10. Videhamukti

The Mahaswamiji deputed Sri Kunigal Rama Shastri, Dharmadhikari, to Bangalore to inaugurate the Sanskrit College there on the auspicious day of Shankara-Jayanti, Vaishakha shukla panchami. The Shastri accordingly went to Bangalore and the College was opened under the presidency of Sri P.N. Krishnamurthi, Sri V.P. Madhava Rao and a few high officials of the State being present. The College opened with eight students for the advanced studies in Purva and Uttara Mimamsa; each student was given a stipend of Rs.20/- a month and free quarters. Two teachers selected by the Mahaswamiji from the pundits of the Math were appointed as professors; the course of studies embraced a period of eight years¹.

Ever since his return from the Kalady tour, the Swami was suffering from bronchial trouble during the cold season. On the Shuklapaksha Saptami of Magha in Virodhikrit (Friday, 26th January, 1912) the Mahaswamiji showed symptoms of coughing. It appeared as though the ailment now was no worse than in the previous years. But the cough began to increase. The ailment, instead of lessening with time, began to give him more and more trouble. There were other things also to disturb his mind. The heterodox habits of life, against which he had been fighting abroad, now invaded the very Agrahara of Sringeri. Morning ablutions and prayers, the old simple ways, Vedic studies and observances, were all slowly getting neglected. The Swami felt that his efforts to restore the old usages were failing in their purpose; he had created the shrine of the great teacher and had surrendered his further responsibilities to a higher spiritual being. He could do nothing more. A stanza out of the hymn he composed at this period shows what he was feeling:

(Should I teach the Laghucandrika (an advanced Advaitic text) or should I give up everything? My mind is confused. Mother, tell me today in a dream what I should do.)

One thing remained to be done; a successor to the Peetham had to be appointed before he could quit the body. For several years past, he had his eye on a promising youth at Sringeri. The sole surviving son out of thirteen children of his parents, the boy was very intelligent and wellbehaved; he had passed out of the elementary school and was a student of the Sirkar English School established at Sringeri, when he came under the notice of Sri Srikantha Shastri, the keen-eyed agent of the Math. The agent reported the matter to the Mahaswamiji, as his habit was; the master had said that such promising boys should be made to study Sanskrit and be brought up in vaidika ways. The boy was accordingly transferred to the Sanskrit School at Sringeri, which was maintained by the Math. He came of a learned family, his grand-father having been an eminent Vyakarana (grammar) Pundit, who was living a quiet, simple and pious life in the north and who had been brought and entertained by the previous Mahaswamiji as a Pundit of the Math. The Mahaswamiji used to visit the Sanskrit school at Sringeri once a year and examine the boys himself and encourage the deserving among them. On one such occasion, the Mahaswamiji marked the smartness, the prompt replies and the modest deportment of this lad, gave him presents and asked the agent to have his particular eye on him and have him trained in Logic and other higher Sanskrit studies. The boy's name was Narasimha Shastri.

That the Mahaswamiji was keeping this lad steadily in his mind, with an eye to his nomination to the Peetham in due time is seen from a poem, in which the burden was:

(O beloved of Shiva, quickly make Nrisimha, a pupil devoted to me, omniscient.)

All these had happened before the Mahaswamiji started on his Kalady tour. After his return to Sringeri, he examined the youth and found that he had made great progress in his Tarka studies, that he was scrupulously observing the disciplines of Brahmacharya - the early ablutions and prayers and the daily homage to the sanctified fire. The Mahaswamiji then sent the youth to the Math’s College at Bangalore Bharatiya Girvana-Praudha-Vidya-abhivardhini Pathashala to study Purva-Mimamsa, as a preliminary to the study of Vedanta.

Taking into consideration of his own deteriorating health in early 1912, the Mahaswamiji wished to carry out the decision that he had arrived at a few years back. The Mahaswamiji had already decided that Sri Narasimha Shastri was the most eligible candidate to ascend the Peetham and wished to confer Sannyasa on him immediately. He sent Kunigal Rama Shastri to Mysore to acquaint the Maharaja with his wishes and to introduce Sri Narasimha Shastri to His Highness. Rama Shastri accordingly went to Bangalore and learning that the Maharaja was there, presented himself before His Highness and acquainted him with the Mahaswamiji’s wishes. The Maharaja was grieved to hear the Mahaswamiji’s ill-health and expressed his readiness to act in accordance with the Mahaswamiji’s wishes in every respect.

Meanwhile the end was drawing near. On the full moon day of Phalguna (Sunday 3rd March, 1912), when the Mahaswamiji bathed in the Tunga River and the cold plunge brought on a rheumatic attack, the Mahaswamiji was unable to walk erect.

Just at this time, Dr. P.S. Achyuta Rao, a senior surgeon from Mysore came to Sringeri in the course of his tours. Dr. Achyuta Rao had great regard and love for the Mahaswamiji. Moreover, he had already known the physical constitution of the Mahaswamiji, having attended him on some previous occasions of illness. He treated the Mahaswamiji for two or three days and Mahaswamiji’s health improved; but the cough did not leave him. Dr. Achyuta Rao gave some hints of the serious nature of the illness. Before he left Sringeri on the night of the Trayodashi of Krishnapaksha of Phalguna (Saturday, 16th March, 1912), when the Mahaswamiji retired for the day, the cough started to trouble him at 10 o’clock and continued till 1 o’clock.

On the next day, the urgency to adopt a disciple and successor in accordance with the Mahaswamiji’s intention was felt. The Mahaswamiji gave instructions to the agent to write to Kunigal Rama Shastri that he should acquaint the Maharaja immediately with the facts and bring to Narasimha Shastri from Bangalore, where he was studying the Shastras. A letter was accordingly written to Kunigal Rama Shastri explaining fully the conditions of the Mahaswamiji’s bodily health and dispatched by means of a messenger.

On the new moon day of Phalguna (Monday 18th March, 1912) the agent who was in a conversation with the Mahaswamiji, suggested that though a message had been sent to Dharmadhikari Rama Shastri to fetch Narasimha Shastri urgently, still it would take three days for the Dharmadhikari to return. Would it not be better that a successor should be nominated at once, from among the suitable candidates at Sringeri itself? The Mahaswamiji inquired whether there was any one worthy of being selected for the place. The names of three persons were suggested. One of them was rejected as not being likely to become very learned; another was discarded as not up to the mark in character, with the observation that it was better to leave the holy seat of Sringeri unfilled than to appoint such a successor. The third was passed over in silence. The Mahaswamiji finally said, “Kunigal Rama Shastri will bring Narasimha Shastri. Is it not? Well then, let him come.” He then commanded the agent to recite his favourable poem of Atma-vidya-vilasa and enjoyed the bliss of the contemplation of Atman.

On the morning of the Shuklapaksha Prathama of Paridhavi (Tuesday, 19th March, 1912), the Mahaswamiji, while seated in meditation after his morning bath, appeared to have fallen into a trance; this somewhat frightened the attendants who ran to the agent who was performing the worship of Chandramoulishwara and informed him of it. He left the Puja in the midst, went to the presence of the Mahaswamiji and saw him. As he had often seen the Mahaswamiji in such a state of trance, he was not frightened and took his seat close by in silence. After half an hour the Mahaswamiji returned to external consciousness and asked, “Is your Puja over?” On being told of all that had transpired the Mahaswamiji observed, “These people have unnecessarily disturbed you. As my body was greatly in pain, I engaged my mind in the ecstatic bliss of the Atman to the point of forgetting all about the body. These people have disturbed you under their mistaken notion.”

All that day, it seemed as though the Mahaswamiji was in great suffering. He bathed and performed his ceremonies but took no food. He spoke very little with others. When visitors came, he merely lifted his head and answered only by a smile.

On the next day, the Dvitiya of Shuklapaksha of Chaitra (Wednesday, 20th March, 1912), the Mahaswamiji had his bath at six o’clock in the morning. He then took a little milk after much entreaty of the agent and sat down. In about a quarter of an hour, he forgot all about the body and passed into deep meditation. The visitors who kept coming from about seven o’clock in the morning fancied that as the Mahaswamiji had had no sleep on the previous night he might be taking a little rest and were talking among themselves saying that the Mahaswamiji’s condition was better than the previous day. The Mahaswamiji continued to enjoy the bliss of the contemplation of Atman till quarter past nine. Then came a violent fit of coughing which lasted for an hour without intermission.

When it ceased, it was followed by tremors in the legs and arms. This suffering ceased at about eleven o’clock. The Mahaswamiji appeared greatly fatigued. With the head bent down, he sat motionless in his Padmasana (a yogic posture). Exactly at thirty minutes past eleven o’clock, his soul merged into the all pervading Supreme Brahman, leaving behind the bright smile alone which as before, was irradiating his face. The attendants who were near, saw his body lean back and lifted it and laid it on the ground. Such was the manner of the passing of this great yogi. No one was bold enough to say it was death. After half an hour, all came to the conclusion that the great Mahaswamiji had obtained Videhamukti, disembodied liberation.

The news of the videhamukti of the Mahaswamiji who knew no enemy among all mankind, who was so full of tenderness towards all living beings, who had the power of allaying the sorrows of men by a single look caused intolerable grief in all those that knew him. The Mahaswamiji had given orders while living that his body should be interred in his favourite retreat, Narasimhavana, and that the narmada-banalinga which he had been worshipping every day before he retired for the night should be installed over the spot. This was accordingly done.

The disciples who had gathered to pay their respects at the Mahaswamiji’s Adhishthana (shrine) resolved to erect a shrine of granite slabs over the spot of interment and entrusted the responsibility to the agent. Rupees thirty thousand were soon collected for the purpose. A celebrated sculptor of Bombay, Mr. Ganapati Krishna Rao Mathre, was now fortunately at Mysore. The agent requested the artist to prepare the statue of the late Mahaswamiji, which he gladly undertook in the belief that his artistic skill could be put to no nobler use. Ramaswami Chettiar, son of Chidambaram Chettiar of Kanadukattan, who was now completing the shrine of Sharadamba at Sringeri, undertook to erect a granite shrine over the late Mahaswamiji's monument.

When both the shrines had been completed, the new Jagadguru, Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswamiji (Sri Sri Sannidhanam) wished to perform the Kumbhabhishekam (consecration) ceremony of these temples together and thereby fulfill the intentions both of the Mahaswamiji and of his disciples. The fact of the temples having been completed and Sri Sri Sannidhanam’s eagerness to perform the Kumbhabhishekam ceremony was made known to the Maharaja and the Maharaja was invited to Sringeri on the occasion. It was decided that the Kumbhabhishekam ceremony would be performed on Thursday, the Krishnapaksha Prathama of Vaishakha, of the year Nala, S.S. 1839, (1916 C.E.) and letters of invitation were issued to all the disciples of the Sringeri Math throughout India. Priests were appointed to perform the various rituals connected with the Kumbhabhishekha ceremony that commenced seven days prior to the consecration.

A large number of disciples came to Sringeri to witness the ceremony and to pay their respects to Sri Sri Sannidhanam. His Highness, the Maharaja, came there with a small retinue. At 8 o’clock on the morning of the appointed day, Sri Sri Sannidhanam came to the temple built over the Adhishthanam of his great and revered Guru in Narasimhavana. His Highness, the Maharaja of Mysore, and the other guests also came there. The statue of the Mahaswamiji was installed in the temple, the kumbhabhisheka, pranapratishta and other ceremonies were preformed. At ten o’clock on the same morning, the Kumbhabhishekha and pranapratishta ceremonies were performed in the temple of Sri Sharadamba and Prasada was bestowed on the Maharaja as well as other disciples.

In the night, a public procession of Goddess Sharadamba in Ratha (chariot) was conducted with Sri Sri Sannidhanam seated in a palanquin. This gave great satisfaction to all the disciples who had gathered there. The people’s thoughts went back to the agadguru Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji. They praised his great virtues and now beholding Sri Sri Sannidhanam (Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Swamiji) installed as his successor, they rejoiced exceedingly and the sorrow they felt at the Mahaswamiji’s passing away was overcome to some extent.

On the next morning, the Maharaja came to Narasimhavana and having first worshipped the image of the Mahaswamiji, he performed Pada-Puja to Sri Sri Sannidhanam and received tirtha and Prasada from him. The Maharaja took leave of Sri Sri Sri Sannidhanam and left Sringeri for Mysore on Saturday, the Krishnapaksha tritiya of Vaishakha.

On the afternoon of the same day, Sri Sri Sri Sannidhanam convened an assembly of learned men in the temple of Sri Sharadamba and in his sweet, inimitable style, propounded briefly the life of Sri Shankara Bhagavatpada and explained why Sringeri was chosen as the appropriate place for the founding of the Sharada Temple, how significant the dedicated contribution of his Guru – the Mahaswamiji, in renovating the temple was and what the duty of the disciples should be as regards the temple. Gifts of shawls and valuable cloths were then distributed among the Vidwans. The Gaekwad of Baroda had sent a representative on this occasion, who presented Sri Sri Sri Sannidhanam with valuable gifts of cloths and jewels; Sri Sri Sri Sannidhanam accepted the same and sent his blessings to the Gaekwad, with Prasadas.

Many of the most prominent among the disciples who had assembled in Sringeri, held a meeting on the afternoon of the same day of the Kumbhabhisheka ceremony, in the temple of the Mahaswamiji in Narasimhavana, and passed resolutions showing their appreciations of the Mahaswamiji’s greatness and virtues and stating that in order to show their gratitude to the Mahaswamiji, permanent arrangements should be made for the observance of the Jayanti (birth anniversary) of the Mahaswamiji on the eleventh day of the dark half of Phalguna, as well as the day of the his passing away, on the Shuklapaksha Dvitiya of Chaitra. It was resolved that for the purpose, a sum of fifty thousand rupees should be collected and the interest thereon utilized for these purposes. Accordingly, a subscription list was opened and a sum of twenty thousand rupees was subscribed on the spot. This was reported to Sri Sri Sannidhanam and was approved by him. The visitors to Sringeri having thus shown their devotion and having obtained Prasada from the Jagadguru Sri Sri Sannidhanam, departed to their homes. ◁◁◁▷▷▷