JOIN USKuppa Venkateshwara Prasad Sharma was rechristened as Vidhushekhara Bharati by Dakshinamnaya Sringeri Sri Shree Sharada Peetha seer Bharati Theertha Swami and was appointed the successor of the Peetha, on Friday.
During the proceedings that started with the sacred fire rituals at Narasimha Vana at 7 am, as a part of his entry into his sanyasa, Venkateshwara Prasad Sharma sacrificed the holy thread, 'shikha' and 'shwetha vastra' to the waters of River Tunga. Bharati Theertha Swami gave him danda, kamandala and the kashaya vastram. Later, both the seers visited the Adhisthana of the earlier seers and paid their obeisance.
The elder seer gave ‘Pranavopadesham’ and ‘Mahavakyopadesham’ to his successor. The new seer performed the ‘Paryanka showcha’ ritual at a specially designed boat in Tunga river.
Bharati Theertha Swami performed the pooja after placing a saligrama on the head of the new seer. The successor was rechristened by Bharati Theertha as Vidhushekhara Bharati, which contains the part of the names of earlier seers Chandrashakhara Bharati and Abhinava Vidya Theertha.
Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati performed the paada pooja of his Guru, after which the devotees paid their obeisance to both the seers. The seers later visited all the temples on the premises of the mutt. In the evening, Bharati Theertha Swami and Vidhushekhara Bharati delivered spiritual discourses. They were taken on golden and silver palanquins after 9 pm.
Srini staff push scribes
A scuffle broke out between the BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan’s security staff and mediapersons outside the Sringeri temple.
Srinivasan and his family were on a visit to the Sringeri Sharada Peeta. Mediapersons gathered outside the temple. When he arrived at 10 am, they queried him about the SC verdict but he refused to answer them. Meanwhile, his security staff tried to push the media away.