Swami Chandrasekhara Bharati (born Narasimha Sastri; 1892–1954 ) was the Jagadguru Sankaracarya[1] of Sringeri Sharada Peetham in 1912–1954.
[clarification needed][2] Narasimha Sastri, who became Jagadguru Shankaraachaarya Swami Chandrashekhara Bharati (Honorific style: Chandrashekhara Bharati Swaminah[3]) was born to Gopala Sastri and Lakshmamma in Sringeri on Ashvayuja krishna Ekadashi (the eleventh day of the fortnight in the month of Ashvayuja) in the Hindu lunar year Nandana (corresponding to October 16, 1892).
A noted feature of his life was that his birth, upanayanam, sannyasa and videha mukti (death), all happened on Sundays.
The Sankaracarya of Sringeri had established in 1910 an institution of higher Vedantic training, the Bharatiya Girvana Prouda Vidya Vardhini Shala in Bangalore.
[2] In 1912, Jagadguru Sankaracarya Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Nrsimha Bharati named Narasimha Sastri as his successor at Sharada Peetham.
A devotee, Rama Sastri, was entrusted with the task of personally delivering the Sankaracarya's letter naming his successor to Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, Maharaja of Mysore.
On May 22, 1931, he initiated Srinivasa Sastri into Sannyasa and gave him the yoga patta of Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha.
After returning to Sringeri, he resumed his classes on Vedanta and wrote thought-provoking and erudite articles in Asthikamathasanjeevini, a journal published by the Matha.
On August 24, 1954, the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, visited Sringeri to pay homage to the Sankaracharya.
In consternation the servant plunged into the river, caught hold of the Acharya, but in the effort lost his consciousness.
It was reported that his body was in an erect sitting posture with legs crossed as at the time of contemplation and was straightened out only in an attempt to restore respiration and that there was no sign of drowning or of suffocation or of any struggles for life.
The Jagadguru's mortal remains found their resting place in a samadhi just by the side of that of his great guru in Narasimhavanam.