The great yogi of sringeri!!!!!!!

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Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava<br>Narasimha

Bharati<br>(1878-1912)<br> <br>Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Narasimha

Bharati Mahaswamigal was born as Sivaswami, the son of

Kunigal Rama Sastri of Mysore. At the time, Sri Narasimha

Bharati (VIII) was the ruling Sankaracharya of Sringeri

(1817-1879). He was a widely travelled sannyasin, who

worshipped Lord Narasimha daily, and was popularly known as

Swami "Ugra" Narasimha Bharati. One day, during

meditation, he heard a voice telling him to "make room". He

was already 60 years old at the time. Interpreting

this as a divine command to nominate a successor, he

began searching for a suitable disciple who would be

qualified to take over charge of the Sringeri Peetham in

the future. <br><br>Sivaswami satisfied the

requirements that Sri Narasimha Bharati was looking for in a

worthy successor. Having lost his father, Sivaswami was

being brought up by his elder brother, Lakshmi

Narasimha Sastri. Both brothers came to Sringeri for a

visit, when Sivaswami impressed the Acharya with his

learning and his devotion. Deciding that he was the right

successor for the Sringeri matha, Sri Narasimha Bharati

initiated Sivaswami into the sannyasa-asrama, under the

name of Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Narasimha Bharati.

The new successor-designate was taught all the

Upanishads and bhashyas personally by the Acharya, who also

took him along with him during his constant tours in

the south. <br><br>In 1879, Sri Narasimha Bharati

(VIII) attained Mahasamadhi, and Sri Sacchidananda

Sivabhinava Narasimha Bharati was duly installed at the

Sringeri matha, where he spent six years in meditation and

contemplation. A northern Rajput prince visited Sringeri and

invited the new Acharya to make a tour of the north,

offering to look after all the arrangements. This northern

tour lasted four years. After this, the Swami stayed

in Sringeri for two years, studying the scriptures

and teaching Vedanta to multitudes of disciples who

sought him out from all over India. He then started out

on an extensive tour of southern India, which lasted

another four years. During this tour, as Adi

Sankaracharya had done centuries ago, he introduced temple

worship rituals that conform to Vedic requirements, and

reformed the existing Agamic practices in the south. Many

scholars and seekers, including the famous Kaviyogi

Suddhananda Bharati, received upadesa from him during this

tour. <br><br>The Sringeri matha as it exists today,

owes a lot to Swami Sacchidananda Sivabhinava

Narasimha Bharati's pioneering leadership. In 1895, after

returning to Sringeri from his southern tour, the Swami

reorganized the existing pathasalas in Sringeri. He started a

new school called Sadvidya Sanjivani Pathasala,

offering courses in Sanskrit and Vedic studies. He had a

portion of the forest on the southern bank of the Tunga

river cleared, where new forest hermitages were

established. He named the new settlement Narasimhavana, in the

memory of his Guru's name. He taught the Upanishads,

Brahmasutras, Bhagavad Gita and Sankaracharya's bhashyas to

many students here. He established a branch matha at

Bangalore, and built a Sanskrit college there, called

Bharatiya Girvana Praudha Vidya Abhivardhini Pathasala. It

was during his tenure at Sringeri that there was a

great resurgence of interest in Vedanta throughout

India. The country was also going through drastic

political and social changes because of British rule. The

Swami keenly felt the general slipping away of all the

old values cherished in traditional Hindu society.

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