Guru Mandir Karanja-Birthplace

Narasimha Saraswati was a quiet child, who did not speak much during childhood. This led his parents to worry about his speech ability; however, Saraswati showed through hand gestures that after his upanayana or munji (sacred thread ceremony), he would be able to speak. He started reciting the Vedas after his munja, which so impressed the Brahmins in the village that it was talked about, with senior learned Brahmins coming to him for learning.

Narasimha Saraswati left home in 1386 at a tender age of 8 all alone and went on a pilgrimage to Kashi on foot. He took Sanyasa at Kashi from Shri Krishna Saraswati. The second part of his name came from this guru, who eventually named him Shri Narasimha Saraswati. (This is a Sanskrit name.)

After becoming a Sanyasi, Narasimha Saraswati visited several holy places before returning to Karanja at the age 30 to meet his parents. He visited various places before settling in Ganagapura (Ganagapur) (now in the state of Karnataka) for the last 20 years of his life

Towards the end of his life, Narasimha Saraswati met with the Muslim king (Sultan) of Bidar who was possibly ‘Ala-ud-Din Ahmed Shah’ of the Bahamani Sultanate, who was the area ruler at that time.

Since his karma for that avatar had completed, thus he decided to take samadhi. He left for the jungle of Kadali (Kadali vana near Srisailam). Saraswati took Nijanandagamana (निजानंदगमन) type of samadhi in 1459 for 300 years.