3. अतिमानुषचारित्रः Atimānuṣa-cāritraḥ

One whose conduct transcended that of mortals

This nāma conveys that in spite of seeming to be a human being who attained jīvanmukti through spiritual sādhanā and who shone as a compassionate Sadguru, His Holiness was in fact an incarnation of the Lord, for His conduct transcended the ken of the human intellect. Alluding to a statement of the Upaniṣad,¹⁷ Jagadguru Śrī Bhāratī Tīrtha Mahāsvāmin versified this very fact about His Guru poignantly as, “I take refuge in that Lord of all, Vidyātīrtha, who is described by the Śruti as the One God who created heaven and earth.”¹⁸

Not only are these dual views about His Holiness - as a jīvanmukta and as the Lord incarnate - not mutually exclusive and indeed only complement each other, they also afford people a glimpse of multiple facets of His Holiness’s glory. Importantly, each of these views has its own profound benefit. What His Holiness Himself said about Rāma in a benedictory discourse is instructive in this context: “Rāma can be viewed either as a man or as God. If He is viewed as a man, then we can improve our lives by emulating Him. After all, He too faced trials and tribulations like us. In spite of difficulties He emerged triumphant. If He is meditated upon as God, we can get liberation.”

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His Holiness had to stay at Bengaluru for some time, while His Guru stayed on at Sringeri. Before His Holiness left for Bengaluru in 1936, the senior Jagadguru referred to His Holiness’s extraordinary vision of Śiva (described under nāma 10) and enlightenment (vide nāma 1) in December 1935 and told Him, in private, “I know that you are God Himself and ever perfect. Your engaging in sādhanā and apparently attaining enlightenment were only a part of your divine sport. Your vision of Śiva and your receiving His blessings and instruction a few days before your taking your sādhanā to its culmination were on the same footing as the vision, blessings and instruction of Śiva obtained by Kṛṣṇa (described in the Droṇa-parvan of the Mahābhārata).”

The senior Jagadguru even composed eight verses about His Holiness, in one of which He explicitly described His Holiness as One who is known by means of the Praṇava (Om) and who is the manifestation of the Supreme Brahman.¹⁴⁶ Giving the verses to His Holiness, the senior Jagadguru said, “I have written only what I definitely know to be true about you. There is no exaggerated praise here.”

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Sri D. S. Subbaramaiya, who, as described under nāma 2, was an intimate disciple of the senior Jagadguru, once recalled, “When I had once gone for the darśana of the senior Jagadguru, His Holiness came to have a necessary word with Him. As His Holiness was leaving, respectfully walking backwards so as to not show His back to His Guru, the senior Jagadguru declared to me, ‘He is not just a respectable saṁnyāsin. He is God incarnate.’”

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His Holiness was camping in Vathirairuppu (in Tamil Nadu) in October, 1957. After pūjā, He retired for the night to His room there. After some time, He abruptly got up and quietly walked out of the residence. Except for a few street lamps that were flickering, it was pitch dark everywhere. The Chaturagiri hill was at a distance and the Mahāliṅga-svāmi Temple was on its summit. His attention was drawn to it. He closed His eyes in contemplation, and after some time, started to head back to the camp. In the meantime, some disciples and townsfolk had woken up and, perplexed, approached His Holiness. His Holiness asked, “There is a temple on top of the hill. What temple is that?” Some replied, “That is the Mahāliṅga Temple.” His Holiness declared, “I am going there tomorrow morning. Make preparations without delay.”

The next day, He proceeded by car to a small town at the base of the hill and from there ascended the hill by foot. He walked briskly. The others were unable to keep pace with Him and lagged far behind. He reached the top of the hill around 12:30 p.m. There was not even a trace of strain or fatigue on His face. He went to the Sundara-mahāliṅga Temple and then that of the Goddess. It was around 5:00 p.m. by the time His afternoon routine was completed. He then decided to visit another shrine on the hill, that of Candana-mahāliṅga. His Holiness permitted only Sri Sundaram, a man who lived on the hill and knew every portion of it, to accompany Him. His Holiness proceeded in silence, leading. He had darśana of Candana-mahāliṅga. Telling Sundaram to wait there, He headed for another peak. He crossed some rough paths and proceeded swiftly as if He was most familiar with the place. Sundaram was stunned to see the speed with which His Holiness was navigating the dense path and proceeding so comfortably to a part of the hill rarely visited by anyone. He had never before seen a stranger walk at such a great pace on the hill he knew so well.

When it was past 6 o’clock but there was no sign of His Holiness, Sundaram climbed up a huge tree nearby. From his position at the top of the tree, He spotted His Holiness seated in a clearing on the hill. In front of His Holiness was a person in ochre robes, with matted hair tied in a knot. His Holiness appeared to be conversing with him. Sundaram thought he was hallucinating, for His Holiness had gone there alone and he had never seen that person before. Inexplicably experiencing haziness of vision and tiredness, he descended, rested for a while and returned to where He was supposed to wait. In a short while, His Holiness climbed down and returned to where Sundaram was waiting. His Holiness did not stop but continued to walk. He went to the Candana-mahāliṅga shrine and climbed down the mountain. Sundaram quietly followed His Holiness. Subsequently, His Holiness returned to Vathirairuppu. Sundaram did not breathe a word of what had transpired that evening to anyone. However, later, when a saṁnyāsin known to him visited Chaturagiri, he told him all that had transpired. The saṁnyāsin was amazed and exclaimed that the person His Holiness conversed with that day was a great siddha-puruṣa, unavailable to others.

[These details were culled from two articles that appeared in the fortnightly Tamil magazine, Shakti Vikatan, in the issues dated 20th February, 2008 and 7th March, 2008. The two articles were written by Kudanthai Shyama and were a part of a series titled Chaturagiri Yattirai (Pilgrimage to Chaturagiri).]

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In April 1984, as His Holiness was giving tīrtha-prasāda in the front hall of Sacchidananda Vilasa in the morning, a devotee showed His Holiness two small idols of Lord Gaṇapati and requested His Holiness to sanctify them by His touch. His Holiness took the idols in His right hand and remarked that they were beautiful. With the idols in His closed palm, He remained with His eyes closed for a while. Thereafter, as He was about to give them to the devotee, He asked, “Are you intending to worship two idols?” The devotee replied, “I was desirous of receiving one from Your Holiness and of submitting the other to Your Holiness.” His Holiness smiled, gave him one idol and kept the other near Himself. As the devotee moved on, His Holiness looked in the direction of the entrance of the hall, beckoned to a disciple and said, “Tell them, in Hindi, to come after 20 minutes.” There were two men, one in his fifties and the other in his thirties, standing on the final step leading to the hall, looking quite ill at ease. They were wearing white pyjamas and kurtas, were bearded and had white skull caps. Once the disciple conveyed the message of His Holiness to these Muslims, they promptly left.

In a few minutes, the distribution of tīrtha-prasāda to the devotees was complete. His Holiness went inside, proceeded to the room on the eastern side of Sacchidananda Vilasa on the ground floor and sat on His wooden seat there. He had gestured to the disciple to follow Him. He ensured that no other attendant was present. His Holiness told the disciple to shut the door through which He had entered. Having sat silently for a while, He told the disciple, “The two would have come. Bring them in. Shut the door behind you.” The disciple did as instructed.

On His Holiness asking the two men to sit, they sat, not cross-legged but with their knees joined and positioned on the ground. Abruptly, His Holiness started to recite something in Arabic. He began with the words, “Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim” (which meant “In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful.”) His subsequent chant started with “Alam nashrah laka sadrak.”

[His Holiness had chanted Surah 94 of the Quran, called “ash-Sharh (The Opening),” that comprises eight lines that convey: “1) Have We not opened your breast for you 2) And removed from you your burden 3) Which weighed down your back? 4) And have We not raised high your fame? 5) Verily, along with every hardship is relief, 6) Verily, along with every hardship is relief. 7) So when you have finished (your occupation), devote yourself for Allah’s worship. 8) And to your Lord turn (all your) intentions and hopes.”]

The two Muslims were awestruck. They quickly held their hands in the Muslim gesture of prayer, with their open palms held towards their faces. When His Holiness ended His chant, the elder of the two said, in Urdu, “Bābā, how wonderfully you chant the Quran!” His Holiness ignored the compliment and asked, in Urdu, “What is the purpose of your visit?” The younger man said, “My child is very ill.” Without waiting for him to continue, His Holiness said, “Bring the boy.” The man said, “I shall do so. He is with his mother in the car.”

As he went out, the elder person told His Holiness, “I teach the Quran in a madrasa and my son does so in another. Both of us, his wife and child are on a sightseeing tour and arrived at Mangalore (Mangaluru) a few days ago. We took a taxi and proceeded through Agumbe to the Jog Falls near Shimoga (Shivamogga). We then wanted to proceed to the origin of the river Tuṅgā. However, as we were nearing Koppa, my grandchild began to scream in pain, clutching his abdomen. My daughter-in-law tried her best to pacify him but could not. We took him to a doctor at Koppa. He examined the child and suggested that we admit him to a hospital there. We did so. Despite several tests and treatment, there was no improvement. The child was suffering much and could not eat or drink anything. He threw up even water. At night, due to exhaustion, my daughter-in-law must have dozed off for a few minutes. She dreamt that the child was dead and was inconsolable after waking up. Three years ago, her first son, when aged two, had clutched his abdomen and screamed. Later, he died in a hospital as his appendix had ruptured. Understandably, this child’s suffering severe pain in the abdomen and that too at the age of two was terrible for us. As there was no improvement even by this morning, we decided to shift the child to some big hospital in Mangaluru and got the child discharged, against the advice of the doctor at Koppa.

“As we were starting, the taxi driver suggested that as we would be passing through Sringeri en route to Mangalore, we should get the child blessed by you. He was sure that with your blessings itself, the child would get relief. On hearing this, my daughter-in-law insisted that we should bring the child to you. My son and I strongly objected. We told her that her father was an Imam and we were orthodox Muslims. How could we take our child for blessings to some Swami who would know nothing of the Quran and would possibly prescribe some idol worship, which was clearly prohibited in the Quran? She, however, became hysterical and no matter how much we voiced our objections to come to you, she continued to insist. As she was becoming unmanageable and as the child was crying non-stop and unable to take even a drop of water, we agreed, unwillingly, to bring the child to you. When I saw you from a distance, you were giving an idol to someone. That made us uncomfortable. I felt that not knowing that idol worship is taboo for us, you would give us also some idol and ask us to worship it for the sake of our child. We were somewhat relieved when you asked us to come back after twenty minutes. Now, by your excellent chanting of the Quran, you have completely dispelled our misgiving about our bringing our child to some Swami who would have no idea about the Quran.”

His Holiness listened passively. A few moments of silence followed. The younger person entered with a bawling child in his arms and followed by his wife who was in purdah. Even as she entered, she repeatedly wailed, in Urdu, “Bābā, bless my child.” His Holiness assured her, “Do not worry. The child will be alright. Allah is most merciful.” She gained some composure and, in response to His Holiness’s gesture, both the husband and wife sat down. The child continued to cry. His Holiness asked the child’s father to hand Him the child. Placing the boy on His lap, His Holiness lifted the child’s upper garment up. Gently rubbing the child’s exposed abdomen, His Holiness chanted in Arabic what started thus: “Allahuma rabbi-nas.”

[What His Holiness had chanted was a dua (supplication) about which the Hadith says, “Aisha (R.A.) narrated: Whenever Allah’s Messenger (S.A.W.) paid a visit to a patient or a patient was brought to him, he used to invoke Allah saying, ‘Allahuma rabbi-nas adhhabal ba’sa, ashfi wa entashafi, la shifa’illa shifa’uka shifa’la yughadiru saqama (O Lord of the people! Remove this pain and cure it. You are the One Who cures. There is no cure but Yours. Grant such a cure that no illness remains).’” This supplication is to be chanted while rubbing with the right hand the affected part of the patient.]

Even as He ended His chant, the child stopped crying. The mother blurted out, in Urdu, “Bābā, thank you, thank you.”

His Holiness asked her, “Do you have anything with you to feed the child.” She said, “Yes. I have milk and some eatables.” His Holiness handed the child back to his father and asked her to give the boy milk. The child drank the milk given in a cup. Helping the child to stand up, she told him, “Perform salaam to Bābā.” The child smiled and did so. His Holiness smiled back. The elders profusely thanked His Holiness. He just said, “Be thankful to Allah and not to me,” and permitted them to leave. As they were about to leave, the elder Muslim said, “It is because of the driver that we came to you. Would you see him?” His Holiness said, “Yes. Send him in.”

In a couple of minutes, the driver entered. He had removed his upper garments. He was having kuṅkuma on his forehead and seemed to be in his fifties. On seeing him, His Holiness smiled and said, in Kannada, “You have come here before.” The man confirmed that he had and performed namaskāra. As he was getting up, His Holiness asked him, “Do you continue to chant ‘sumukhāya namaḥ’ and the rest?” The driver replied, “I do so every day, without fail. After I started chanting the twelve names as taught by Your Holiness and offering worship through them to the picture of Vināyaka that Your Holiness had blessed me with, my problems ceased and I am living happily since then.” His Holiness asked, “How is that picture now?” The driver apologetically said, “As I travel much and carry it with me in my car everywhere I go, it has faded.” Giving the driver the Vināyaka idol that had been submitted to Him earlier in the day, His Holiness told him, “Hereafter, worship this instead of the picture.” He then gave him a fruit and permitted him to leave.

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His Holiness was once camping at Kotekar, near Mangaluru. It was about 2:30 p.m. He was seated in His private room. He was telling a disciple about an event when He abruptly got up, walked to the door leading to the open veranda in the front of the building and opened it. In moments, a man came rushing there. He was sweating, his shirt and trousers were dirty and his forehead was bandaged.

His Holiness gently asked him who he was and what he wanted. The man blurted out, in Kannada, “Please save,” but could not proceed further as he began to sob. Even without his having said anything more, His Holiness told him, “Your son will be alright soon. Do not worry.” Then gesturing to him to wait, He went inside and brought two big packets of cashew nuts and one large pack of almonds. He gave them to him, saying, “Give some of these to your son daily, after some days.” Having respectfully taken the dry fruits, he told His Holiness, “My son is in hospital. The doctor told me today that my child is suffering from cancer.” “No, he does not have cancer. He will come home soon from the hospital and be well,” His Holiness stated emphatically. The man joined his palms, thanked Him and left. His Holiness shut the door, resumed His seat and continued to talk to the disciple.

The next evening, when He was completing His evening walk, He saw the man standing at a distance, with palms joined. He smiled at him and entered the building. The man walked up to the disciple and said, “Last evening, after I had returned to the hospital from here, the doctor came and said, ‘There was a mistake; reports had got mixed up. Your son does not have cancer. We can discharge him in two days. After taking him home, give him good nourishment.’ Please convey this to Swami. I am very thankful to Him. As I did not wish to disturb Him today, I stayed at a distance.” The disciple replied that he would submit this information to His Holiness. As the disciple was starting to leave, he added, “I am a Christian. When I was shell-shocked on hearing that my child has cancer, a Hindu friend told me to approach Swami for blessings. That is why I rushed here yesterday. I am glad that I did so.” Later, when the disciple reported the matter to His Holiness, He just heard him in silence.

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In the year 1974 Sri P. Subramaniam, a close devotee of His Holiness from Kolkata, escorted a team of devotees to Sringeri during cāturmāsya. On reaching Bengaluru, the group was accommodated in the Shankara Math.

The devotee narrates: “Around midnight, my wife and I saw His Holiness standing near us and looking around the room where many of the devotees who had travelled with us were sleeping. We got up and prostrated at the lotus feet of His Holiness. We saw Him giving a benign smile and blessing us with His outstretched right hand. We saw Him walking away and disappear. We were amazed at having seen His Holiness there when we were expecting to have His darśana only at Sringeri. Our mind dwelt on the vision and wondered how and why it had happened.

“Next day, when we reached Sringeri and had darśana of His Holiness, I said to Him that we had had His darśana the previous night at the Shankara Math at Bengaluru. His Holiness smiled and said, ‘Since you were bringing a number of devotees from Calcutta (Kolkata), I wanted to see whether they were comfortably accommodated and properly looked after last night.’

“These words of His Holiness sent a thrill through us. He had not only come to Bengaluru, but had also given us eyes to have His divine darśana there.”

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The following is a narrative by Smt. Vaikuntam Anantarama Seshan: “His Holiness once planned to visit Narasiṁha-parvata, a hill at the top of which Jagadguru Śrī Nṛsiṁha Bhāratī Mahāsvāmin (the 33^rd pontiff) had performed protracted penance. My husband and I wanted to accompany Him. He initially dissuaded us as it was raining heavily and the path was arduous, but finally granted permission. On the way, His Holiness performed pūjā at the Ṛṣyaśṛṅga temple at Kigga. We reached the summit of Narasiṁha-parvata and stayed there for the night.

“At 3.00 p.m. the next day, everybody was ready to descend. Ominous dark clouds began to gather and a downpour was expected any moment. “Let us start immediately. It will not rain till we go down,” remarked His Holiness, with a tone of finality. As we descended we saw that it was raining heavily on the hills to our right and left. However, we were not caught in the rain. The most intriguing part of the phenomenon was that the rain could be seen following us but it never caught up with us as we climbed down. As soon as we had reached the vehicles, His Holiness said, “All of you board the vehicles immediately. Testing of nature is sufficient.” No sooner had we taken our seats in the vehicles, than it began to rain cats and dogs. What better illustration is needed to show His Holiness’s total mastery over nature?”

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At times, His Holiness took totally unexpected decisions, the reasons for which were unapparent to the officials of the Maṭha; generally, these were prompted, as per His own admission, by the ‘preraṇā, divine inspiration’ that He received. For instance, in 1977, during His second all-India tour, He was scheduled to proceed to Delhi from Varanasi. Extensive arrangements were initiated at Delhi on the basis of the prior information available to the devotees there about His tour programme. Suddenly, He changed His stance and revealed His wish to proceed towards Kolkata. None could understand what had prompted Him to say so nor did He give any explanation.

Since commitments had already been made for Him to visit Prayagraj, He decided to go there from Varanasi and thereafter proceed towards Kolkata. All agreed later that His Holiness’s decision had been very timely and wise. The then President of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, expired about the time His Holiness was scheduled to have arrived at Delhi. It would have been rather odd if His Holiness entered the capital at a time when there was State mourning. Postponement of the visit to Delhi enabled the devotees there to put in extra efforts to hasten and complete the constructions in Shankara Vidya Kendra, the Sringeri Math branch in Delhi, prior to His Holiness’s arrival. Hence, when He came to Delhi, He could perform the kumbhābhiṣeka (consecration) of the temples there. Had He arrived at Delhi as scheduled earlier, this would not have been possible as the works could not have been completed by then. Thus, the sudden change in itinerary not only did not inconvenience anybody, it only proved advantageous to all concerned.

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Sri Ganapati Subrahmanya Avadhani, who served as the Maṭha purohit, once recollected, “One evening at Lucknow in January 1967, His Holiness was performing the Candramoulīśvara pūjā as usual, with scores of devotees gathered to witness it, when an intruder dashed into the place. On seeing him wearing a coat, trousers and shoes, the guard tried to stop him. He simply brushed the sentry on duty aside and sprang forward. As he neared the pūjā-maṇḍapa, several others and I gathered around him and tried to prevent him from advancing further. Being a well-built man, he overcame the opposition. His Holiness noticed this. He gestured to us to let him be. On being freed, he moved closer to the dais. His Holiness directed him to sit down. He obeyed like an innocent child and squatted in Vajrāsana, with joined palms. He quietly watched the pūjā with rapt attention. After finishing the pūjā, His Holiness asked him to come the next day at eight in the morning. He said, ‘His Holiness is an embodiment of compassion but the people around are rude. What am I to do if I am treated by them in the same way as today?’ His Holiness understood his predicament and advised him to come wearing a dhoti and an upper cloth.

“The next day, after finishing His morning āhnika, His Holiness told His attendant, ‘The Sethji who was here yesterday will be coming to see me. Usher him in.’ Later, the person came wearing a dhoti and a shawl, with sandal paste on his forehead as also vibhūti and a tilaka! We were pleasantly surprised to behold him thus. He was taken to His Holiness. After some time, he emerged, beaming.

“On his way back, he met me. I conveyed my apologies to him for the inconvenience caused the previous night. I then asked him what brought him to His Holiness. He gave the following account. He was having a host of difficulties and was struggling to overcome them. One night he had an unusual dream. A sage with a brilliant and smiling countenance appeared in front of him. On waking up, he wondered who that might be. After some days, when he was in his shop, he accidently spotted a child carrying a large photograph. To his surprise, he found that it was a photograph of the sage whom he had beheld in the dream. On enquiry, he learnt that the photograph was that of the Jagadguru of Sringeri who was then camping in the city. Filled with joy, he immediately rushed to have darśana. My companions and I had tried unsuccessfully to stop him. His Holiness had duly blessed him and infused new strength into him.”

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