Bharati TirthaSringeri Sharada Peetham
ENहिन्दी

Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham · Sringeri

Jagadguru Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji

Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri — the thirty-sixth Acharya in the unbroken lineage established by Adi Shankaracharya.

Explore His Life Explore the Teachings
Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji seated cross-legged on a raised stone platform beside a river, with paddy fields and trees on the far bank
On the riverbank. The Peetham at Sringeri stands on the banks of the Tunga.

36thAcharya of the Sringeri Guru Parampara

1974Sannyasa, 11 November

1989Ascended the Peetham, 19 October

I.

Introduction

A teacher in the line of Shankara

Since October 1989 Jagadguru Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji has presided over the Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham at Sringeri, the first of the four monasteries that tradition credits to Adi Shankaracharya. He is at once a monk, a scholar of the Shastras, a teacher of Advaita Vedanta, and the spiritual head of an institution whose Guru Parampara reaches back more than twelve centuries.

Born Sitarama Anjaneyulu in a Vedic family of Andhra Pradesh, he came to his Guru, Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji, as a fifteen-year-old in 1966, received Sannyasa in 1974, and succeeded him as the thirty-sixth Jagadguru. His discourses — in Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi — are known for their clarity and their grounding in scripture.

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Purvashrama name
Sitarama Anjaneyulu
Born
11 April 1951, Alugumallepadu, Andhra Pradesh
Guru
Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji
Sannyasa
11 November 1974
Peetharohana
19 October 1989
Successor
Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati Sannidhanam (2015)
Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji walking barefoot across a paved courtyard in front of wide stone steps, dressed in ochre robes with a rudraksha mala

II.

Life & Spiritual Journey

From a village on the Naguleru to the seat of Sharada

At nine he already had a considerable command of Sanskrit; as a boy he learnt the Vedas from his father at night. At fifteen he found his Guru on the banks of the Sipra at Ujjain and asked to be taught. The next day the lessons began — and they continued, as he travelled with his teacher across India, for the next eight years.

Follow the journey
  1. 1951Born at Alugumallepadu
  2. 1966Meets his Guru at Ujjain
  3. 1974Receives Sannyasa
  4. 1989Becomes the 36th Jagadguru
  5. 2015Initiates his successor

III.

Guru Parampara

Thirty-six Acharyas, one teaching

Knowledge in this tradition is not only read; it is received from a teacher who received it from his. The Sringeri lineage is one of the oldest continuous chains of such transmission.

Explore the lineage
  1. 1Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada
  2. 2Sureshwaracharya first Acharya of Sringeri
  3. 12Sri Vidyaranya 1380–1386
  4. 33Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati
  5. 34Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati 1912–1954
  6. 35Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha 1954–1989
  7. 36Sri Bharati Tirtha since 1989
  8. 37Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati successor-designate

IV.

Advaita Vedanta

अहं ब्रह्मास्मि

Aham Brahmasmi — “I am Brahman”

The great saying of the Yajur Veda, traditionally associated with the southern Peetham at Sringeri. Advaita teaches that the Self in every being is not other than the one reality — and that freedom lies in knowing this, not in becoming something new.

An introduction to Advaita

V.

Sringeri Sharada Peetham

A seat of learning on the Tunga

In the forested hills of the Western Ghats, where Rishyashringa is said to have performed penance, Adi Shankaracharya founded the first of his Amnaya Peethams, consecrated the image of Goddess Sharada, and appointed Sureshwaracharya as its first Acharya.

Discover Sringeri
  1. Sri Sharadamba TempleThe presiding deity of the Peetham, Goddess of learning
  2. Sri Vidyashankara TempleBuilt in 1338 in stone, with twelve zodiac pillars
  3. NarasimhavanamAcross the Tunga: the Guru Nivas and the Adhishtanams
  4. Shankara GiriThe 32-foot granite image of Adi Shankara, unveiled in 2023

VI.

Education & Seva

Sustaining the Shastras, serving the people

  • 1992Shastra Poshaka Sabha

    Founded by the Jagadguru to support students of the Shastras with a five-year stipend.

  • 1992Sanskrit university campus at Sringeri

    He laid the foundation stone of what is now the Sri Rajiv Gandhi Campus of the Central Sanskrit University.

  • 2001Sri Shankara Advaita Research Centre

    Inaugurated by him at Narasimhavanam; it also publishes his discourses.

  • OngoingHealthcare and annadana

    A 100-bed charitable hospital at Sringeri, medical camps, dialysis support and annadana at pilgrimage centres.

Education & Seva in detail

VII.

Teachings

On the Guru

Without the Grace of the Guru, no one can attain fulfilment of the purpose of life.

Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji, Anugraha Bhashanam — as published by Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham

His teaching returns constantly to a few foundations: reverence for the Guru, faithfulness to dharma, devotion to God, and the study of scripture as the means to self-knowledge.

Read the teachings

VIII.

Events & Observances

The sacred year at Sringeri

The Peetham follows the lunar calendar. These observances recur each year; their Gregorian dates change accordingly.

  1. ChaitraVardhantiThe Jagadguru’s birthday, Shukla Shashthi
  2. VaishakhaShankara JayantiAdi Shankara’s birth, Shukla Panchami
  3. Ashadha–BhadrapadaChaturmasyaBegins with Vyasa Puja on the full moon
  4. BhadrapadaVidwat SabhaScholars’ assembly from Ganesha Chaturthi
  5. AshwayujaSharannavaratriEleven days of worship of Sharadamba
All events & observances Visit the gallery

श्रुतिस्मृतिपुराणानाम् आलयं करुणालयम् ।
नमामि भगवत्पादं शङ्करं लोकशङ्करम् ॥

śruti-smṛti-purāṇānām ālayaṃ karuṇālayam
namāmi bhagavatpādaṃ śaṅkaraṃ loka-śaṅkaram

I bow to Bhagavatpada Shankara, abode of the Shruti, Smriti and Puranas, abode of compassion, who brings good to the world. — A traditional verse of salutation to Adi Shankaracharya.