[Chaturamnaya] His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati - 16

[S Jayanarayanan]

 http://svbf.org/journal/vol8no1/2006_10_swamigal.pdf
 
 
At Sringeri—Later Years
-----------------------
 
For full 12 years from 1895 to 1907 the
Swami stayed at Sringeri, all the while thinking of
what should be done to drifting away of the
people of the land from their old moorings.
 
The first and greatest master of this line,
Sankara, had found the land torn asunder by
conflicting creeds and abominable practices in the
name of religion; and he had established peace,
tolerance and a broad outlook in Bharatavarsha.
 
The Swami now sought the great master’s
help in prayer. Sankara’s murti in the matha was
placed in a conspicuous shrine and he arranged for
an annual festival in his honour, commencing on
the sukla pratipad of Vaisakha and ending on the
fifth day-the anniversary of the master’s birth. In
the mornings, all these five days, there was a
special adoration and archanas to the murti of the
master, recitation of his great bhashyas, lectures by
the Swami himself in the evenings in simple, easy
style on the teachings of the master. The
programme concluded at night with a procession
on the streets of Sringeri and musical recitals. This
movement has since spread to other parts of the
land.
 
Once during this period, a f riend was
deputed by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya to
invite the Swami to Benares to lay the foundation
stone of the Benares Hindu University. The Swami
regretfully declined the invitation, the date chosen
for the function being near and the time of
traveling such a long way being insufficient.
 
It was suggested that special trains or motor
cars could be arranged for speedy travel and
return. The Swami said that the long established
procedures of the matha had to be respected, that
walking had been at first the only method of
travel adopted by his predecessors, that it was only
during the time of Vidyaranya, the king-maker of
the 14th century A.D., that the use of palanquin
and other symbols of regal pomp and show had
been substituted, that these signs of dignity had
their own use in influencing people and that he
could not bring himself to break the tradition
which had sanction of centuries behind it.
 
Instead, he sent a pair of his guru’s sandals,
which had greater power he could ever possess, to
ensure the prosperity of the great institution
which was to be established in the most sacred
city of Bharatavarsha for the resuscitation of the
culture of India.
 
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