Sri Sri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamsthanam, Dakshinamanaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri



logo www.sringeri.net
Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri

Sri Vidyaranya

अविद्यारण्यकान्तारे भ्रमतां प्राणिनां सदा ।
विद्यामार्गोपदेष्टारं विद्यारण्यगुरुं श्रये ॥

To souls that wander in utter dismay in the dense woods of mental ignorance, He shows the path of true wisdom; Homage to the great Saint Vidyaranya!

Sri Vidyaranya coming five centuries after Shankara Bhagavatpada was the 12th Jagadguru of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham from 1380 to 1386 A.D. He brought fame and glory to the Mutt by his dynamic leadership and unique contributions to spiritual and Vedantic thought.

Sringeri, a cluster of hermitages, became a spiritual imperium with state jurisdiction during his pontificate. To the Vyakhyana Simhasana (throne of transcendental wisdom) in the Sharada Peetham was added secular authority over the newly created Samsthanam, which served to enthuse a courageous spirit of unity and self-confidence among the people of South India.

Sri Vidyaranya was a great force in the regeneration of our spiritual, moral and cultural values. He built temples at Sringeri and Hampi and established Mutts to propagate Vedanta. He was not only a sage and empire builder, but also a savant and a scholar par excellence. His works constituted the greatest treatises in post-Shankara Advaitic literature. His marvellous interpretative skills reconciled many apparent differences in philosophic texts.

No other thinker or writer has acquired a reputation close to that of Adi Shankara in spreading the truths of Advaita. Special importance has been given to two of Vidyaranya’s popular works on Vedanta – Panchadasi and Jivanmukti Viveka. As invaluable treatises to the sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) and sanyasi, they are famous for their clarity of thought and abundance of quotations from well-known texts.

 
  • The Self (Atma) is never born nor does It ever die; neither does It cease to exist after having once existed nor does the Self come into existence, like the body, having not existed before. Unborn, eternal, It undergoes no change whatsoever and is primeval; It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed. Bhagavan Sri Krishna on Significance of God
  • A person who hears about the condemnation of another incurs sin. What need be said about the sin incurred by a man who actually engages in nit picking? Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada on Prabodha Sudhakara
  • If you pray with faith and devotion, the Lord will certainly listen to your earnest prayers. Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal on Significance of God
  • Our nation and its culture have a hoary past and we should all be proud of it. Mere aping of the West is not beneficial for us. For example, care of aged parents is something that has come down to us traditionally and we must never neglect this duty by imbibing concepts of some free societies, wherein concern for one’s own parents is at low ebb. Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamigal on Significance of God
  • It is a great blunder not to make proper use of the body and mind that has been given to us by God. Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamigal on Significance of God's Names