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Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati was specially picked as the Peethadhipati of the Sringeri matha, by his guru, Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Narasimha Bharati. The successor-designate was sent to the Bangalore branch of the Sringeri matha to complete his schooling in the traditional Sastras, Mimamsa and Vedanta. When he ascended to the title as a young man of twenty, Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati was already an accomplished scholar, and he was soon to prove to be a great tapas-cakravarti in modern times. Right from the beginning, he entrusted the management of the matha to able administrators and devoted his efforts to teaching and Atmavicara. Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal's compassion for his disciples and spiritual seekers was well-known. Many are the people who were touched by his spiritual eminence, and his personal example of the highest renunciation. During his tenure as the head of the Sringeri matha, India attained Independence, and the princely states were integrated into the Union. The Sringeri matha had truly grown into a Mahasamsthanam, by virtue of the vast amounts of land and revenue that had been gifted to the matha by various rulers in the past. However, the Swami voluntarily relinquished the matha's land holdings and revenues to the newly reconstituted States in India. In 1931, the Swami initiated his successor, Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha to Sannyasa, and nominated him as the 35th Peethadhipati of Sringeri. After this event, he entrusted the matha to his new disciple and spent most of his time in seclusion, performing penance in the forests around Sringeri. The devotion and reverence with which Swami Abhinava Vidyatirtha regarded his guru are unsurpassed. Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal took great care in teaching the new initiate and grooming him in the traditions of the matha. Although Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati never cared to read newspapers or keep in touch with political developments in the world, he seemed to know all about them. For example, one day in 1950, he suddenly emerged out of seclusion, and dictated a letter of benediction to King Tribhuvan of Nepal, blessing him with success in his domestic problems with the Ranas, the hereditary prime ministers of Nepal. Just at that time, King Tribhuvan was facing imminent defeat in his battles against the Ranas and was on his way to India. Soon after His Holiness's letter reached him, King Tribhuvan's fortunes changed dramatically. There was a mass reaction against the tyranny of the Ranas and the royal family of Nepal was restored to power. His Holiness's grace and compassion fell equally upon the pauper as upon the prince, and every sincere devotee felt immensely blessed by him. A single look was enough to convert many non-believers into the most earnest spiritual seekers. Similarly, although His Holiness never read scientific papers, he was aware of contemporary developments in physics in the fields of relativity and quantum theory. In one of his dialogues with a disciple, Sri R. Krishnaswamy Iyer, His Holiness said, "Scientists have discovered that matter is nothing but a manifestation of cosmic energy. But the universe is not mere matter made up of atoms. Scientists must concern themselves with consciousness. Only through a comprehensive study of consciousness can a complete explanation of the cosmos be found." Thus, His Holiness saw the similarities between advaita and some implications of modern physics years before the scientists realized them. His prediction that consciousness must be studied scientifically is now coming true, as more and more researchers around the world are turning their attention to the study of consciousness.
Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal wrote a lucid and learned
commentary to the Vivekachudamani, Adi Sankaracharya's
celebrated treatise on advaita philosophy. In his introduction to this
commentary, his disciple and successor, Swami
Abhinava Vidyatirtha pays fulsome tribute to Sri Chandrasekhara
Bharati by describing him as a Krta Tapascarya, Sarvatantra
Svatantra, Sastropadishtartha anushthana nishtha garishtha,
Aparokshikrta Atmatattva, and a Jivanmukta. The commentary
to the Vivekachudamani has been published along with an English
translation by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati
thus follows in the tradition of great advaitins like Sankaracharya,
Suresvara and Vidyaranya, who taught both by personal example and by
writing authoritative Vedanta treatises. The greatness of Sringeri
matha lies not so much in its age or its history as in the fact that
it has illustrious Peethadhipatis of the stature of Sri Chandrasekhara
Bharati Mahaswamigal. Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal's discourses and teachings have been faithfully recorded by his devoted disciple, Sri R. Krishnaswamy Iyer, who later became a sannyasi by the name Jnanananda Bharati. These teachings have been published under the titles, The Call of the Jagadguru, The Saint of Sringeri and Dialogues with the Guru. Excerpts from these books were republished in the form of a small booklet titled "Golden Words," by the Sringeri matha in 1992, to coincide with the birth centenary of Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati. This book is being made available at a nominal price. Copies may be obtained by writing to the Sringeri matha's administrator at Sringeri Sarada Peetham, Sringeri, Karnataka 577 139, India or to the Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation at 53 Knightsbridge Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854.  Compilations of the teachings of Swami Chandrasekhara Bharati can be found in
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By the grace of Goddess
Saradamba, the matha has continued under the leadership of such
spiritual giants as Adi Sankara, Suresvaracharya, Vidyaranya, Bharati
Tirtha, Narasimha Bharati and Chandrasekhara Bharati.