Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati passes away at 99; PM Modi, Yogi grieve

Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati passed away on Sunday at Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh. The seer was 99 years old.

The top religious leader breathed his last at the Shridham Jhoteshwar Ashram in Narsinghpur around 3:30pm, said Swami Sadanand Maharaj, second-in-command (known as Dandi Swami) of the Dwarka Peeth.

According to reports, he died of a minor heart attack. The seer’s funeral will take place on Monday. Swaroopanand was the Shankracharya of Dwarka, Sharda, and Jyotish Peeth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was deeply saddened by the demise of Swaroopanand. “My condolences to his followers in this time of grief. Om Shanti!” he wrote.

Union home minister Amit Shah also expressed his grief. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the seer’s passing away is an irreparable loss to the community of religious leaders.

His Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan also extended his condolences and spoke about his contribution towards Indian traditions.

In her tribute, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said Swaroopanand devoted his life to religion, spirituality and charity.

She also recalled her meeting with the seer in 2021 in Prayagraj. Vadra further said that the late seer had done the ‘griha pravesh’ of their house in 1990 in the presence of her father Rajiv Gandhi.

The Shankaracharya had been ailing for a long time and was undergoing treatment in Bengaluru. Recently he had returned to the ashram.

Swaroopanand was born as Pothiram Upadhyay at Dighori village in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh in 1924. He had left his home at the age of nine and was incarcerated during the freedom movement.