A profound glimpse into the ways and means of a Jivanmukta, a realized being who walked on this very #PunyaBhumi #Bharat as recently as 35 years ago.

Devotee: ‘In the photos published in the Maṭha’s almanac and other publications, Your Holiness is just dressed as a saṁnyāsin. Should we not publish, instead, photographs of Your Holiness in all splendour, fully decked with ornaments symbolic of the position of the pontiff of this great pīṭha?’

Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji: This is my preferred way of being. Intrinsically, I do not want any of the pomp and grandeur that the pīṭha is associated with, though they may be required on specific occasions as per the age-old tradition of the pīṭha. By my Guru’s grace, I am firmly convinced about this. If I were to have complete liberty, I would go away this very instant and, in solitude, immerse and lose myself in the contemplation of the Supreme.

In another instance, His Holiness had told the following in response to the plea of a devotee to accept a large gift: “I am a saṁnyāsin. I am not supposed to own anything and I have not even a trace of a wish to do so. I would be quite happy to live in the manner prescribed for paramahaṁsa-saṁnyāsins. I would love to move on foot from one place to another, bathe in a river or some other open body of water, subsist on what food I may get by begging, sleep under some tree, in some cave or in some temple, and spend my time largely in meditation, focused on the non-dual Truth and oblivious of the world. My Guru has, however, assigned me the duty of heading the Sringeri Math and that is the one and only reason I am shouldering this responsibility. The scripture teaches that the Supreme Brahman is all; there is not even a jot or a title distinct from It. Purely by the grace of my #Guru, I know that I am #Brahman. So what is there in the three worlds that is not mine? At the same time, nothing whatsoever is mine, for I am not the body-mind complex and am just unattached pure consciousness."

(From the The Multifaceted Jivanmukta)

#Sringeri #Jagadguru #Shankaracharya #AdiShankara #SanatanaDharma #SantanDharma #HarHarMahadevॐ #Hinduism #Sanyasi #Vedanta #Advaita #Swamiji