Jayanti of previous Acharyas Celebrated
The Jayantis of the 34th Acharya, Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswamiji and 35th Acharya, Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji were observed on 24th and 27th October respectively. On both days, the present and 36th Acharya, Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji offered homage to His Guru and Paramaguru at the Adhisthanam shrines in Narasimha Vanam at noon. The Jagadguru also performed a special Puja at the shrines at night.
Scholars of the Pathashala during the Jayanti Sabha
Both the Jayantis were also observed by Sri Sadvidya Sanjeevini Samskrta Mahapatashala of the Peetham. On both days, the Vidyarthis and Pandits of the Pathashala assembled at the Adhistana Mandapa for a Sabha. The Sabha began with Veda Parayana and salutations to the Jagadgurus of Sringeri. This was followed by a couple of Vidyarthis recounting the life of the Jagadgurus.
The Sabha for the Jayanti of Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswamiji was presided over by Brahmasri Krishna Bhat. Alluding to the remarkable life of the Mahaswamiji, he said that the recollection of the lives of great ones gives great merit and guides one along the spiritual path. Reminding the Vidyarthis that the human birth is precious and has been obtained by the result of many good deeds performed in past lives, he called for the proper use of the human birth and quoted the Shloka – “samsaara-sarpa-damShTaanaam jantoonaam avivekinaam | Chandrashekhara-paadaabja-smaraNam paramaushadham” (The remembrance of the Lotus Feet of the Jivanmukta Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswamiji is the Supreme medicine for living beings who have been bit by the serpent called Samsaara).
The Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamiji Birth Centenary Foundation Lecture Series was conceived in 1992, a hundred years after Mahaswamiji’s birth, by Sri V R Subramaniam, Shankara Vidya Kendra, New Delhi. The series has been organising lectures by distinguished speakers every year on the Jayanti day every year. The first lecture in the series was the Anugraha Bhashanam by the present Jagadguru Himself in 1993 at Pravachana Mandiram, Sringeri. In the subsequent years, the lectures were held in various cities of the nation and given by prominent personalities in various fields including Vidwans, Justices, Professors. The Jagadguru had also rendered His Anugraha Bhashanam in 2004 when the lecture series was held in Sringeri as that year marked the 50th year of the Mahaswamiji’s Videha Mukti. This year, the Administrator of the Peetham, Guruseva Dhurina Padmashri V R Gowrishankar delivered the lecture as part of the Jayanti Celebrations in New Delhi.
Vidyarthis of the Pathashala during the Jayanti Sabha
On Oct 27th, Brahmasri Vinayaka Udupa presided over the Sabha for the Jayanti of Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji who was made the successor-designate of the Peetham by His Guru at the young age of 14.
Brahmasri T Dakshinamurti also spoke on the occasion recounting many incidents relating to the Mahaswamiji’s Poorvashrama in which He was called “Srinivasan”. At school, the boy had expressed his desire to grow up and become a Sannyasi with the ultimate goal of seeing God. When asked for the proof of God’s existence, the young Srinivasan explained with an illustration, “Just as we, who have not seen the city of Bombay believe that it exists when others who have been there tell us, we must believe that God exists considering the innumerable saints and philosophers who have experienced the Supreme.” On another occasion, when Sri Srinivasan and his friends were faced with the question, “Why have you been given your respective names?”, Sri Srinivasan replied, “I have been named thus so as to facilitate the remembrance of God.” The subsequent Gurukula-vasa at Sringeri and inductance into Sannyasa Ashrama by Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswamiji under the Yoga-patta of “Abhinava Vidyatirtha”, and achievements as the 35th Acharya of the Peetham were also highlighted.
Jagadguru’s Pattabhishekha Day