AdiShankaracharya established four Mutts and one of them was in Sringeri. ChandrashekaraBharati III was the 34th head of this Mutt and the head of the Mutts was called Jagadguru.
Profile
A devout couple Gopala Sastri and Lakshmamma of Sringeri were unhappy that eleven of their children had died as infants. They sought the blessings of Sri SacchidanandaShivabhinavaNrisimhaBharatiSwamiji, the head of SringeriMutt, who assured them that an illustrious sonwould be born to them and on October 16th 1892 was born NarasimhaSastri. Narasimha was a brilliant boy with little attraction to worldly objects. He studied in a local school which taught him the secular subjects. He learnt Sanskrit at home. For his higher studies he was sent to ‘BharatiyaGirvanaPraudhaVidyaAbhivardhaniPathasala’ an institution established by Sri SacchidanandaShivabhinavaNrisimhaBharatiSwamiji. It was NrisimhaBharatiSwamiji who made arrangements for NarasimhaSastri to study there. The love was reciprocated by Narasimha as he had great reverence for his guru.NrisimhaBharatiSwamiji also saw a successor in NarasimhaSastri and in 1912 it was announced officially. Narasimha was studying in the Patashala when the new reached him but by the time he reached Sringeri his guru had left the body and he was initiated into sanyasa by another swami, Sri SatyanandaSaraswathiMahaswami. Though he became the head he was mostly interested in his meditation. He spoke to sincere seekers and just gave his darshan for most people. On September 26th 1954 he went to take a bath in the Tunga River and gave up his life. His body floated in the sitting posture and it was retrieved by assistant Ramaswami.
Philosophy Propounded
Advaita Vedanta as explained by the AdiShankaracharya was the philosophy propagated by ChandrashekaraBharati III.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
During his period he renovated the Sringeri Temple and a shrine was erected for his Guru. Most Shankaracharyas go around the country which is called Digvijayam. He travelled all over the south India. He consecrated a temple at his Guru’s residence, where he was born, in Mysore. He composed a few poems and wrote a couple of commentaries. One work was on Vivekachoodamani and the other book of this was called GururajaSukti Malika. . He found a successor and appointed him as the junior Acharya on May 22nd 1931 and gave all the administrative works to him. The introverted nature seen as a child continued to be ChandrashekaraBharati III nature and he loved to spend most of his time in tapas and solitude.
