2. Sannyasa and Tutelage

Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham at Sringeri is the first and foremost of the four Peethams established by the renowned 8^th century philosopher saint Sri Adi Shankaracharya, the principal exponent of Advaita (non-dualism) Vedanta. The Divinity of Knowledge, Goddess Sri Sharada, installed at Sringeri by Sri Adi Shankaracharya graces the Peetham as the presiding deity. The Peetham has been adorned by illustrious and unbroken lineage of Acharyas since Sri Sureshvaracharya, primary disciple of Sri Adi Shankaracharya. The Acharyas of the Peetham uphold the activities of the Peetham towards the propagation and sustenance of Sanatana-Dharma while pervading the lives of many thousands of disciples as their spiritual guide.

During the greater part of the nineteenth century, the Peetham was presided over by Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji as its 32^nd Pontiff. He was a native of Sringeri. He was born in 1798 C.E. His adventurous spirit is shown by his having completed the pilgrimage to Benares twice on foot before he was twenty years old. People of the present day who can do the pilgrimage in a few days or a few hours by a train or by flight cannot realise what untold hardships had to be endured in those days; a pilgrim returned safe from Benares was hailed with ecstatic joy, almost as if he had returned from 'the bourne from which no traveller returns!

In 1817 C.E., the 31st Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Sacchidananda Bharati Mahaswamiji, conscious of his approaching day for disembodiment (Videhakaivalya) initiated the returned pilgrim as Jagadguru Sri Narasimha Bharati and ordained him as his successor to the Peetham. On the sixth day after this, the 31st Jagadguru left the mortal body and the youthful initiate ascended the Yoga-Peetham.

He had hardly enough time to acquire scholarship; he could scarcely get acquainted with the barest outlines of the administration of the Peetham. But the young Swamiji set to work with a will. Undaunted by the heavy odds, he soon mastered the details of the administrative machinery. To secure proficiency in the several branches of learning, he invited eminent pundits from outside and always kept them by his side, so that the atmosphere about him was redolent of culture and learning; and he, himself, became a great scholar worthy of the traditions of the exalted Peetham.

All this took years of strenuous work; but he never spared himself. Once he made up his mind, he allowed nothing to stand in his way. He could never be swayed from his purpose. His will was indomitable; his firmness of character, rarely exampled. A great scholar he wanted to be, and he became one. The affairs of the Math were not satisfactory when he ascended the Peetham. He wanted to set matters right and in a few years, he brought everything to order, by paying personal attention to every detail of administration. He wanted to acquire psychical powers by concentration of will and he became a great yogi through intense meditation and perseverance. He conquered sleep and spent twenty out of the twenty-four hours of the day in divine service (Puja) and practice of Mantra and Yoga.

To cite an instance: In 1858 C.E., the Mahaswamiji was halting at Bangalore, in the Maharaja's choultry. The State of Mysore was then in charge of a British Chief Commissioner, Col. Bowring. The Chief Commissioner wished to see for himself whether all that was represented of the Mahaswamiji was true. Accordingly, he went one night, incognito, to the residence of the Mahaswamiji at about 1 A.M. and asked the sentinels at the gate what the Mahaswamiji was doing. He was told that the Mahaswamiji was then engaged in divine service. The Commissioner requested the attendant to draw up the curtain behind which the Mahaswamiji was seated. They did so and he saw the Mahaswamiji from a distance with his head bent down and offering flowers to the deity, oblivious of his surroundings. The Chief Commissioner took off his hat in reverence and returned with the conviction that the Mahaswamiji was indeed a holy personage. Some of his letters to the Mahaswamiji attest to the sincere esteem he had for the sage.

When he was barely forty years of age, the Mahaswamiji gave up his normal food, subsisting merely on the bitter fruits of Momordica charantia (bitter gourd) for the rest of his life. He never showed any impatience with anything that displeased him but quietly set to work and never stopped until it was corrected. This Guru possessed an inborn felicity to turn the people towards righteous path by his powerful speech and profound silence. The then Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar, pithily gave expression to this characteristic feature of the Mahaswamiji in the ‘Ashtottara-shata-namavali’ which he composed in honour of the Mahaswamiji, who is called here ‘Pratijnataartha-Sadhaka’, the accomplisher of whatever he once decides upon.

After acquiring scholarship and Mantrasiddhi, Yogic power, and after restoring order in the affairs of the Peetham, he resolved to go on tours throughout India, propagate the Sanatana-Dharma and from the contributions received during such tours make the Math as prosperous to handle the Dharmic activities as it was in the days when the Emperors of Vijayanagar lavished their munificence on the Math.

It is ascertained from the collection of wills, bequests and other records of his lifetime that famous rulers like the Peshwas of Poona, the Holkars of Indore, the Scindias of Gwalior, the Gaekwads of Baroda and the Maharajas of Mysore and Travancore, besides a number of Chiefs, Zamindars and Jagirdars were devotedly attached to him and showed their reverence to him in many ways and that the Nizam of Hyderabad had great regard for him and was anxious to comply with his wishes in every aspect, as well as be helpful to him.

He visited the important native States in Northern India. He was received everywhere with respect. Wealthy rulers waited upon him with love and reverence and loaded him with wealth and precious jewels, attracted by his magnetic personality. Nobles and Jagirdars were no less behind the great rulers. All the wealth that he thus earned, all the valuable jewels, went to replenish the coffers of the Math.

Telugu was his mother-tongue; Kannada was the language of his native place; Tamil was that of the surrounding districts; Marathi and Hindustani, he acquired during his Northern trip. All these languages he spoke as if each one was his mother-tongue. It is needless to add here his proficiency in Sanskrit among his linguistic accomplishments. Visitors were no less impressed by the naturalness of tone and accent, when he spoke to them in their respective tongues than by the easy flow of his speech and elegance of expression.

He spent over forty years in his trips. His retinue was large, wherever he went; his paraphernalia were suited to his rank, for he would not stint an iota of the dignity of his office, where the prestige of the Peetham he presided over was concerned. It was a huge camp that went with him, horses and elephants, cows with their frisking calves, servants and sepoys and horsemen and provisions for them in store, sufficient for months together and refilled from time to time. Inconveniences never daunted him. His own personal wants were very few; but he saw to it that those who followed him never felt any of the privations of travel. Once in the course of his northern tour, he came to Nagpur, somewhere in the forties of the nineteenth century. It was then being ruled by the last of the Bhonsles. During the minority of the ruler, a huge treasure had accumulated. When he attained his majority in 1830 C.E., he disclosed distaste for business and plunged in dissolute ways.

When the Mahaswamiji reached Nagpur, the Raja did not care to receive him in the manner suited to his dignity or show him the respects, which had been established by precedent. Though the Mahaswamiji had little regard for personal show he could not brook any affront to the dignity of the Peetham. He therefore, immediately left for Kamthi, a British Military station nine miles off and stayed there for two whole years.

As time passed, the Raja started experiencing various kinds of difficulties including bodily ailments. He soon realised that it was all due to the way in which he had behaved towards the holy yogi. He immediately went to see the Mahaswamiji at Kamthi and paid his respects in a proper manner and took him in procession in a grand style, himself walking all the way by the side of the Mahaswamiji’s ivory palanquin. The Mahaswamiji blessed the Raja, now a reformed soul, and soon after left the Raja’s capital.

In 1838 C.E., the Mahaswamiji went on a tour to Rameshwaram and halted in the third corridor of the great temple of Lord Ramanatha Swamy. There are several wells round the inner shrine, the chief of which is known as the koti-tirtha. It is customary for pilgrims to bathe in the water taken out of these wells and conclude the ablutions by having a bath from the water of the koti-tirtha, to carry to their places a vessel filled with the water of the tirtha, duly packed and sealed, to offer worship in their homes and conclude with the rituals prescribed in the scriptures. On sacred occasions, a little of this water from the vessel used to be taken out and mixed with the water required for ablutions, so as to purify the whole.

A certain class of priests, calling themselves 'Aryas' had constituted themselves as custodians of the koti-tirtha, held it under lock and key, levied a small fee on all who came to bathe in the water of the well and themselves took a vessel of water from the well and gave it to the pilgrims who came for the bath. The Mahaswamiji wished that his own attendants should take the water for his ablutions, direct from the well. This, the Arya-brahmins would not allow. They were the custodians and would not permit others to take water out of the well.

The Mahaswamiji wanted to correct their arrogant attitude that the holy tirtha was just their personal possession. He went to another well to the south of the inner shrine, known as Sarva-tirtha and concluded his ablutions with the water from this well and said to the people assembled there, that henceforth, it would be enough for pilgrims to conclude their baths with the water of Sarva-tirtha. From this time forwards, the koti-tirtha was forsaken by pilgrims; even those who had till then accepted the priestly services of Arya-brahmins discontinued their services. Thus, left to themselves severely alone, the Arya-brahmins were deprived of their emoluments and reduced to great straits. The well, koti-tirtha, became filthy and insanitary for want of use. In 1872 C.E., the Mahaswamiji came to Madurai. There the Arya-brahmins from Rameshwaram came to him as a representative body and implored him to forgive them for their insolence and place them within reach of their means of subsistence.

Accordingly, the Mahaswamiji went to Rameshwaram in 1873 C.E., caused the koti-tirtha to be drained and pouring sanctified water into the well from his pitcher declared that the koti-tirtha had now become purified and the crowning act of the pilgrims should be a bath with the water of the well. From that time onwards, the koti-tirtha has been restored to its original position.

During this tour, another instance of a similar nature occurred at Madurai. The Mahaswamiji, with his young disciple, was put-up in the Kalyana-Mantapa of the famous temple of Meenakshi. The young Mahaswamiji wanted, one day, to enter the innermost shrine and offer Puja to the deity. The officiating priests of the temple, however, disregarded propriety and impeded his entry. Thus prevented by the priests, ‘Bhattars’ as they were called, the young Mahaswamiji left the inner shrine, but the matter was reported to the Guru Mahaswamiji by the attendants. The Guru went to the temple one day and ordered two coconuts to be brought and by pronouncing certain mantras, transferred the Shakti of the Goddess to the coconuts and declared, to the thousands assembled at the spot, that he was taking the Goddess to the Math in the coconuts and that it would be sufficient for the devotees who came to worship in the temple, to offer coconuts, fruits and flowers by themselves and wave the camphor-light at the threshold before the altar. The late Dr. S.Subrahmanya Iyer, who afterwards became a judge of the High Court of Madras and officiated as Chief Justice for some time, was then the leader of the Bar in the Madurai District Court and he was the first to obey the order of the Mahaswamiji. His example was followed by hundreds of worshippers who visited the temple daily. The Bhattars were deprived of the income they derived from the divine service they used to offer on behalf of visitors. After months of privation and suffering, they came to their senses and approached Subrahmanya Iyer, and his uncle, Shankara Iyer, who then wielded the greatest possible influence throughout the district and begged them both to intercede for them with the Mahaswamiji and induce him to revoke the order he had issued. The Mahaswamiji, who was sojourning in the district, came once more to Madurai at their request and after transferring back the Shakti, declared that henceforth people might dedicate their offerings in the customary way.

Another protracted northern tour of Mahaswamiji started when he started feeling that the Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar, was indifferent towards the Peetham. Meanwhile, not being informed about the whereabouts of the Mahaswamiji’s tour for years together, the Maharaja came to feel that he should not be indifferent any longer to the Sringeri Peetham, to which was mainly due all the prosperity of the State. He wrote to the Mahaswamiji repeatedly praying that he should come back to his province and bless him. Observing the change of mindset in the Maharaja from his repeated letters with prayers, the Mahaswamiji returned to Mysore.

The Mahaswamiji made use of the contributions from rulers of the great Northern States and from Jagirdars and noblemen, by procuring gold vessels and costly jewels set with precious stones, for the use of the Math and ornaments to the deities worshipped there; he granted endowments of rent-free land to pundits whom he caused to be settled at Sringeri and the surplus was spent in increasing the resources of the Sringeri jagir.

His subsequent tours were prompted by his desire to propagate the Sanatana-Dharma to his disciples throughout the land. The object for which the Peetham had been established by Sri Shankaracharya was that it should be one of the centres from which should radiate throughout the country spiritual light and faith in the Vaidika-marga (Vedic path) and steady adherence by all to the duties of the several Varnas (classes) and Ashramas (stages of life), as prescribed in the Shastras. This mission he executed wherever he went, preaching to the people in their vernaculars, in words that went home to them.

It has been already stated that he had acquired psychical powers through tapas, concentration of will. An example may here be given. A certain wealthy gentleman had constructed a palatial mansion at great cost. In course of time, a rumour spread around that it was haunted; that strange noises were heard in the building when darkness set in and that strange events occurred. It had thus become unfit for habitation. The Mahaswamiji proposed to visit this village in the course of his tour and a Srimukha (an order communicating the date of his arrival) was sent to the village. Preparations were made on a grand scale for the reception of the Guru and at the request of the owner of the big mansion it was resolved by the villagers to accommodate the Mahaswamiji in that mansion during his stay there, as the villagers believed that the stay of the Mahaswamiji in that house would free it from the haunting ghost and save it from the evil repute; and so it did.

One night, while the Mahaswamiji was engaged in intense meditation and Puja, an apparition, dressed like an attendant of the Mahaswamiji stood before him, and when the Mahaswamiji understood what it was, he threw some water over it and, at once, it ran yelling from the place and fell into the well at the backyard. The people rose in alarm and searched the well; but nothing was to be seen except the clothes of the attendant. They then came and prostrated themselves before the Guru and related to him the previous story about the house. In reply, the Mahaswamiji smiled and said that henceforth, there would be no trouble from ghosts in that house and the owner might safely reside there with his family. The above incident was related by the Mahaswamiji himself to his successor.

As the Mahaswamiji was fully aware of the inconveniences endured by him after the demise of his Guru only six days after his own assumption of sannyasa, he became anxious soon after reaching his sixtieth year to adopt a worthy disciple while he was himself in vigorous health, to conduct the education of his pupil in the proper manner, to make him well-acquainted with the practice of sannyasa and the methods of the administration of the Math and to make him in every way worthy of his exalted position. This anxiety increased from day to day and he was constantly obtaining and examining the horoscopes of eligible youths in Sringeri and elsewhere and also making enquiries for eligible horoscopes through His Highness Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. Eight years were spent in these deliberations. No horoscope that had been examined till then was found to be satisfactory.

Then, one night, while the Mahaswamiji was worshipping God alone, he saw the figure of a married lady standing before him and heard it say to him, “Make room”. Then to his astonishment, the figure vanished. He considered it as a voice from the heavens and began to divine the meaning of it. He interpreted it to mean that he should leave Sringeri for the purpose of selecting a successor. It was not easy for him at that time to make all necessary arrangements and to leave the place at a moment’s notice.

Nevertheless, the very next day, he visited the temple of Sri Sharada and worshipped the Goddess with great devotion and having prayed to the deity, left Sringeri on foot and came to Sacchidanandapura, which is just one mile outside Sringeri. He halted there for some days and having made all necessary arrangements travelled onwards and reached Mysore.

It is to be noted here that the thought of adopting a disciple first occurred to Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji when he was sixty years old in the year Pingala (1858 C.E) the very year Shivaswami, the third son of Kunigal Rama Shastri was born in Mysore. Though there is no means of knowing whether the Mahaswamiji was aware of this coincidence, it is a fact that as soon as he reached Mysore, the Mahaswamiji, after seeing the Maharaja and acquainting him with the object of his journey, sent for Lakshminarasimha Shastri, the eldest son of Kunigal Rama Shastri through the Maharaja, and also made him bring Shivaswami, who was under his protection. From this circumstance, it would seem as if the Mahaswamiji had somehow made up his mind at the time of setting out from Sringeri or even before it that Shivaswami and no other lad was eligible for the place of his successor.

The Mahaswamiji saw the eight year old lad who had accompanied his eldest brother and graciously asked him, “Is there anything that I could do for you, my sweet child?” to which came the unhesitating reply in a Sanskrit verse:

(The time is now ripe for the gift. I am the recipient and You the giver. None else shall I ask. Vouchsafe unto me steadfast devotion unto You. O Shambho, full of mercy! I am thereby blessed.)

This was a prayer to Shiva, peculiarly appropriate to the occasion and in harmony with the Upanishadic doctrine that the Guru was God Himself in human form. The boy wanted nothing but steadfast devotion to the Guru. It is impossible to describe the delight of the Mahaswamiji at hearing these words from the boy. Many people might think it incredible that Shivaswami who was barely eight years old and ignorant of the world should have given the answer that he did; but as there is positive and direct evidence for this anecdote, the only conclusion at which one can arrive is the truth of the Shastraic theory that the experience of the past births endures in living beings. The Mahaswamiji felt that his daily prayer for many years at the time of worshipping Chandramoulishwara: “सच्छिष्यो मे भूयात् मच्छिष्यो पण्डितो भवतु “, that he might be blessed with a worthy disciple who could develop into a great Jnani had at last borne fruit. He sent Lakshminarasimha Shastri and Shivaswami home with due honours, rewarding the former liberally and giving the latter gifts of fruit and clothes suitable to his age.

To fulfill the objective of his tour, the Mahaswamiji had a conference with the Maharaja who was always graciously disposed towards the Math as well as was full of devotion and practical knowledge in worldly affairs. Mahaswamiji decided to appoint Shivaswami, the third son of Kunigal Rama Shastri, as his successor.

Lakshminarasimha Shastri, at that time, was without a male issue. He looked upon his younger brother as his own son and brought him up with great tenderness and made him forget his sorrow at being so early rendered an orphan. Lakshminarasimha Shastri would seat Shivaswami on his lap and without overtaxing his childish powers, would teach him songs in praise of God, acquaint him with their meaning in easy words and rejoice at his intelligence and his splendid inheritance of merit from previous births. In the bright half of Jyeshta in the year Krodhana (1865 C.E.) he had performed the boy’s Upanayanam (investiture of sacred thread) ceremony and after the performance of the first Upakarma (annual Vedic ritual for all endowed with the sacred thread), he had commenced that teaching which is indispensable to Brahmins, the teaching of the Vedas. To this elder brother, the Mahaswamiji broached the question of nominating the boy for the Sringeri Peetham.

Lakshminarasimha Shastri did not like to part from the boy; for the installation of the boy as the heir-apparent to the Yoga Peetham meant that he should be taken away from his home surroundings and brought up henceforth under the auspices of the Guru. The latter said to the Shastri that, according to the prognostications of the horoscope, the boy would be in serious danger of life in his sixteenth year. The Shastri replied that it was all the more reason that a boy, with a short life before him, should not be selected for the Peetham. The Guru said that it was the very reason why the boy should be chosen; for entry into the fourth Ashrama was always considered a second birth, whereby the predestined fortunes of bodily birth would lose all force; moreover the grace of Sharadamba, the presiding deity of the Peetham, would avert all misfortunes as the boy would come under Her special protection. This had some effect on the mind of the guardian but still he was unwilling to part with the boy. Then, as per the Guru’s instruction the Maharaja convinced the Shastri by making him recollect the message of his father Kunigal Rama Shastri before his death entrusting the boys to the care and guardianship of Maharaja.

The sixth day of the dark half of Ashada of Akshaya, S.S. 1789 (Friday, the 2nd August, 1866) was appointed as the day for conferring sannyasa on Shivaswami and making him the disciple and successor of the Mahaswamiji. Orders were issued to all the palace officers to have the necessary preparations completed before that day.

On the day previous to the appointed day, the Maharaja sent a palanquin to fetch Shivaswami to the palace and received him in his private chambers. Seating him on his lap, the Maharaja talked to him with great affection. Seeing that the boy’s tuft of hair was loose, the Maharaja tried to tie it up in a knot but the hair being short would not allow him to do so. Thereupon, the Maharaja smilingly remarked, “Your hair refuses to be bound up, my sweet boy!” referring to the impending necessity for having it shaved on the morrow. He also said, “Today it is quite easy for me to make you sit by my side; but tomorrow, I shall have to offer you prostrations and stand at a distance.” With these and other words he tested the boy’s readiness to stand the ordeal. He then bade all the ladies of the palace bow before Shivaswami saying to them, “The dear little Shastri will become a great Guru tomorrow.” Presentations of fruit of a great many varieties were then offered to Shivaswami and he was sent back to the house with all the customary palace honours.

At 6 o’clock on the morning of the appointed day, the officials of the palace and the Math, came to Lakshminarasimha Shastri’s house with the palanquin, the chatra, the chamara and other palace honours, to conduct Shivaswami to the Math. The boy had suffered from severe headache the whole of the previous night after his return from the palace and the headache had not left him that morning. Subrahmanya Shastri, a native of chola-desha who had continued to be in the house as one of its inmates ever since the days of Kunigal Rama Shastri and had earned the confidence and regard of both Rama Shastri and his son Lakshminarasimha Shastri gave Shivaswami a bath, made him perform his morning Sandhyavandana and Agnikarya and having spoken to Lakshminarasimha Shastri who was lying in great affliction, such words of consolation as were appropriate, made Shivaswami prostrate before his elder brother for the last time and lifted him up and placed him in the palanquin, brought him to the Math and led him before the Mahaswamiji.

The Mahaswamiji was greatly pleased at seeing the boy upon whom he had set his heart, standing before him, ready to receive sannyasa and sent him to the temple of Lakshmiramana Swami, the place selected for the purpose of performing the ceremonies concerned. There Shivaswami was again made to bathe and perform the other rites that form part of the sannyasa ceremony. For the purpose of making Preshoccharana, (the declaration of renunciation), Shivaswami was conducted on foot to the lake known as Karangi-kere. Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji also came there and as soon as Shivaswami had made the declaration, he called the boy into his presence, gave him the Kaupina (loin cloth), Kashaya (ochre robes), a Danda (stick), a Kamandala (water-pot) and Padukas (sandals) necessary for a Sannyasin and returned to the temple of Lakshmiramana Swami with his disciple. There the young Sannyasin received at the hands of Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji the Mahavakya-Upadesha (initiation into the great Upanishadic sentences) and the Yogapatta (title); the other ceremonies were also performed. While these ceremonies were taking place, the Maharaja was present in the hall which was crowded with palace Vidwans and all the prominent persons of Mysore.

The Yoga-patta conferred on the new Swami, ‘Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati’ was a long compound name; but the Guru wanted that the name of his Guru Sacchidananda, who was a great yogi, should be given to the initiate; the pundits assembled there were of the opinion that Shiva, the first part of the name given by the father should be added; the Maharaja who was present throughout the ceremonies thought his Guru's name (Narasimha Bharati) should also be added. The result of all this was a long name; people were content to call him the younger Swami. Then the Maharaja and all the pundits and others assembled paid homage to the new Swamiji.

By the time all the ceremonies were completed in strict accordance with the Shastras, evening came on. The little Swami being so young and having suffered from severe headache the previous night, besides being subjected to fasting and physical hardship from morning till night, was greatly tired. He was again made to bathe and sit by the side of his Guru and perform the evening Ahnika ceremony. He was then given some refreshment consisting of a light meal of fried grains, and made to sleep on an antelope skin by the side of his Guru while the latter performed his evening worship.

The boy soon fell asleep and was heard to murmur in his sleep 'Sarvoham', 'Sarvoham', 'Sarvoham', meaning ‘I am all’, ‘I am all’, ‘I am all’. Was it cosmic consciousness that had come to him on the very first day of his initiation into the fourth order - the feeling of the identity of his Self with the whole universe of existing things? The scriptures say that this great experience had come to great sages like Shuka and Vamadeva when they were infants. The Guru who was then engaged in his usual meditation heard the murmured words. What should have been the delight and amazement of the Guru on that occasion! What should have been the force of experience of past births of the young Swami!

On the second day of the Swami’s sannyasa, following the practice of the Math, the ceremony of Pattabhisheka (coronation) was performed with great pomp. On this occasion, the Maharaja and the Chief Commissioner, Col. Bowring and the other high officials of the State came to the Math and were present during the installation of the young Swami, offered costly gifts and paid him the respects due to his exalted position.

The Maharaja asked the boy on this occasion what he wanted. The reply was that two young elephants were what he desired. Asked what for, he replied that they were wanted for being stationed one on each side of the gate of the Sharadamba temple during Puja time waving a Chowry each with the trunk. The Maharaja was immensely pleased with the reply and ordered that a young cow-elephant which alone was available then in the palace stables should be immediately sent to the Math. This elephant became a favourite with the young Swami and accompanied him during his tours.

Sri Narasimha Bharati was greatly pleased at the success of his efforts for a period of eight years to acquire a worthy disciple, thanks to the grace of Sri Sharadamba and the powerful influence of the Maharaja. He decided to perform the Chaturmasya-Sankalpa (stay in a single place for two / four months) and the Vyasa-Puja for that year on the banks of the Cauvery. Helped by the Maharaja, he came to Pashchimavahini near Srirangapatnam and underwent the Chaturmasya ceremony.

The old Guru now wished that the young Swami should get accustomed to the tradition of the Math and the duties and responsibilities of touring. For constant touring throughout the extensive jurisdiction of the Peetham was required for teaching to the people the Vaidika-Dharma as laid down in the scriptures and imparting the higher Upanishadic-Vidya to such as were competent and in proportion as they could profit by it. It was not enough that the Guru should be deeply versed in the Shastras. His eloquence should be persuasive and convincing and his personality should be an inspiration to those who come in contact with him. So, the Guru had the intention of taking the young Swami on an extended tour. After the Charturmasya-Sankalpa had been fulfilled, he proceeded on his further travel taking the young Swami with him to Mysore.

The Guru's watchfulness in providing for the literary education of his young charge and his proper upbringing, in the midst of a protracted tour, was indicative of his practical foresight and solicitude and love. In order to teach Amara (Sanskrit lexicon) and Shabdas (nouns and their declensions) he engaged an old pundit by name Kunigal Shama Shastri who was in his time a pupil of the late Kunigal Rama Shastri.

The Guru surrounded the young Swami with promising intelligent and well-behaved boys of his age, who could board and study with him and also kept him out of the harm's way. When his secular studies for the day were over, the disciple was kept by the Guru by his side and given instructions by the Mahaswamiji himself, in the niceties of Vedic Dharma, the grandeur of piety and love to Ishwara, the duties of a Sannyasin and incumbent of the Peetham. The old Guru spared the necessary time for it in the midst of his heavy duties. The young Swami who left his house and came away to the Math on the morning of the day he assumed sannyasa had no opportunity of again seeing his brother or his other relations for some time and it must be said that indeed he never thought of them again as his relations. He looked upon Sri Narasimha Bharati as not only his Guru but his father, mother, brother and God and made it his duty to act strictly in accordance with his wishes and strive to please him every minute of his life.

It is no exaggeration to say that the responsibilities undertaken by Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji in the matter of protecting and educating his young disciple were no less arduous than those undertaken by Maharshi Vishwamitra in respect of Rama and Lakshmana when their father king Dasharatha being requested by the Maharishi sent them with him while they were yet extremely young.

The young Swami would rise at 6 o’clock every morning as commanded by the Mahaswamiji and having bathed, he would perform his ahnika ceremonies. He would then proceed to worship God Chandramoulishwara in the image presented to him by his Guru; and having prostrated before his Guru in accordance with the rules of sannyasa, he would take his first meal of the day at about 11 o’clock.

Even though he did not make any efforts to commit to memory the lessons of each day, yet he displayed a phenomenal capacity to repeat them perfectly well whenever called upon to do so, by the teacher. Two sargas of Raghuvamsha, two of Kumara-sambhava, and one Magha – in all, five sargas of Kavya together with four kandas of Champu-ramayana were studied by the Swami under Kunigal Shama Shastri. Before he had completed one or two sargas of Kavya, the Swami was able to read other works which were new to him; he posed his doubts which occurred to him in the course of his reading to the Shastri.

When Shama Shastri began to teach Naishada to the young Swami, the teacher informed Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji of his high opinion regarding the intelligence and natural capacity of the young Swami and suggested that Lakshminarasimha Shastri might be appointed teacher in his stead.

The delight of Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji and of Lakshminarasimha Shastri at hearing the progress of the young Swami knew no bounds. Lakshminarasimha Shastri began to teach the young Swami two or three sargas of Naishada and the Swami became fairly well-versed in literature when he was about eleven years old. In his twelfth year, he began to learn Tarka, which was the branch of learning that had descended in his family for generations from father to son and the one that was necessary for the mastery of every other Shastra. Three pupils from South India, who were intelligent and capable, were associated with the Swami in his lessons. As soon as the Swami had mastered Tarka-sangraha, Deepika and Muktavali, he was asked to teach these subjects one after the other to his fellow pupils who were less able. Soon he became very proficient in Tarka. As the Swami’s education had to be conducted during his itineration ever since he assumed sannyasa, uninterrupted study was not possible in his case and he had to spend a fairly long time over this one subject of study.

Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji set out with his disciple from Mysore and went first to Nanjangud to visit God Srikantheshwara. The old master’s love for his young pupil was palpable once when the young Swami fell ill, during a visit to the shrine of Srikantheswara of Nanjangud. The master intensely prayed for the recovery of his disciple, himself offered worship to the deity there and when the boy recovered in response, as the master believed, to his devout prayer, the master ordered a gold image of the young Swami's likeness to be made and had it put-up in front of the Peetham of the Utsava-murti (the procession image) of the deity of the temple, as a sign that the boy was now entrusted to the care of a greater being than himself. The statuette is still to be seen on the silver pedestal in front of the processional image of Lord Srikantheshwara.

From Nanjangud, the Swami descended the ghats through Chamarajnagara and went into the Madras Presidency. After visiting Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchy, Chittoor, Kadappa, Kurnool, Madras and other places, and having performed pilgrimages to the holy places in the vicinity, the Swamiji returned to Sringeri on Friday, the second day of the dark half of Ashada in the year Ishwara (1877 C.E).

The young Swami's devotion and affection to the master were equally great. This can be seen from the fine hymns sung by him on several occasions. The following stanza, out of them, may serve as a specimen:

(O Narasimha, the pre-eminent Guru, what else is there to ask of you, who, out of your own volition, called me in my dream and placed your feet on my head with extreme compassion?)

As Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji left Sringeri in the year Krodhana and after extensive tour returned to Sringeri in the year Ishwara, his tour lasted about twelve years and at the end of that tour, Sri Narasimha Bharati was eighty years old, while the young Swami was twenty.

At this time, Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar, son of the Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III was a minor. The Maharani, Devajammanni of Sitavilas Sannidhana was one who fully understood the power of Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji to initiate his pupils into religious truth, became desirous of obtaining for her son an interview with the Mahaswamiji and an initiation into Shiva-Panchakshari-Mantra. Aware that the Guru was already eighty years of age, she decided that no time was to be lost and communicated her wishes to the Mahaswamiji by letter.

The Mahaswamiji accepted the invitation extended to him by the Maharani of Mysore and reached the capital city with his disciple on Sunday, the second of the bright half of Phalguna of the year Bahudhanya 1879 C.E. Being received with great cordiality by the Maharani Devajammanni of Sita Vilas Sannidhana, he initiated Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar into the mysteries of Shiva Panchakshari Mantra. In the course of conversation, he told Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar that the mutual love and regard which had existed between himself and Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar would continue in the relations between his young disciple and Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar. A pearl necklace of great value was presented by the young Swami to Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar on this occasion. After the presentation of Phala-Mantrakshata the Mahaswamiji took leave of the Maharaja and returned to Sringeri in great satisfaction.

The Guru initiated the young Swami into several mantras needed for the Upasana of the deities worshipped in the Peetham. Before the young Swami was twenty years old, he had received his initiation at the hands of his Guru into the mysteries of Srividya, Narasimha-mantra and Dakshinamurti-mantra as transmitted from Guru to disciple for generations in the Sringeri Math. He was also initiated into some of the most necessary portions of yoga and the methods of Nirguna-Samadhi. As has been already pointed out, the wonderful effects of the experiences of Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Swamiji in his past births manifested themselves in several ways. After his initiation by his Guru, he became enamoured of yoga and was constantly reading works on that subject and making inquiries regarding it if any persons proficient in that art came to see him. These facts were known to the Guru who rejoiced in the progress of his pupil and encouraged him to some extent; but he was telling him from time to time that the time had not yet come for sitting down to the practice of yoga or the repetition of mantras, that he should cultivate the learning of Shastras as a form of worship of Saraswati and that the practice of yoga and the mantras would easily be acquired by him after the completion of his studies in the Shastras.

But whatever others may say and howsoever much one may think within oneself, the force of past experiences is indeed overwhelming. How can man fail to act in accordance with it? How can he oppose it? The young Swami became apathetic to the acquisition of learning and to worldly affairs. An intense desire seized him that he should wander forth alone into the wilderness and attain emancipation by the realization of jnana. He lost his cheerfulness and enthusiasm for work. He became indifferent to food and bodily wants and always appeared gloomy. Lakshminarasimha Shastri who came to learn the condition of the young Swami from his classmates attempted to ascertain the cause by questioning him on the subject. Then, the Swami who remembered how Sri Rama had responded under similar circumstances to his Guru, Vasishta, quoted the Lord’s very own words:

(O Muni, I am a hapless person walking in the path set by the web of Vasanas (tendencies) of my previous births. What can I do?)

Lakshminarasimha Shastri narrated anecdotes and experiences from the Vedas and from daily life and prayed that the impulses of Vairagya which had come to the young Swami so early in life should be stemmed. But though Lakshminarasimha Shastri was held by the young Swami in high regard, it proved to be of no avail in the present situation.

The whole situation was then brought to the notice of the Guru who came to the decision that it was necessary to counteract the mental tendencies of the young Swami. He sent for him and questioned him in private regarding his intentions. The aged Mahaswamiji had become hard of hearing and it was not possible for anyone to carry on long conversations with him by word of mouth. Knowing this, the young Swami made known to him in writing, his desire to retire into a forest for the purpose of meditation. First, the young Swami would write out all that he had to say and the Guru would read it and reply by word of mouth. Then, again, the disciple would try to meet the objections raised by his Guru and put his own views and arguments in writing to which the Guru would again reply by word of mouth and so on. In this manner, the discussion went on.

It was not possible to overcome the arguments and explanations offered by the young Swami or to defeat him from his purpose by means of more cogent or weighty reasoning. It was, however, necessary that he should be made to change his mind. The aged Guru therefore overcame him by saying that any attempts that he might make contrary to the wish of his Guru would be of no avail. He consoled him, at the same time, saying that in course of time, he would grow up into a great yogi like Sadashivendra though that may not be in his Guru’s own time. In this manner, he succeeded in weaning the young Swami from his intentions, telling him that Sringeri was a place eminently suitable for a life of solitude, jnana and tapas, that there were vast and beautiful forests close by and that he might engage himself in yoga at Sringeri when the time is ripe for it.

This circumstance is mentioned in one of the stanzas of Sharada-shatashloki-stava composed many years later by Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji.

(My Guru’s authoritative utterance to me was, “Your mother Sharada, the ocean of mercy, will definitely instruct you soon about yoga, which has eight limbs. You are Her own child.”)

(When shall I become a wanderer at will on mountain peaks or in the depths of the forests, on sandy banks or on the banks of rivers like the Narmada, the Ganga or the Tunga, with the four directions of the empty space for my only clothing, never for a moment dissociated from the Self, abandoning all attachments and never identifying myself with the body or the senses?)

The young Swami was satisfied with the words of assurance from His Guru and the gloom in his mind left him. Sri Narasimha Bharati completed the education of the young Swami by having him instructed in the Prasthanatraya (The Upanishads, the Bhagavad-gita and the Brahma-sutras) with the Bhashyas; it is learnt that he personally taught the young Swami the Sutra-Bhashya. He also got him to perform Bhashya-Shanti once again after their return to Sringeri. Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji was now about 82 years of age. His body had become emaciated through old age.

The worship of Sri Chandramoulishwara, the hoary linga transmitted from Sri Shankaracharya, which he had performed without a break all his life time had to be delegated to his disciple; but his desire to go for a pilgrimage to Gokarna never left him. His extreme old age and his bodily condition made everyone shrink from fulfilling his wish. As the Mahaswamiji was constantly meditating on Gokarna and Mahabaleshwara, a wonderful thing happened which would appear to show that God enabled him to gratify his wishes. On the day previous to his leaving the mortal coil, while the Mahaswamiji was sleeping, he began to speak aloud so that all who were near him heard him. It might be said that he was speaking in a dream. The Mahaswamiji first said, “Brahmins from Gokarna have come to take me with them. Let the palanquin be got ready,” and then after two or three minutes, “Is the palanquin ready? Let me be seated on it.” About an hour after this he again spoke and said, “How wonderful! They have taken me to Gokarna and brought me back so soon! Our palanquin bearers are very capable fellows. Let them be rewarded.”After this, the Mahaswamiji never spoke. It was Friday morning, about 9 o’clock, the second bright half of Jyeshta of the year Pramadi (1879 C.E) when the master cast off his mortal coil and attained Videha-Mukti.

The Mahaswamiji had adorned the throne of transcendental wisdom for a long period of sixty two years; he himself was eighty two years old. He had found the fortunes of the Math at low ebb when he took charge; he was, himself new and inexperienced, barely twenty years of age, when he was faced with a very onerous responsibility; his own education and training had been imperfect; but he had an exceptionally strong will and conquered all difficulties. He had become a great scholar; he had acquired great yogic powers; he found an impoverished Math when he took charge and left it in a flourishing condition. The disciple Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Swamiji was twenty two years old when the Guru cast off his mortal coil. ⋖⋖⋖⋗⋗⋗