Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamin

Chapter 2 - The Divine Advent and Boyhood

The blessed child incarnated on earth, quite befittingly, on Deepavali day, asvayuja krishna chaturdashi, 13 November 1917, under the birthstar svati, and was named ‘Srinivasa’. The blessed father Sri Rama Sastry, of kaundinya gotra, was a primary school teacher in Bengaluru. Srimati Venkatalakshmamma, his loyal and devoted wife, was a loving mother who instilled righteousness in her children by narrating numerous puranic and moral stories.

Sri Srinivasa Sastry had His education until the eighth standard at Bengaluru. He was obedient and conscientious, and inculcated the importance of being virtuous in His friends. One late amavasya evening, in response to a challenge from His friends, He boldly went to a body of water that was purportedly haunted, and returned. When quizzed about His lack of fear, He affirmed His confidence that no evil spirit could accost the one who chanted the name of God.

At another occasion, when asked what He would like to do when He grew up, He said that He would strive to realise God, ‘for that is what is good.’ When His friend challenged His conviction on the ground that neither He nor those who knew Him had seen God, Sri Srinivasa Sastry replied saying that similar to how the verbal testimony of those who had visited Bombay could be taken as sufficient proof of its existence, the words of the ancient sages who had beheld the Lord are proof of the existence of the Supreme Being.

Sri Srinivasa Sastry greatly valued ahimsa and was patience personified. When hit by friends during a game, He exhibited astonishing forbearance. However, His approach was different when others were troubled. Sri Srinivasa Sastry resolved to put an end to the torment of a bully Gundu, and engaged in a scuffle with him. He overpowered Gundu and then made the bully write on paper that he would not trouble the boys again.

Sri Srinivasa Sastry always went out of his way to quell others’ suffering, even if they were tiny creatures. Upon seeing a boy torturing butterflies by tearing their wings and throwing them to a dog, He grabbed the boy’s hands and twisted them until the boy yelled. Sri Srinivasa Sastry then told the boy that the butterflies would also have felt the same pain and advised the boy to abstain from his cruelty thenceforth.

He was willing to put up with suffering if that meant relieving the distress of others. Once, when a friend of His had not fared well in the examinations and had been punished by his father to bear a heavy stone on his back, Sri Srinivasa Sastry volunteered to bear the stone instead and appealed to the better nature of the father.

Equanimity in pain and pleasure was innate in Sri Srinivasa Sastry. Once, He and His friends were served a dish, which turned out to be so pungent that it made his friends scream for water and jaggery. Sri Srinivasa remained undisturbed and suggested that they be calm, to which His friends challenged Him to eat a handful of chillies without the slightest protest. Sri Srinivasa Sastry nonchalantly agreed and consumed the chillies without murmur, much to the surprise of His friends. He thus convinced them that it is possible to be contented with and be thankful for whatever food one gets.

As a dutiful son, He helped His mother with domestic chores and with caring for His younger siblings. Sri Srinivasa Sastry’s inherent wisdom that God accepted anything offered with deep devotion was underlined when He offered His crystal Ganesha a spoonful of water with devotion as naivedya, since there was nothing else to offer.

One day, under the completely mistaken impression that Sri Srinivasa Sastry did not study properly, Rama Sastry repeatedly caned His upturned palm. Venkatarama Iyer, an astrologer tenant of Rama Sastry, intervened and inspected the palm of Sri Srinivasa Sastry to gauge the extent of injury. He exclaimed that Sri Srinivasa Sastry was destined to become a dispassionate yogin of the highest order and that it would be no surprise if He were to be nominated as the successor to the peetham by the Jagadguru of Sringeri. Venkatarama Sastry asserted his prediction after scrutinizing the horoscope of Sri Srinivasa Sastry. (If the reader is interested in the detailed analysis of Acharyal’s horoscope by Ms Gayatri Devi Vasudev, the editor of ‘The Astrological Magazine’, please click here)

With the passage of time, Sri Srinivasa expressed to His friends His inexorable resolve in renouncing the world, stating that while the enjoyment and reign of even an emperor had to end sooner or later, the sannyasin could constantly meditate on God and ever be under divine protection. He was only twelve years of age then.