research students to an extent that one of them was allowed to stay at Ashram until the completion of his thesis. He never discriminated among devotees or students on any basis. He also was a very good administrator. He is known for being punctual in both his personal and professional life.

From an Atheist to a Devotee

They say that a sadhaka enters the path of sadhana as a result of one incident. Dr Kanamadi, after losing his father-like elder brother to a road crash, was constantly under the fear that he too would meet his end in a similar way. A colleague took Dr Kanamadi to Datta Swarupi Padma Tai who resided at Hosur. When Dr Kanamadi met Datta Swarupi Padma Tai for the first time, he was still speculative and doubtful about the existence of God. He expressed to Datta Swarupi Padma Tai that he is fearful that his death is nearing, and Datta Swarupi Padma Tai told that it was true and even prophesized the actual date of his death as 21st December 1976. Hearing this, Dr Kanamadi was shell shocked. He pleaded to Datta Swarupi Padma Tai to give him a solution to this oncoming devastation. Datta Swarupi Padma Tai then asked Dr Kanamadi to perform the required rituals and visit Godess Yellamma shrine at Savadatti. This allowed Dr Kanamadi to evade death itself. After this incident Dr Kanamadi surrendered and became a devotee and disciple of Datta Swarupi Padma Tai.

Datta Swarupi Padma Tai named Dr Kanamadi as Vidyadhara Theertha for a reason. The meaning of this title was that Dr Kanamadi should spread the power (Vidya) of Datta Swarupi Padma Tai in the form of holy water (Theertha) to all the devotees and help them in getting rid of pain and suffering. Datta Swarupi Padma Tai shielded Dr Kanamadi from never ending dangers and protected him through out. In one instance where Dr Kanamadi and Dr A T Kittur were driving back to Dharwad from Athani, their car veered of into a roadside pit. Both assumed that it was the end. But miraculously, the car somehow ascended back on to the road and continued unscathed. In another situation, Dr Kanamadi was driving back home and it was midnight. He was extremely sleepy and in fact caught sleep midway. But the car reached his house and only then he woke up to find that the car had driven perfectly all the way without his conscious intervention.

Dr Kanamadi ascended the path of sadhana through out his life. He authored the three volumes of Datta Swarupi Padma Tai charitre. Here he describes in detail the life and penance of Datta Swarupi Padma Tai and the numerous miracles She performed. He desired to uplift Shri Sannidhi as a second Ganagapur. This came true in one incident where a seemingly normal lady visiting ashram, began to shout and scream, Dr Kanamadi then instructed her family members to apply Bhasma and in matter of few minutes, the troubled women began to normalize.

The story of my journey is purely an individual science which need not be exhibited with experiments to the society

For a glimpse into his divine journey , Please visit "History" section under "About "Menu