Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamin

Chapter 15 - His Grace Continues

His Holiness observed the chaturmasya of 1989 in Sringeri and for its duration stayed in Narasimhavana. The chaturmasya concluded on 15^th September. He then had the darshan of Goddess Sharadamba.

Over the next few days His Holiness went about His daily routine despite chest pain. Even during physical discomfort, His Holiness was discomfited at the doctor having had to come twice within a span of a few hours for His sake; it did not weigh on Him that it was only a ten minute drive from the doctor’s house. When the doctor had suggested that a bypass surgery may be arranged for His Holiness, He told him to wait for a week, post which He would not object if there existed any possibility or need for that. (The import was realized when His Holiness shed His body within the week).

When in pain, He used to repeat the name of God, but without any expectation whatsoever. He was so considerate that He did not want to disturb anybody’s sleep even by voicing the Lord’s name in the privacy of His room and that too, at a time when He was in pain.

On 21^st  September, Thursday (bhadrapada-krishna-saptami of the cyclical year shukla) while still in pain, His Holiness had a simple bath and performed His ahnika. From where He was seated, through a  window on His right, He would have had a view of the gopura of Goddess Sharada’s temple. Moments after a doctor-devotee had left having obtained His Holiness’s blessing, His personal attendant found that His Holiness’s breathing appeared strained. When the attendant returned after calling out to the doctor, He found His Holiness seated free from distress, with His body erect and His eyes closed. It is presumable that, in an instant, He went into samadhi, as He had done many a time before. The time of His Holiness’s setting aside His body was specified as 11:20 a.m.

The Lord has stated in the Bhagavadgita, “For those who have realised the Supreme, there is absorption in Brahman, while living and after death.” The Chāndogya-upaniṣad teaches, “For the enlightened one, there is delay (in attaining complete liberation) only till the fall of his body. Thereupon, he becomes merged in the Truth.”

The news of His Holiness having attained Mahasamadhi was communicated to Jagadguru Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamin, who was then camping at Pune. Jagadguru Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamin arrived at Sringeri around 1:00 a.m. Subsequently, His Holiness’s body was placed in a wooden palanquin and taken in a procession from Sacchidananda Vilas to the river. Jagadguru Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamin then worshipped Him. After showing ārati, He was seated in the silver palanquin and taken in a procession through the streets of Sringeri. Around 2 p.m., Jagadguru Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamin performed abhisheka with river water to His Holiness at the sandhya-mandapa on the riverbanks of Tunga, to the accompaniment of the chanting of the vedas. Decorated with fresh ochre robes, vibhuti and rudraksha-mala, His Holiness’s body was reverentially lowered into a trench dug to the south of the shrine of His Paramaguru, and in line with the samadhis of His Guru and Paramaguru.

His Holiness said about His Guru in a talk on 30th August, 1987, “My Guru was a knower of Brahman and was not dependent on any cause or effect. Still, He led His life in such a way that there accrued the welfare of the world. Remembering the events that transpired in His life, chanting His name and incorporating into our lives, at least to some extent, what He demonstrated in His life constitute a means for us to attain the highest good.” All this is indubitably true in the case of His Holiness too.

There is His holy samadhi at Sringeri; there are His sacred padukas; there are His teachings; there is His inspiring life; there is the assurance that He gave, “I will never abandon one whom I have accepted”; there are His earlier-cited words about His Guru that are applicable to Him; there are many instances of devotees continuing to receive His grace and guidance; there are wonderful memories enshrined in the hearts of those who had the greatest good fortune of coming into contact with Him. His grace is undiminished and His guidance available as ever to those who genuinely seek and need it.