20-21

“Where should I meet you in Bangalore”, I asked Umesh. For all his brilliant achievements in academics, yoga, dhyana, Shastra , Umesha was always great fun. He made Vdeanta discussions such an enjoyable thing.“ You come down to my uncle’s home in Sadashiva nagara. My uncle Mr.Natarajan and his family are great devotee of Ramana Maharishi”, he added. Mr.Natarajan was the founder of 

Ramana center in Bengaluru (https://ramanacentre.com/)

The word Ramana sent a lightning bolt in my spine. I had read Paul Brunton’s book, “A search in secret India” long back. There was a photo of Ramana Maharishi in my maternal grand father’s house. They were related to the family that lived close by, in a  house where Shri Raghavednra Theertha had spent his teen age days in his pUrvashrama. The house had a large pUja room with large antique idols and scores of large shalagrama stones. Everything is Rayaru in that household. 

Raghavendra swamy was no ordinary teenager Venkatanatha, nor was his brother in law. Venkatanatha’s brother in law was such a scholar, Goddess Saraswathi walked around every day, knowledge ruled supreme and ocean of wisdom prevailed.
अराति विद्वा विजय अर्थ वृद्विम सरस्वती नित्य निवास मन्दिरं 
अभूदभूत  उपम बुद्दि सागरः सुतोस्य  लक्ष्मीनृसिंह नामभाक्  ( SRV 4:4)
Venkatanatha learnt shahstra from his brother in law, and was practicing Yama niyamadi Ashtanga yoga too. Shri Hari occupied all his heart and thoughts ;so much that even Manmatha had to wait out unable to pierce his chest into his heart.
अनन्तकल्याण गुणैक मन्दिरं हरिं जगत्ध्यप्तानुं हृदन्तरे |
निधातु कामस्य भुजान्तरं क्रमादमुष्य विस्तारं अपारं अभ्यगात || (SRV 4:31)

No wonder there was so much of Maadhwa orthodoxy and Rayaru in every statement in that household. How did Ramana Maharishi’s photo manage to get there at all? My grandfather’s elder brother was a devotee of Ramana Maharishi. After his passing, no one bothered about it. I noticed it and it lay dormant in mind. 

Umesha liked the  Thriuvannamalai caves that Ramana Maharishi habituated; he would go there often to meditate and do intense tapas for hours. Once while he was in samadhi in a cave, some lady doing Giri pradakshina touched his feet. She was thrown off with such a force she screamed and Umesha opened his eyes. Since this incident, he was careful to go to secluded caves. Many Siddha purushas have been living in Thiruvannamalai hills.

I reached Mr.Natarajan’s house as scheduled and found a festive atmosphere  there, with Umesha, Satsangis and  Mr.Natarjan’s big family . The family showered their affection along with sumptuous lunch on us. Soon we started for Sringeri, with Umesh driving and me sitting as navigator for him. Without GPS and proper sign posts, one had to keep enquiring for the way and I was the only Kannada person in the car. 

It was all fun and jokes flowing all the time. Umesh would teach us portions of Viveka Choodamani ; or look very withdrawn and explain nirvana shatkam. Some times he would challenge me on finer concepts of Dwaitha. He would tell how Ashta maha siddhis are achievable through rigorous practice of Ashtanga Yoga.

As the evening sun was about to set, we stopped near a stream near chickmagalur and did sandhya vandane .It felt so wonderful and we all kept wondering why we ,as a society, moved away from such a life. We all resolved, wherever life takes us, we will not give up our anushatana. Umesh was in a cheeky mood and added, “ it is only anushtana for us, but for poor Maadhwa paddu it is Acara & Anushatana” and the whole gang broke into peels of laughter. Umesha always admired the strict Acara maintained by Maadhwa community.


The night started to fall and all of a sudden there was loud noise - one of the car tires blew out. We got out and replaced the tire with spare tire and continued our journey. After some time  another tire blew out and we did not have any spare. It was pitch dark by then. Umesh & I decided to hitchhike on a Lorry and get to the nearest town with two broken tires. 

We spotted a Lorry passing by and got into the front seat. Very soon I saw Umesh getting tired - he had been driving all the way from Chennai and now to Sringeri . I felt very bad for him - here is a tall , handsome, extrem

ely bright young man, coming from a well placed and well off family, and what does he do? He gives up all that and chooses  to be naishtika brahmachary ,willing to live in the caves of Thriuvannamali ! I looked at him and was his usual serene self , no frowning or losing temper. I compelled him to rest his head on my shoulders to catch some rest. It would take an hour or more on the Ghat roads to reach Aldur.


It was very late in the night and almost all the shops were closed , except just one tire repair shop -run by a muslim. He was also in a rush to get home and have his food before dawn- as was customary in Ramzan time.I requested him in Kannada and he Kindly stayed on to fix both the broken tires. It was another Lorry ride back where the car was stranded, All the satsangis were lying down on the side of the road and sleeping, unmindful of risks of getting run over by passing trucks and buses,

We all started again to Sringeri and in another half an hour , another tire burst and we replaced it. We were holding out breath and hoping that there won’t be another problem, but there was one more tire burst. We got it replaced by the only spare we had and continued. We kept going without a spare tire and it finally seemed we are going to be OK. 

But now, we faced another problem-the car radiator started steaming up. We looked around for a jungle stream to fetch water to fill up the radiator. We kept seeing mirages in midnight to be disappointed many times, until we found a real one. Umesh burst into laughter and quoted a verse about Trshna (thirst). What starts as Mrig Trishna ends up quenched if what we desire is dhaarmic. 

जिह्मं नुनुद्रे.अवतं तया दिशासिञ्चन्नुत्सं गोतमाय तृष्णजे | 
आ गछन्तीमवसा चित्रभानवः कामं विप्रस्यतर्पयन्त धामभिः (RV 1.85.11)
“They ( Marut) drive the clouds towards him and poured the rain for thirsting Gotama”

We continued out journey, hoping there wouldn’t be any more troubles. There were none, and very soon the majestic Sringeri temple started showing up in morning dawn. 




We checked into choultry while Umesh rushed to Narasimhavana where he always stays with jyeshta maha sanniddhanam. He later told us that Achrayas were all peels of laughter on hearing our tribulations. “Mathe Sharade has tested all your satsangi’s will and commitmen before bringing you here. The task at hand is no easy either. Ask them to get ready quickly and meet Sannidhanam. Your troupe will be the ADCs ( Aide-De- Camp) for the Shankaracharyas who are coming to town”

I was assigned to be the ADC for the Shankaracharya Shri Swaroopanada Saraswathi



There were two more days to the Chatur Amnaya Sammelana,with the whole Narasimhavana and town wore a festive look. It was a historic event and it importance was not felt by us at that time . After Shri Adi Shankara Bahagavat Pada’s time, the four Shankaracharyas of the four Amanya peetah were meeting for the first time. It was happening after some 1200 years, we were to be at the fore front as ADCs , and what were we doing?


Umesha and all of us were having a great time in the Tunga river, behind the hillock, on the other side of Narasimhavana . Very few get there as the river gets rocky behind the bend. Umesha plunged into the river ,some of us did not know to swim, but we still plunged nevertheless. Umesha swam beautifully and demonstrated the Padmasana Back float - he would do a padmasana ,while floating on his back. Many of us tried that and drowned into the waters like a rock! We knew neither padmasana nor back float. 

It was then and there decided that we will learn Yoga , but who will teach us? There weren’t many yoga schools then with wild stories being circulated about yoga and yogis. Umesha had a ready solution for that . He had brought a young disciple of his -‘Papa Ramasubramanian’ from Chennai. He was an expert among us and he was commanded by Umesha to teach us Yoga.He would stay on in Bangalore on our way and teach us. 

Jala kreeda was not a good practice for brahmacharis; so we quickly applied ash on forehead , finished sandhya vandane and sat on the rocks for prolonged meditation. It was a wonderful sight, a bunch of young brahmacharis sitting on the rocks in meditation, with water flowing all around us. 

Then we wandered in the lush greens and reached a small Kala Bhairva temple. Umesha narrated an incident about the temple- how Jyeshta Mahasannidhanam’s siddhasana posture was personally corrected by Kalabhairava in that very same temple and his meditation experiences there. Umesha was so carried away by the emotions he cried “Bhairva” with such a force it reverberated. We all closed our eyes in an instant.  

There were a couple of very young boys -Vishwa and Kutti Shankar. Umesha lifted them and threw them at us , as if they were soccer balls; we caught them and threw them back. This went on for some time.It was all so much fun and Umesha was so good in making Vedantha a lovable treat.

There was suddenly a commotion and someone shouted that Acharya was coming that side. We all ran to the banks and saw him climb up to the shores . He gave us a big smile and asked us to get ready for the big event. “I am going to proudly tell other Shankaracharyas that my disciples are all Masters in Engineering and PhDs, not just dukrugarane people. All of you get ready to meet them”, he remarked as he hurried to his nivasa. 


The whole place was buzzing with activities. Young vidyarthis of Veda patashala were moving around in a line, disciplined , even as they alighted steps. The younger ones would mill around , giggling and chasing each other. The Veda ghosha would fill the space with rythm. Agni karya were being carried out here nd there. There was even Bairagi Sadus come in for the event.

The fish would dance around in the crystal clear waters of Tunga river and the visitors from cities amazed that water can even be that pure .There was no traffic or even a ‘touring talkies’ to blare ugly noise of a movies. 

In short ,it was pure heaven.

We slowly made our way to the Adhistana Mantapa and sat on the steps. Lakshmeesha was chanting Rudram, sitting in front of Chandrashekara Bharati Adhistana. He was the eldest son of the pious couple Shri Narasimhaiyya and Smt Manikarnikamma , both of were ardent devotees of Acharya and part of Dr.Subbaramaiyya’s satsang. Their younger son Shankara was living there in gurunivasa several months a year serving jyeshta mahasannidhanam;their daughters Lokamatha and Lalitha were actively involved in the satsang.

As Lakshmeesha’s voice went up and down with the swara of the Rudram, my mind slid into peace. I always had the difficulty of keeping the mind awake as listened to Vedic chants - it would take me inward, almost disconnecting me from the world around me. I hardly could keep right count of Japa as well - slowly I slip away from the surroundings into total stillness. Bharati Theertharu, the ever stickler to rigor, would chastise me many times. We should have a control on when the mind thinks and what it thinks, he would say. Sankalpa has no meaning if we don’t keep it, he would urge.

Umesha continued to narrate some of his conversations with jyeshta mahasannidhanam’s early days of Sanyasa. Acharya had shared the details of how Rudra appeared in his dreams consecutively for 7 days, teaching him all the Yogasanas described in Hatha Yoga Pradeepika of Svatvaraman. When Umesh explained how Rudra personally corrected Acharya’s siddhasana, a chill went through our spine. Svatvaraman starts Hatha Yoga Pradipika with an assurance that Rudra Pahupathinath developed the staircase that leads aspirant to highest level of Raja Yoga 
“श्री आदिनाथय नमोस्तु तस्मै येनोपदिष्टा हठ योगविध्या 
विभ्राजते परोन्नतरजयोगं आरोदुमिच्छोरधिरोहिनिव”  
He also assures that, “When the sleeping Kundalinî awakens by favour of a guru, then all the lotuses  and all the knots are pierced through”. 
गुरुप्रसादेन यदा जागर्ति कुण्डली 
तदा सर्वाणि पद्मानि भिध्यन्ते ग्रन्थयोपि च 

To be taught directly by the very same Yoga Raja Pashupathinath ?

The narrative was so powerful and left an impression on me, I spent decades reading Tantrasara sangraha and practcing a few asanas.What good deeds our forefathers must have done for us to receive the grace of such Acharya! We all knew our limitations and were very sure some sukruta of our forefathers was responsible that we could be class mates of Umesha. But for his benevolence, we never would have met jyeshta mahasannidanam. How lucky we are to have had Umesha as our friend, philosopher and guide.

With these thoughts, we went in to have darshan of jyeshta Mahasannidhanam and receive his blessings. “I heard about all the trouble you faced during your car travel to Sringeri. You are indeed very fortunate that Umesha personally drove you down to the feet of Sharade and the grace of my guru Chandrashekara Bharathi. But, don’t ever treat Umesha just as a friend. He is an accomplished Yogi who has spending his last Janma here. If he merely touches you, you will get liberated and attain moksha. If he walks into your house,it will become swarga”.

We were all stunned to hear this and looked at each other ; and the we looked at Umesha. He was his usual serene self, a smile adorning his Tejasvi face. This cautionary statement from jyeshta mahasannidhanam would change the way we related to Umesha for ever. It made us very happy and anxious at the same time ; we were happy that we were close to him and anxious if we would make the best use of the opportunity life threw at us in this janma. 

The mood was sombre as we came out after the darshan and walked slowly towards the Admin office. Umesha sensed the change and set out to bring us back to normal cheer. “ Acharya is very kind on me and says wonderful things. I am now just what I was, before what he said. Let us focus on the duty on hand. We need to assign responsibility of ADCs amongst ourselves”, he said. We all tried our best to look at him normally. He continued, “We need to assign Jyotir mutt to someone who knows Hindi. Shri Swarupanada Saraswathi is known to be a rebel sadhu, having participated in Quit India movement, and so many ecology protection agitations.He has moved the court many times. More than him, his disciples who accompany him can be very demanding”. 

Every one fell silent.

After some hesitation I ventured, “ I know a smattering of Hindi” to which every one looked relived. “How did you learn Hindi”, asked Umesh. The Tamil Nadu DMK government had virtually banned Hindi being taught in schools. “ We did not have much money at home and so I borrowed Pracara Sabha books at Praatmik & Madhyama level from a friend, and taught the language mysefl”, I responded. Umesha was surprised at this , “What was the motivation to learn Hindi”, he asked.

“ Because, I wanted to see the Hindi movie Aradhana. It ran for a year and I did not want to see it unless I could understand”, I replied. Every one burst into laughter.