Eighty – two years old Kanchi Shankaracharya, the 69th Pontiff of the Kancheepuram Sankara Mutt Jayendra Saraswathi passed away on Wednesday morning.
Life History :
Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya (18 July 1935 – 28 February 2018) (born as Subramanyam Mahadeva ) was the 69th Shankaracharya Guru and head or pontiff (Pïțhādhipati) of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Subramanyam Mahadeva Iyer was nominated by his predecessor, Chandrashekarendra Saraswati Swamigal, as his successor and was given the pontifical title Sri Jayendra Saraswathi on 22 March 1954.
Nearly forty years after he was chosen as a successor, Jayendra Saraswathi succeeded Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi as the 69th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam in 1994.
The 69th head of the math died of a cardiac arrest
The acharya complained of breathlessness in the morning.
He was taken to the math hospital in Kancheepuram where doctors tried to revive him, but failed and declared him dead.
Cardiac experts tried to revive him for 45 minutes but failed to do so. An ECG was taken and doctors announced that the seer had ‘attained samadhi’, said Sundaresan. The seer’s mortal remains will be laid to rest within the math premises behind the Paramacharya’s Brindavan. The funeral rites will be held at 8 am on Thursday.
The funeral of Jayendra Saraswathi :
As a sanyasi, Jayendra Saraswati will not be cremated. He will instead be interred in a samadhi, that is referred to as an ‘adhishthanam’. A Shiva lingam will be consecrated on top. It will then become a permanent shrine.
Jayendra Saraswati will be interred right next to the previous Shankaracharya Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, the 68th head of the Kamakoti Peetham.
Final rites of Dharamguru :
Among the dignitaries expected to attend the final rites are President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, various Union Ministers, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and various state ministers, among others.