The sacred name of Yogiraj Bharatrihari shows the quality of asceticism.He was an embodiment of sacrifice, asceticism and penance. From the time immemorial he has been praised by the numerous sages and ascetics of India in different languages for his discipline and purity. Bharatrihari's father was Gandharva Sen. He ruled over Ujjain during the first century of the Vikrama-samvat. He had two wives. Bharatrihari was born from the first wife and the second wife gave birth to Vikramaditya, the famous king in whose name, the Hindu calendar "VikramSamvat" has been named.

After the death of Gandharva Sen, Bharatrihari being the eldest, became the king. Later on he nominated his younger step brother Vikramaditya as the king of Ujjain and he became involved in sensual pleasures neglecting his duties as a king.

He was a great poet, able administrator and a scholar of Sanskrit language and had many creations on the topics of variety of subjects like poetry, literature and statesmanship to his credit.

During his time, India used to be constantly tormented by foreign invaders. Buddhism had started to dominate on the ' Sanatan Dharma'.

When Vikramaditya saw Bharatrihari lacking interest in the matters of the state and running after the sensual pleasures, he tried to make him understand about his mistakes, Bharatrihari became furious and ordered him to leave the territory of Ujjain.

But the destiny had something else in store for him, his attachment with the sensual pleasures did not last long.

One day he came to know about his queen whom he loved,was in love with the stable keeper. After knowing this, he became disillusioned and abandoned his palace and worldly things. He realised that this world was full of fears- there is the fear of diseases in sensual pleasures, there is also the fear of making a bad name in the family, there is also the fear of state in possession of wealth, there is a fear of debate in the knowledge of the scriptures, there is a fear of qualities in evil people because it is misused and there is a fear of death in the body.

He realized that only asceticism was without any fear. His romantic life was transformed into ascetic life and he began to chant the holy name of Lord Shiva constantly. He became free from lust and desires. He realized the supreme soul.He experienced the 'Brahma Tatva'. He followed the truth established in the Vedas. He cursed himself for wasting so much precious time of his life.

After attaining self-knowledge, Bharatrihari disassociated himself from all the joys and sorrows of life and attained Shiva Tatva.

Works of Bharatrihari- The text 'Bharatrihari' is his famous work among all his creations. This text consists of three Shatakas (centuries). They are 1) Neeti Shataka 2) Sringar Shataka and 3) Vairagya Shataka.

1) NEETI SHATAKA: - In this section, there are many discourses on practical aspects of life. The reader of these poems gets so influenced by its pertinent contents, that he instantly starts following it.

2) SRINGAR SHATAKA: - In this section, he has expressed his feelings of his youth time. He has also described in detail about the boundless sensualism, different postures of the sexual act,love plays of the youth and the behaviour of women.

3) VAIRAGYA SHATAKA: - This is his best creation. He has described in detail about the unstable nature of the pleasures and the sorrows of man's life. He said that satisfaction is the greatest wealth and asceticism is the means to attain it.

Besides this text, he has also written 'Vakyapadiya' which is subdivided into three sections. In this text he has described about the philosophical theories of Grammar and verses.

Bharatrihari was also the proponent of the science of the words (SHABDA VIDYA). Word is the embodiment of Brahma (God). Its realization gives salvation. Bharatrihari was an ascetic who had mastered the art of SHABDA BRAHMA. His "Vairagya Darshan" is synonym to realization of God. He attained salvation while performing Yoga.