Narsinghpur (MP): Dwarka Sharda Peeth's Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati's last rites were held today at Jyoteshwar in Narsinghpur district at 4 pm with state honours. Shankaracharya died of cardiac arrest at the age of 99, in his ashram in Madhya Pradesh. He breathed his last at around 3:30 pm on Sunday.
He was given a "bhoo samadhi" (burial) on the campus of the Ashram. “His bhoo Samadhi in sitting position, which is given to 'sanyasis', take place around 3-4 pm at his Paramhansa Ganga Ashram, Jyoteshwar, in Gotegaon in Narsinghpur on Monday," an Ashram release issued on Sunday said.
A group of leaders, including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union ministers Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste, former MP chief ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, former Union minister Suresh Pachouri and others, paid their last respects to the seer.
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan paid tributes to the deceased and declared one-day 'state mourning' following the death and instructed the Collector for the same. "Param Pujya Shankaracharya ji was the Sun of 'Sanatan Dharma', Madhya Pradesh feels the void got created with his departure. We will try to follow the path he has shown," Former MP CM Kamal Nath said, It's a great loss for the nation and his blessings will always be with the country and the state.
Also read: Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati death: Controversies around the Dwarka seer
Swami Swaroopanand, the Shankracharya of Dwarka-Sharda Peeth (in Gujarat) and Jyotish Peeth (in Uttrakhand) was not keeping well for over a year. He had recently celebrated his 99th birthday on Teej which fell on August 30. He was once known as a “revolutionary sadhu” for participating in the freedom struggle and often spoke his mind on religious and political issues. He was jailed twice, once for 9 months and another for six months. He had left his home in pursuit of God at the age of 9 and became Shankracharya of Dwarka Peeth in 1981.
Shortly after Swami Swaroopanand was given a bhoo samadhi, Swami Sadanand Saraswati and Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati were declared the new Shankaracharya of the Dwarka–Sharda peeth and the Jyotish Peeth respectively in a ceremony held at the Paramhansi Ganga Ashram in the Narsinghpur district.
"The Patta Abhisek (coronation) of the two seers will take place at their respective peeths after the post-death rituals of Swami Swaroopanand," a faithful said. According to Hindu scholars, a peeth can't remain without a Shankaracharya. Shankaracharya is a commonly used title for heads of monasteries called mutts in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism.
It is believed that Adi Shankaracharya had established four maths at Badrikashram Jyotirpeeth in the north, Dwarka's Shardha Peeth in the west, Govardhan Peetha in Puri in the east, and Sringeri Sharada Peetham in Chikkamagalur district in Karnataka.
