[Advaita-l] JAGADGURU SRI CHANDRASEKHARA BHARATI MAHASWAMI – MYSTIC AND SEER - 13

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 
 
(Book condensation from Tattvaloka, July 1999, Volume XXII No. 2 )
 
http://www.svbf.org/journal/vol5no1-2/mystic.pdf
 
The First Tour
 
The Mahaswami was fully aware of the need
to meet the devotees who looked up to the
guidance of the Jagadguru. He was also aware
of the tradition coming down from the time of
Adi Sankara for the heads of the Peetha to go on
tour spanning several years. The Mahaswami’s
Paramaguru, Sri Narasimha Bharati VII, was
almost always on tour. Even his guru had
covered vast areas during his tours.
 
There was constant pressure from the
administration and various appeals from
organizations and devotees that the guru should
perform some auspicious function or the other
connected with the Kumbhabhishekam of a
temple, opening of a Veda pathasala and so on.
There was also the standing invitation from
Krishnaraja Wodeyar that the Mahaswami
should come to Mysore and honour him. Besides,
a beautiful temple in honour of his guru was
being constructed in his birth place Mysore. This
temple in his guru’s honour had to be declared
open and ancillary facilities for Vedic studies had
to be provided.
 
The Mahaswami was therefore well aware
that he should go out on tour and the only
question was one of timing. He wanted to be
rooted in the Self, to be fully ripe before starting.
Unlike his guru and his successor Swamis, he
had the great handicap of having to do his
spiritual practices on his own without having
the constant physical proximity and guidance of
the guru. True, Virupaksha Sastri filled this
vaccum to some extent. But still the Herculean
labour had to be his.
 
Towards the middle of 1923, the Mahaswami
felt he was ready but he waited for Sharada’s
Prerana, the divine sanction. A couple of months
later, he got the green signal form Sharada and
authorized the administration to make the
necessary arrangements.
 
The administration was only too happy. In
their heart of hearts they had misgivings as to
whether the Mahaswami, used as he was to inner
communion and withdrawal, would ever agree
to such a tour which they had felt would be in
the best interests of the Peetha, from all angles.
It took a few months to finalize the plans. In
January 1924, Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati left
Sringeri on his first tour which was to be
momentous in many ways.
 
 
(Continued in next post)