His Holiness Shrimad Sudhindra Tirtha Swamiji is no more
mangaloretoday.com
Hardwar, January 17, 2016: The supreme head of Kashimath Samsthan, H H Shrimad Sudhindra Tirtha Swamiji is no more. His Holiness breathed his last at 1.15 AM today, January 17, 2016 at Haridwar. He was ninety one.
Narasimha Acharya, Tantri, Kashi Mutt, Mangaluru told The Hindu that the seer was suffering from age-related illness. He was being treated at a hospital in Mumbai.
The seer was airlifted from Mumbai to Haridwar on Saturday morning as per his wish as he wanted to spend days in the mutt at Haridwar. He died at Haridwar at about 1.16 a.m. on Sunday.
He was the 20th seer of the mutt. Swamiji moved to Haridwar recently from Mumbai. He was suffering from some minor illness. He breathed his last peacefully at 1.15 AM today in his chamber in the temple at Haridwar. His last rites would be performed in Haridwar on Sunday.
Srimad Samyameendra Thirtha Swamiji, (who takes over Kashi Math Samsthan after the demise of H H Srimuthe Sudhindra Theertha Swamiji) praying at his lotus feet.
Shrimad Sudhindra Tirtha Swamiji is the twentieth head of the Kashi Matha Samsthan. A year back his Navathi celebration was held in Haridwar in grandeur.
Born in Ernakulam in Kerala, In the purvashrama (before being initiated into sanyasa by the previous Swamiji), he was known as Shri Sadashiva Shenoy, son of Shri Ramadasa Shenoy, a trustee of Shri Venkataramana temple in Ernakulam. He was born at Ernakulam on 31st March, 1926. He completed his Pre-University education in Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam and selected Natural Science, Physics and Chemistry as his main subjects.
From an early age he had shown inclination towards a religious life. The noble traits of his character, his devotion to God, his desire to serve his fellow men, his honesty, his integrity and his love for Hindu Dharma were remarkable. When Shrimad Sukriteendra Tirtha Swamiji was camping at Ernakulam, this young boy attracted his attention. The Swamiji had the intuition to choose the right man and was divinely inspired to select this boy to be his fittest successor, later to head the Kashi Matha Samsthan.
He was initiated him into sanyasa on 24th May 1944 in the divine presence of Lord Venkataramana, Lord Narasimha and Lord Bindu Madhava in Mulki and renamed him as Shrimad Sudhindra Tirtha.
He took to his new duties earnestly and enthusiastically and led an austere life. He felt the need of equipping himself with all the knowledge of the Dharma Shastras. He mastered Sanskrit at the Bhuvanendra Sanskrit College, Karkala. The scholarly teachers of the college were appointed to impart the necessary education in Dharma Shastras. Endowed with excellent grasping power, wonderful memory and extraordinary intelligence and plenty of God’s grace and Guru’s blessings, he completed his study in a short time. The Brahma Sutra, The Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads (Prasthana Traya) and other works were studied in great detail. He became a great scholar in Dwaita philosophy, as propounded by Shri Madhvacharya.
He traveled widely from Kanya Kumari to Badrinath, meeting his disciples, exhorting them to lead a life of morality and religion, conducting the pujas to Shri Vyasa-Raghupati with unbounded devotion and single-pointed concentration and praying at all times for the welfare of the community. Kindness, compassion, generosity and breadth of vision are the strong traits of his way of work. He visited many places of pilgrimage including Nasik, Ujjain, Kurukshetra, Mathura, Ayodhya, Prayag, Kashi, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Badri, Tirupati, Srirangam, Madurai, Palani, Kumbhakonam, Rameshwaram and Kanya Kumari.
Shrimad Sudhindra Tirtha Swamiji, like his predecessor Swamijis, performed many installation or reinstallation ceremonies in various temples. Thus he performed the third renovation/ reinstallation ceremony of Shri Venkataramana Temple, Kundapura on Vaishakha Shuddha Trayodashi of Vikari Samvatsara, Sh. Sh. 1881 (Wednesday, 20-5-1959). The reinstallation ceremony at Shri Lakshmi Venkatesha Temple at Hosdurg was performed by him on Chaitra Shuddha Navami, Sharvari Samvatsara, Sh. Sh. 1882 (Monday, 4th April, 1960). The installation of idol of Shri Venkataramana in Balaji Mandir, Kurla, Mumbai was performed by him on Tuesday, 20th March, 1973.
Among the temples renovated and the idols reinstalled by the Swamiji are : Shri Venkataramana Temple, Kasaragod, Shri Varadaraja Venkataramana Temple, Gurupura, Shri Krishna Temple, Mangalore etc. In addition, he installed various idols at different temples, such as Shri Venkataramana Temple at Konchadi, Shri Muralidhara Krishna at Kota, Shri Narasimha at Shri Ramanjaneya Temple, Vile Parle (Mumbai), Shri Narasimha at Shri Venkataramana Temple, Uppinangadi and Shri Lakshmi Venkatesha Temple at Mudabidri.
In order to mark the Golden Jubilee of the annual Bhajana Saptaha at Shri Lakshmi Venkatesha Temple, Kasaragod, it was decided to conduct a Yajna by writing Shri Ramo fai Rama fai fai Rama, 52 crore times. Special books were prepared for the purpose and members of the community residing in different parts of the country contributed their share by writing the divine name as many times as they could. The Yajna was conducted in a grand manner under the able direction of the Swamiji.
The Swamiji founded two Matha Bhavans, one at Bhagamandala on the banks of the river Kaveri (in 1960) and another at Bandora in Goa (in 1972). Shri Bhuvanendra Balakashrama, Basrur will long be remembered as a worthy monument. Founded in 1965 under the auspices of the Kashi Matha, this institution is a bold venture, where some of our boys are trained to lead an ideal life. It started functioning by admitting fifteen students to whom Dharmic education is being imparted. Though the Matha had decided to bear all the expenses in connection with the running of the institution many donors from the community have come forward to defray part of the expenses. An executive committee has been formed under the overall guidance of the Swamiji to look after the affairs of the institution.
One of the major achievements of the Swamiji is the founding of Shri Kashi Matha Welfare Fund in Udupi. This concept was thought of in 1956, when the Swamiji was camping in Shri Lakshmi Venkatesha Temple, Udupi, for observing the Chaturmasya Vrita. With the noble idea of founding an organization, which would try to banish the social and economic ills afflicting the community, a meeting of the leaders of the community residing in South Kanara was convened in the temple on 26th August 1956. Three years later a draft constitution was approved by the community members, blessed by the Swamiji and the institution was registered on 6th June, 1959. This provided for a Direction Committee, consisting of twenty members (all nominated by the Swamiji) to implement the various activities outlined in the constitution.
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