A Jivan Mukta - someone who has attained nirvikalpa Samadhi, the realization of the Self (Paramasiva), and is liberated from rebirth while living in a human body - is rare. To this parampara of jivanmuktas belonged Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati, the 34th Acharya of Sringeri Sharada Peetham. Sometime in some country a great soul like Him takes birth. One must be fortunate even to get a glimpse of such a Jivanmukta, for it ennobles his life

Sri Gopala Shastri and Srimati Lakshmamma were poor but dharmic Brahmin couple who led their life as ordained by the Scripture. Smt. Lakshmamma bore eleven children but none survived. With the blessings of Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati Mahaswami, the Acharya of the Sringeri Mutt, they went to Gokarna and worshipped Sri Mahabaleshwar. As a result, Lakshmamma became pregnant once again. It is said that the Acharya, while assuring them of the success of their pilgrimage, added that it would be in the best interest of their to-be-born son to be dedicated to Goddess Sharadamba. On 16th October 1892, on a Sunday, on the day of Ekadasi (the eleventh day of the fortnight), in Makha nakshatra, at Sringeri was born the illustrious son. The pious parents named him Narasimha.

In the year 1912, when Narasimha was twenty years old, Sri Nrisimha Bharati Mahaswami named the young Narasimha as his successor and asked him to be brought to Sringeri from Bangalore. When the message was conveyed, Narasimha at once set out to Sringeri, unquestioningly, without a second thought about his or his parents' future. But unfortunately before he reached Sringeri, the news of Sri Nrisimha Bharati Mahaswami's mahasamadhi reached him. Narasimha was given sanyasa in the ordained way and made the 34th Mutt head. The Acharya had prayed that His disciple and successor should embody in His person all the great traditions of knowledge and spirituality that the Peetham had stood for, and true to His samkalpa all of them found their abode and fulfillment in the disciple who, on the ninth day of Chaitra Bahula of Sri Paridhavi Samtavsara - April 7, 1912, ascended the Vyakhyana Simhasana under the name of Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati.

A new chapter dawned in the history of Sri Sringeri Sarada Peetham.

He had the rare power to transform, by a mere glance, even the non-believers into believers. He was able to explain, with great ease and humility, any subject. His seminal composition - the bhashyam to Sri Adi Shankaracharya's Vivekachudamani - is a prime example. This work has been repeatedly translated into various languages, often accompanied by a commentary in the same language. For example, the English translations and commentaries include those by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood (Vedanta Press), Swami Madhavananda (Advaita Ashram), and Swami Chinmayananda. Tamil translations and commentaries include those by Ramana Maharshi.

His love was quite catholic and universal. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, the Hindu and the Christian, the Muslim and the skeptic, all received the same kind of treatment from Him and all of them returned the wiser and better from the few minutes of contact they were fortunate to have with Him. It is to be noted that He withdrew into Himself in spite of having the ability to preach and possessing executive skills. His noble presence is itself quite sufficient to radiate happiness and peace around Him without any need for Him to give us any spoken blessings or advice.

If anybody in the modern world can be called a seer, that is, One who has realized the Vedantic Truth of identity of the individual soul with the Universal Soul, it is certainly His Holiness Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswami. It is only in the fitness of things that He occupied the Spiritual throne founded by the great Master Sri Adi Shankaracharya, the apostle of Advaita.