PREFACE

His Holiness Sri Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swaminah, whose conversations provided the inspiration as well as the material for this book, was born of very noble but poor parents at Sringeri, on Sunday, October 16, 1892, and was in due course given the name cf Narasimha Sastri. In his twelfth year he came under the benign influence of His Holiness Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Swaminah, the then reigning Acharya of the Sringeri Mutt, who immediately had him admitted into the Mutt Pathasala. The great clearness of thought and expression which marked out the boy, no less than his exemplary character and simplicity, so impressed His Holiness that he was selected before long for a special course in Tarka and, later on, sent to the Bangalore Sanskara Mutt to study Mimamsa. His Holiness nominated him as his successor, and when he shuffled off his mortal coil in March, 1912, young Narasimha Sastri was duly given sannyasa and installed on the Pitha under the name of Chandrasekhara Bharati.

The new Acharya rigidly followed in the footsteps of his predecessor and in the course of about three years, under the able guidance of Mahamahopadhyaya Vidyanidhi Virupaksha Sastri, completed his studies in Vedanta also. His intense devotion to his Guru and the steady application and perseverance which characterised his efforts led him soon to a level of erudition and self-realization which evoked the admiration and reverence of all. His love was catholic and universal. High and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, Hindu and non-Hindu, sceptic and believer, all found in him a sincere friend and guide.

Many have been the incalculable benefits, spiritual and worldly, derived by those who had the good fortune of coming into contact with him. This is not the place to recount the numerous incidents in which he playfully showed his mantric, yogic and super-normal powers. Suffice it to say that he was the teacher par excellence. His words were few but very significant. Often a single word or even a slight gesture of his was potent enough to dispel a long-standing doubt. His method of leading to the highest truths from the simplest facts was unique and can be seen illustrated in this book. He did not believe in mass propaganda in religious matters, but only in individual effort as a means of raising the tone of society.

At the insistence of his disciples he toured extensively in South India, from 1923 to 1927, and after his return to Sringeri he began gradually to retire from the secular affairs of the Mutt and to engage himself almost entirely in contemplation. In 1931, he initiated Sri Abhinava Vidya Tirtha Swaminah, the present Acharya, and withdrew into himself, except on rare occasions when disciples were fortunate enough to see him emerge from his seclusion.

He stayed for some months at Bangalore and Kaladi, in 1939-40. After his return to Sringeri, his moods of abnormality increased in frequency and duration. He declined to come out even at the time of the Sahasrachandi Homa, in 1953, when thousands from all over India were anxiously hoping to have his darsana. Only the fortunate few who had a glimpse of him, albeit from a distance, during such periods, can have an idea of the spiritual, nay even physical, effulgence which enveloped him at those times and raised him above all mundane life. Not long after this great homa, however, he came out, resumed his normal life and for months together gave darsana and blessings quite as he used to do of old. It may be mentioned that President Rajendra Prasad was among those who profited by them. A few days later, in the morning of Sunday, September 26, 1954, realizing that the momentum of karma which gave him this body had exhausted itself, this great Mahatma discarded it in the river Tunga and became one with the Absolute.

Such, in brief outline, was the outward life of the sage whose conversations I have tried to record in this book. The record is not verbatim, but I can vouch for the accuracy of its contents, for I happened to be myself the interpreter in the conversation recorded in chapter I and, as regards the others, I was an interested listener whenever I was not an actual participant. But since it was not possible to obtain His Holiness’ assent to their publication, the responsibility for the book is entirely mine. It may be mentioned that while dealing with a particular topic, I have often taken the liberty of clubbing together the ideas expressed by His Holiness on that subject to different persons and on different occasions.

The conversations recorded here took place between the years 1925 and 1927, nearly 50 years ago. Since then we have had the advent of political freedom for India and the flood of social legislation that has followed in its wake. It may therefore seem to the present-day reader that some of the ideas in this book, especially chapter VI on Marriage Reform, are out of date. But it will be well to bear in mind that Dharma is never out of date, though it may be out of fashion. It is veritably an evil day when religion and society are at the mercy of politicians who are out to imitate the West at all costs and to make the true Hindu a stranger in his own land.

There is ample material in this book from which a practical guide to conduct can be made out, if only we care to be guided rightly. And it is our devout hope and assurance that the memory, the blessings, the example and the words of His Holiness will serve to direct the steps of earnest aspirants in their march towards the realization of the goal of life.

This book was originally published many years ago, under the title From the Master’s Lips and my esteemed friend Mr. David MacIver felt that the contents deserved a finer get-up and a much wider readership than it had so far received. Messrs. Chetana Ltd., of which he is a director, have kindly undertaken this publication, and I record my grateful thanks to them for the excellent way in which they have carried out the work. I am deeply indebted also to Professor Paul Masson-Oursel of the Sorbonne, Paris, for his kind and appreciative introduction.

R. KRISHNASWAMI AIYAR