[Chaturamnaya] His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati - 3

[S Jayanarayanan]

 http://svbf.org/journal/vol8no1/2006_10_swamigal.pdf
 
 
The Greatness of His Guru
-------------------------
 
During the greater part of the 19th century
the Sringeri Sharada Peetham was presided over
by Sri Nrisimha Bharati VIII (1817-1879). A
native of Sringeri, he was born in 1798.
On the sixth day after initiating him his
guru had passed away.
 
He became a great yogi through intense
meditation and perseverance. He conquered sleep
and spent 20 out of the 24 hours of the day in
divine service (puja) and practice of yoga.
 
To cite an instance: In 1858 the Swami was
halting at Bangalore. The State of Mysore was
then in charge of a British Chief Commissioner,
Col. Bowring. (It was only in 1881 that the State
was handed over to the Maharaja’s adopted son,
Chamarajendra Wodayar, who ruled till 1894.)
Col. Bowring wished to see for himself whether
all that was represented of the Swami was true.
 
Accordingly, one night he went incognito to
the residence of the Swami at 1 a.m. and asked
the sentinels at the gate what the Swami was
doing. He was told that the Swami was engaged
in divine service. The Commissioner requested the
attendants to draw the curtain behind which the
Swami was seated. They did so and he saw the
Swami from a distance with his head bent down
and offering flowers to the deity, oblivious of his
surroundings. The Chief Commissioner took off
his hat in reverence and returned with the
conviction that the Swami was, indeed, a holy
personage. Some of his letters to the Swami attest
to the sincere esteem he had for the sage.
 
When he was barely 40 years of age, the
Swami gave up his normal food, subsisting on the
bitter fruits of Momardica charantia (bitter gourd)
for the rest of his life. He never showed any
impatience with anything that displeased him, but
quietly set to work and never stopped till the
obstacle was overcome.
 
The then Maharaja of Mysore, Mummadi
Krishnaraja Wodayar, pithily gave expression to
this characteristic feature of the Swami in the
Ashtottara-sata-namavali which he composed m
honour of the Swami, describing him as
pratignata-artha-sadhaka, the accomplisher of
whatever he once decides upon.
 
Telugu was his mother-tongue, Kannada was
the language of his native land, Tamil of the
neighbouring districts, Marathi and Hindustani he
acquired during his trip to the north. All these
languages he spoke as if to the manner born,
needless to mention his proficiency in Sanskrit.
He spent over 40 years in his Vijaya Yatras.
 
His own personal wants were very few, but he saw
to it that those who followed him never felt any
of the privations of travel.
 
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