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Who is Jagadguru Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji?
Jagadguru Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji is the presiding Acharya of the Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham at Sringeri, in the Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka. He is a sannyasi of the Advaita tradition of Adi Shankaracharya, a scholar trained in the classical Shastras, and a teacher whose guidance is sought by householders and scholars alike.
He was born on 11 April 1951 at Alugumallepadu, a village in the Palnadu area of the then Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Naguleru. His parents, Venkateshwara Avadhani and Ananthalakshmamma, named him Sitarama Anjaneyulu. He came to his Guru, Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji, in 1966, received Sannyasa from him in 1974 with the name Bharati Tirtha, and ascended the Peetham as the thirty-sixth Jagadguru in October 1989. His life story is told in detail in Life & Journey.
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His place in the Sringeri tradition
According to the tradition of the Peetham, Adi Shankaracharya established Sringeri as the first of four Amnaya Peethams — monastic seats in the south, west, east and north of India — and appointed his disciple Sureshwaracharya as its first Acharya. The Peetham’s presiding deity is Goddess Sharada, whose image Shankaracharya consecrated there.
By the tradition of the Peetham, each Acharya chooses and trains his successor, initiating him into Sannyasa and naming him Uttaradhikari — successor-designate. Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji received this role from his own Guru in 1974 and, in turn, initiated Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati Sannidhanam as his successor in January 2015. The full lineage, and what it means, is set out in Guru Parampara.
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The significance of the title “Jagadguru”
Jagadguru means “teacher of the world”. In the Shankara tradition the title is held by the heads of the Amnaya Peethams, and it signifies an office of teaching rather than a personal honour. The Jagadguru is the custodian of the Peetham’s worship, the guardian of its learning, and a guide in matters of dharma for those who look to the Peetham.
At Sringeri, Sri Chandramouleeshwara — the crystal linga that tradition holds was given by Lord Shiva to Adi Shankaracharya — is worshipped three times a day, and the night puja is performed by the Jagadguru himself. He presides over the Peetham’s scholarly assemblies, blesses its institutions, and undertakes journeys — Vijaya Yatras — across the country to meet devotees and teach.
Only that knowledge which is obtained from the lotus lips of the Guru is potent.
Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji, Anugraha Bhashanam — sringeri.net
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The thirty-sixth Acharya
The Peetham lists thirty-six Acharyas from Adi Shankara to the present. Among them are Sri Vidyaranya, the twelfth, who guided the founders of the Vijayanagara empire in the fourteenth century, and, in recent times, Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati (33rd), who rediscovered Shankara’s birthplace at Kalady; Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati (34th), remembered for his deep spiritual absorption; and Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha (35th), who guided the Peetham from 1954 to 1989.
Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji ascended the Vyakhyana Simhasana — the seat of exposition — on Ashwayuja Krishna Panchami of the Shukla Samvatsara, 19 October 1989, following the Mahasamadhi of his Guru the previous month. He has now guided the Peetham for more than three and a half decades.
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A scholar’s formation
His scholarship began at home: he learnt the Vedas from his father, and by the age of nine he had a considerable command of Sanskrit. Under his Guru he completed, within eight years, the study of the Krishna Yajur Veda, Purva and Uttara Mimamsa, Nyaya and many other treatises and commentaries, alongside grammar, literature, logic and philosophy. He also became a poet in Sanskrit.
That poetic gift continues in his compositions. The Peetham publishes many verses he has written in praise of his Guru, of the earlier Acharyas and of various forms of God — among them hymns to Adi Shankaracharya such as Sri Shankaracharya Varyam and Sri Shankaracharyam Bhajare. His discourses, the Anugraha Bhashanams, are collected and published by the Sri Shankara Advaita Research Centre at Sringeri.
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A teacher in five languages
The Peetham notes that he speaks in chaste Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu — his mother tongue — Tamil and Hindi. In his early years as a disciple he was more often heard speaking Sanskrit than Telugu. He gave his first speech in Kannada on the day of his Sannyasa, spoke in Tamil during a Vijaya Yatra soon afterwards, and has lectured in Hindi on tours in northern India.
His teaching is equally at home in the scholarly assembly and in a village gathering. During the Chaturmasya he has conducted classes in the Brahma Sutras; before devotees he speaks of dharma, devotion and the grace of the Guru in plain, direct terms. A selection of his documented teachings appears on the Teachings page.
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Preserving Vedic and Shastric learning
A consistent thread in his work as Jagadguru has been the protection of traditional learning. In 1992 he founded the Shastra Poshaka Sabha, which supports students of the Shastras; the same year he laid the foundation stone of the Sanskrit campus at Sringeri that is now part of the Central Sanskrit University. In 2001 he inaugurated the Sri Shankara Advaita Research Centre. He has also supported learned pandits with lifelong allowances and encouraged the Peetham’s annual honouring of Vedic and Shastric scholars.
Alongside learning, the Peetham under his guidance has expanded its service to the public: the charitable hospital at Sringeri, medical camps, and — during the golden jubilee of his Sannyasa — a broad programme of annadana, scholarships and healthcare. These are described on Education & Seva.
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Guidance for the present day
For many who come to Sringeri, the Jagadguru is first of all a living example: a life ordered by worship, study and teaching, lived within a discipline that is centuries old. In an age of speed and distraction, that example speaks of steadiness. His emphasis on dharma in daily conduct, on devotion to God, and on the Guru as the doorway to knowledge offers a framework that is both traditional and immediately practical.
Biographical facts on this page follow the biography published by Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham at sringeri.net. Quotations are reproduced as published there.