As my life veered into Samsara I entered an unstable phase of life. I was so unprepared for a married life ,having virtually ridden my mind of all relationships with friends and family. This lack of ability to form a deep emotional bond with others would show up as lack of empathy many times and would dog me for ever.
At the insistence of my wife , I made two visits to meet Acharyas when they were on tour in Chennai or Bangalore. Took my new born son to have darshan of Bharati theertharu at Chennai; took my young daughter child to witness Atirudra Maha Yagna at Shankarapura Sirgeri Mutt Bangalore. Both visits were tentative at best.
My job took me all over the world. As I kept running away from Sringeri, JMS and Umesha continued to travel with me in my thoughts and memory. Raghavendra swamy never left me either. He would appear in my dhyana anywhere, any time he chose to. He is associated with so many miracles and I always scoffed at them as emotional desperation of the devoted, until it happened to me.
After working 5 years for HAL in a remote village Amethi , I quit the job to move back into city. All our personal belongings were packed, ready and waiting for the Truck to be transported some 2000 Km to Pondy.. All our friends were out there waiting to bid us goodbye. My wife, me and two children would travel some 100km to Ilahabaad to take a train to Chennai. We kept waiting for the Truck that we had booked and it did not show up at all ! When we called the truck company, they brusquely informed us that they won’t be sending the truck. That was that ! We were very upset and confused as to what to do with the pile of shipping boxes and bags that lay on the lawn . It was such a remote place that no alternative truck could be arranged. Then the miracle happened.
A huge truck rolled into security gate to deliver a consignment of Steel rods to the company. HAL security officer explained our problem to the driver who readily accepted to help us out move our belongings to Pondicherry. He just needed to call his head office in Lucknow and get his manager’s approval, as the new round trip would take a month. With a sigh of relief we got our stuff on the truck and sent it off. We took the train , reached Pondicherry and I was soon off on a business trip to Bangalore. The truck diver reached my Pondicherry home, unloaded the stuff and insisted to wait till I got back from my travel. He would guard the house, property and my young family, all the while sleeping on a mat outside the house. With all gratitude I asked his name .
His name was Ragahvendra Singh .
Some twenty-five years rolled and I found myself working for Infosys in USA. I continued my regimen of Yoga and dhyana and slowly was getting drawn into “teaching” vedanta in US. Notwithstanding my disappointment and a bit of anger that JMS did not allow me to stay back in Sringeri , I found myself “pushing” the Adviatha principles in the Vedanta sessions. Most of the participants were Indians and that too from Smarta families, and yet they had no clue about Advaitha. Their day to day life was more aligned with Shri Madhwacharya’s Dwaitha, rather than their professed Shankara Advaitha. I often wondered why they couldn’t be honest to themselves and follow one of the Maadhwa gurus. Wasn’t pursuing what one is convinced about, the essential first step in jignAsa ?
I was also intrigued about their switching priorities. Shouldn’t we be dead serious about adhyatma ? Can we afford to be a weekend jignAsu ? Doesn’t Svetasvatara upanishad demand that we perform Agnihotra with ourselves as tools ? Does it not command us to be a ‘Svayamagnihotri’ ? When will people realize that our body is the only instrument that can help in jignAsa ?
The students in the Gurukula of Svetasvatara Rishi deliberate among themselves about Brahman and declare :
“वह्नेर्यथा योनिगतस्य मूर्तिर्न दृश्यते नैव च लिङ्गनाशः
स भूय एवेन्धनयोनिगृह्य स्तद्वोभयं वै प्रणवेन देहे
“Fire is not seen in a fire stick until it is struck, though it resides in it. Likewise the the supreme Atman is not perceived until the linga Deha is destroyed by mediating on Pranava”
“स्वदेहमरणिं कृत्वा प्रणवं चोत्तरारणिम्
ध्यान निर्मथनाभ्यासात् देवं पश्येत् निगूढवत्
“Making the body as lower piece of wood and Pranava as upper piece, practicing churning through meditation on Pranava , the hidden paramaatman is seen”
“तिलेषु तैलं दधिनीव सर्पिरापः स्रोतः स्वरनिषु चाग्निः
एवम् आत्मा आत्मनि ग्रुह्यतेसौ सत्येनैनं तपसा योऽनुपश्यति
सर्वव्यापिनमात्मानं क्षीरे सर्पिरिव अर्पितम्
आत्मविध्या तपो मूलं तत् ब्रह्मोपनिषत् परम्
“Like oil in seeds, butter in curds, water underground, fire in the wood, Self is perceived in ourselves by effort. He who practices truthfulness, tapas, and ceaseless makes efforts will succeed in seeing the all pervading atma, like the butter in the milk becomes visible after churning. This self knowledge destroys ignorance”.
As I pushed the envelope and became hyper critical on Dwaita and Shrimad Anandad Theertha Muni, a strange thing happened. At the proddings of my wife, I got sucked into serious debate with young scholars of Dwaita Tatva Vada in FB .Over the next five years it got deeper and deeper into it. My respect and acceptance of its foundation concepts increased dramatically and I began to admire Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni. Strange as it may sound, I discovered that he was saying the same things as Aadya Shankara , albeit contextualized and sweetened.
This turn of events took me on a journey to all the leading Mathas of Maadhwa paramapara and pitched me direct dialogues with leading pontiffs on harmony between two philosophies.
So I plunged into understanding the finer aspects of Ontology and Epistemology of Tatva vaada Dwaith. Shrimad Ananda Theertha was as much prolific, as he was terse in his writings, writing 37 grantas in all . The traditional Maadhwa way would be to go to a scholar and start with SuMadhwa Vijaya , Hari Vayu Stuti, work your way to Manimanjari ; then move to metaphysics and prastana trayi commentaries.
I was not keen on knowing Shri Madhwa’s views on Veda Vyasa’s views, which Bhashyas are. I wanted to know his mind, which is available in half a dozen ontological and epistemological works. My method was to pray to Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni, to help me understand his works myself, and write . So I wrote. A volley of firing started from true scholars of the Maadhwa forum .I used my 30+ years of meditation experience as validation of my arguments. My argument that experience precedes expression did not cut much ice with them.
This set me into a collision course and they declared it was heresy.I was accused of being indoctrinated by Sringeri Advaitins. Some even believed that some Advaiti Sanyasi was ghost writing for me. How could a person like me with scant traditional learning say what I was saying? My pleadings that Rayaru was blessing me did not find any buyers. ‘Mookam Karoti Vacalam’ did not a win with them,. Why would Rayaru support an ‘Pracanna Abhinava Shankara’ they said.
I was reminded of a story in Bruhad Aranyaka Upanishad. King Janaka tells a gathering of rishis the best among the brahma nishtas would get 1000 cows. No one has the courage to step forward and claim the gift.
तान्होवच ब्राह्मणा भगवन्तः यो वो ब्रह्मिष्ठः स एता गा उद्जतामिति |
ते ह ब्राह्मणा न दधृषुः
Not the cheeky Yagyavalkya . He tells his disciple Saamashravas to drive away the cows “अथ ह याज्ञवल्क्यः स्वमेव ब्रह्मचारिणमुवाच एताः सोम्योदज सामश्रवा इति”
The other Rishis and brahmins are enraged and one of them, Asvala, challenge him asking if he was the best Brahmanishta . “त्वं नु खलु नो याज्ञवल्क्य ब्रह्मनिष्टोसी इति” Yagyavalkya answers tongue in cheek, “ My Pranaamas to the best brahmanishata ,YOU . I just desired to have the cows and so I took them”
स होवच , नमो वयं ब्रह्मनिष्टाय कुर्मः गोकामा एव वयं स्म इति .
Not very amused, all others start questioning Yagyavalkya to evaluate him.
तं ह तत एष प्रष्टुं दध्रे होताश्र्वलः What follows is one of the enthralling question and answers one can see in Upanishads. Yagayavalkya , being Yagyavalkya , answers all questions.
Hundreds of books were written by illustrious and brilliant scholars who followed Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni - Shri Jayatheertha, Vyasaraja, Vaadiraaja, Vijayeendra, Raghavendra theertha, and so on. I just wanted the cows and drove away the wisdom hidden in Shrimad Ananda theertha’s Ontological & Epistemological works.
Bowing down to their criticism that I wasn’t qualified to write a commentary of Tatva vaada , I called my view point as Dwaitha 2.0. This enraged them more. My well wishers pointed out that I was being insensitive, calling it 2.0 meant Tatva Vaada Dwaitha was getting superseded. Obviously I was stupid enough not to see this way. They suggested I take my view points and go to Maadhwa Mutt Peetadipatis . I embarked upon a 3 years chase of the swamijis.
Shri Satyatmaru of Uttaradhi Mutt, Subudhendraru of Mantralaya Rayaru Mutt, Vidhyadheesharu of Palimaru, Vishwa Vallabharu of Sode Mutt , Sugunedraru of Puttige Mutt were gracious to give me audience. I had the biggest fortune of meeting walking veda vyasa Dr Bannanje multiple times and seeking his opinion.
When all these were going on, our son was getting ready to move into gruhastaashrama. My son was very particular of finding a life partner in the neighborhoods of New York City and we were looking around. We got a call from Mrs & Mr Kumar from Vietnam - exactly other end of the world . They had a daughter for who they were looking for a suitable match. Vietnam ? Our sons’s range was limited to Manhattan , not even NJ !Much to our surprise, our son dropped all his preferences , agreed to pursue this and finally got engaged to her.
When we found out who she was , I could see that JMS Abhinava Vidyatheertha was still watching over me and did not abandon me at all. She is a grand niece of Paramaananada Bharati, a well known sanyasi from Sringeri Mutt. Bharathi theertharu commanded to her parents that I should end my self imposed exile of 30 years and start visiting Sringeri again. So I did, and was back at Sringeri again.
Meeting Umesha after a gap of 30 years at Chennai was an experience that can’t be explained. Even an empathy challenged person like me was moved to tears. Umesha ? He stood giving his bewitching smile, as if not a second had passed during those 30 years. His 90 years old mother looked as young as she was at 60. She smiled as I prostrated to her, and said, “Ishwara” softly; I never had prostrated to her before. In a few months after my return to US, she was gone. It was as if she was waiting 30 years just to bless me before departing. I don’t know her name even now, just Matha.
My ‘jyeshta Bratha’ Umesha, ‘Matha’ Umesha-mom, and ‘jnAna pitha’ Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswaminah will surely guide me, when I will be born again a miserable insect somewhere next. May be I will be getting Moksha for no effort of mine in this Janma . Hadn’t JMS told us not to treat Umesha as a friend ? “He is a siddha pursha and one touch will get you to Moksha”. I had given my shoulders to Umesha to rest on, as we were hunting for a Tyre service shop in the western ghats at midnight, remember? Afterall, Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni has stressed that Moksha was Hari Prasada and not a phala of our effort.
Who knows ?
Sringeri Days Concludes .
________________________________________
My deepest thanks to all those who patiently read through and encouraged me.
Sharade connected me with one putra Rayaru down the hill and the other, Abhinava Vidyatheertha up the hill. River Tunge washes their feet all the time. All the debates, discussions, deliberations that resulted in pravaga of knowledge, articles , books will be flowing through Volume 2: jnAna Tunge .
It will have less of Sringeri Mutt but more of what I received from there.
At the insistence of my wife , I made two visits to meet Acharyas when they were on tour in Chennai or Bangalore. Took my new born son to have darshan of Bharati theertharu at Chennai; took my young daughter child to witness Atirudra Maha Yagna at Shankarapura Sirgeri Mutt Bangalore. Both visits were tentative at best.
My job took me all over the world. As I kept running away from Sringeri, JMS and Umesha continued to travel with me in my thoughts and memory. Raghavendra swamy never left me either. He would appear in my dhyana anywhere, any time he chose to. He is associated with so many miracles and I always scoffed at them as emotional desperation of the devoted, until it happened to me.
After working 5 years for HAL in a remote village Amethi , I quit the job to move back into city. All our personal belongings were packed, ready and waiting for the Truck to be transported some 2000 Km to Pondy.. All our friends were out there waiting to bid us goodbye. My wife, me and two children would travel some 100km to Ilahabaad to take a train to Chennai. We kept waiting for the Truck that we had booked and it did not show up at all ! When we called the truck company, they brusquely informed us that they won’t be sending the truck. That was that ! We were very upset and confused as to what to do with the pile of shipping boxes and bags that lay on the lawn . It was such a remote place that no alternative truck could be arranged. Then the miracle happened.
A huge truck rolled into security gate to deliver a consignment of Steel rods to the company. HAL security officer explained our problem to the driver who readily accepted to help us out move our belongings to Pondicherry. He just needed to call his head office in Lucknow and get his manager’s approval, as the new round trip would take a month. With a sigh of relief we got our stuff on the truck and sent it off. We took the train , reached Pondicherry and I was soon off on a business trip to Bangalore. The truck diver reached my Pondicherry home, unloaded the stuff and insisted to wait till I got back from my travel. He would guard the house, property and my young family, all the while sleeping on a mat outside the house. With all gratitude I asked his name .His name was Ragahvendra Singh .
Some twenty-five years rolled and I found myself working for Infosys in USA. I continued my regimen of Yoga and dhyana and slowly was getting drawn into “teaching” vedanta in US. Notwithstanding my disappointment and a bit of anger that JMS did not allow me to stay back in Sringeri , I found myself “pushing” the Adviatha principles in the Vedanta sessions. Most of the participants were Indians and that too from Smarta families, and yet they had no clue about Advaitha. Their day to day life was more aligned with Shri Madhwacharya’s Dwaitha, rather than their professed Shankara Advaitha. I often wondered why they couldn’t be honest to themselves and follow one of the Maadhwa gurus. Wasn’t pursuing what one is convinced about, the essential first step in jignAsa ?
I was also intrigued about their switching priorities. Shouldn’t we be dead serious about adhyatma ? Can we afford to be a weekend jignAsu ? Doesn’t Svetasvatara upanishad demand that we perform Agnihotra with ourselves as tools ? Does it not command us to be a ‘Svayamagnihotri’ ? When will people realize that our body is the only instrument that can help in jignAsa ?
The students in the Gurukula of Svetasvatara Rishi deliberate among themselves about Brahman and declare :
“वह्नेर्यथा योनिगतस्य मूर्तिर्न दृश्यते नैव च लिङ्गनाशः
स भूय एवेन्धनयोनिगृह्य स्तद्वोभयं वै प्रणवेन देहे
“Fire is not seen in a fire stick until it is struck, though it resides in it. Likewise the the supreme Atman is not perceived until the linga Deha is destroyed by mediating on Pranava”
“स्वदेहमरणिं कृत्वा प्रणवं चोत्तरारणिम्
ध्यान निर्मथनाभ्यासात् देवं पश्येत् निगूढवत्
“Making the body as lower piece of wood and Pranava as upper piece, practicing churning through meditation on Pranava , the hidden paramaatman is seen”
“तिलेषु तैलं दधिनीव सर्पिरापः स्रोतः स्वरनिषु चाग्निः
एवम् आत्मा आत्मनि ग्रुह्यतेसौ सत्येनैनं तपसा योऽनुपश्यति
सर्वव्यापिनमात्मानं क्षीरे सर्पिरिव अर्पितम्
आत्मविध्या तपो मूलं तत् ब्रह्मोपनिषत् परम्
“Like oil in seeds, butter in curds, water underground, fire in the wood, Self is perceived in ourselves by effort. He who practices truthfulness, tapas, and ceaseless makes efforts will succeed in seeing the all pervading atma, like the butter in the milk becomes visible after churning. This self knowledge destroys ignorance”.
As I pushed the envelope and became hyper critical on Dwaita and Shrimad Anandad Theertha Muni, a strange thing happened. At the proddings of my wife, I got sucked into serious debate with young scholars of Dwaita Tatva Vada in FB .Over the next five years it got deeper and deeper into it. My respect and acceptance of its foundation concepts increased dramatically and I began to admire Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni. Strange as it may sound, I discovered that he was saying the same things as Aadya Shankara , albeit contextualized and sweetened.
This turn of events took me on a journey to all the leading Mathas of Maadhwa paramapara and pitched me direct dialogues with leading pontiffs on harmony between two philosophies.
So I plunged into understanding the finer aspects of Ontology and Epistemology of Tatva vaada Dwaith. Shrimad Ananda Theertha was as much prolific, as he was terse in his writings, writing 37 grantas in all . The traditional Maadhwa way would be to go to a scholar and start with SuMadhwa Vijaya , Hari Vayu Stuti, work your way to Manimanjari ; then move to metaphysics and prastana trayi commentaries.
I was not keen on knowing Shri Madhwa’s views on Veda Vyasa’s views, which Bhashyas are. I wanted to know his mind, which is available in half a dozen ontological and epistemological works. My method was to pray to Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni, to help me understand his works myself, and write . So I wrote. A volley of firing started from true scholars of the Maadhwa forum .I used my 30+ years of meditation experience as validation of my arguments. My argument that experience precedes expression did not cut much ice with them.
This set me into a collision course and they declared it was heresy.I was accused of being indoctrinated by Sringeri Advaitins. Some even believed that some Advaiti Sanyasi was ghost writing for me. How could a person like me with scant traditional learning say what I was saying? My pleadings that Rayaru was blessing me did not find any buyers. ‘Mookam Karoti Vacalam’ did not a win with them,. Why would Rayaru support an ‘Pracanna Abhinava Shankara’ they said.
I was reminded of a story in Bruhad Aranyaka Upanishad. King Janaka tells a gathering of rishis the best among the brahma nishtas would get 1000 cows. No one has the courage to step forward and claim the gift.
तान्होवच ब्राह्मणा भगवन्तः यो वो ब्रह्मिष्ठः स एता गा उद्जतामिति |
ते ह ब्राह्मणा न दधृषुः
Not the cheeky Yagyavalkya . He tells his disciple Saamashravas to drive away the cows “अथ ह याज्ञवल्क्यः स्वमेव ब्रह्मचारिणमुवाच एताः सोम्योदज सामश्रवा इति”
The other Rishis and brahmins are enraged and one of them, Asvala, challenge him asking if he was the best Brahmanishta . “त्वं नु खलु नो याज्ञवल्क्य ब्रह्मनिष्टोसी इति” Yagyavalkya answers tongue in cheek, “ My Pranaamas to the best brahmanishata ,YOU . I just desired to have the cows and so I took them”
स होवच , नमो वयं ब्रह्मनिष्टाय कुर्मः गोकामा एव वयं स्म इति .
Not very amused, all others start questioning Yagyavalkya to evaluate him.
तं ह तत एष प्रष्टुं दध्रे होताश्र्वलः What follows is one of the enthralling question and answers one can see in Upanishads. Yagayavalkya , being Yagyavalkya , answers all questions.
Hundreds of books were written by illustrious and brilliant scholars who followed Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni - Shri Jayatheertha, Vyasaraja, Vaadiraaja, Vijayeendra, Raghavendra theertha, and so on. I just wanted the cows and drove away the wisdom hidden in Shrimad Ananda theertha’s Ontological & Epistemological works.
Bowing down to their criticism that I wasn’t qualified to write a commentary of Tatva vaada , I called my view point as Dwaitha 2.0. This enraged them more. My well wishers pointed out that I was being insensitive, calling it 2.0 meant Tatva Vaada Dwaitha was getting superseded. Obviously I was stupid enough not to see this way. They suggested I take my view points and go to Maadhwa Mutt Peetadipatis . I embarked upon a 3 years chase of the swamijis. 
Shri Satyatmaru of Uttaradhi Mutt, Subudhendraru of Mantralaya Rayaru Mutt, Vidhyadheesharu of Palimaru, Vishwa Vallabharu of Sode Mutt , Sugunedraru of Puttige Mutt were gracious to give me audience. I had the biggest fortune of meeting walking veda vyasa Dr Bannanje multiple times and seeking his opinion. When all these were going on, our son was getting ready to move into gruhastaashrama. My son was very particular of finding a life partner in the neighborhoods of New York City and we were looking around. We got a call from Mrs & Mr Kumar from Vietnam - exactly other end of the world . They had a daughter for who they were looking for a suitable match. Vietnam ? Our sons’s range was limited to Manhattan , not even NJ !Much to our surprise, our son dropped all his preferences , agreed to pursue this and finally got engaged to her.
When we found out who she was , I could see that JMS Abhinava Vidyatheertha was still watching over me and did not abandon me at all. She is a grand niece of Paramaananada Bharati, a well known sanyasi from Sringeri Mutt. Bharathi theertharu commanded to her parents that I should end my self imposed exile of 30 years and start visiting Sringeri again. So I did, and was back at Sringeri again.
Meeting Umesha after a gap of 30 years at Chennai was an experience that can’t be explained. Even an empathy challenged person like me was moved to tears. Umesha ? He stood giving his bewitching smile, as if not a second had passed during those 30 years. His 90 years old mother looked as young as she was at 60. She smiled as I prostrated to her, and said, “Ishwara” softly; I never had prostrated to her before. In a few months after my return to US, she was gone. It was as if she was waiting 30 years just to bless me before departing. I don’t know her name even now, just Matha.
My ‘jyeshta Bratha’ Umesha, ‘Matha’ Umesha-mom, and ‘jnAna pitha’ Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswaminah will surely guide me, when I will be born again a miserable insect somewhere next. May be I will be getting Moksha for no effort of mine in this Janma . Hadn’t JMS told us not to treat Umesha as a friend ? “He is a siddha pursha and one touch will get you to Moksha”. I had given my shoulders to Umesha to rest on, as we were hunting for a Tyre service shop in the western ghats at midnight, remember? Afterall, Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni has stressed that Moksha was Hari Prasada and not a phala of our effort.
Who knows ?
Sringeri Days Concludes .
________________________________________
My deepest thanks to all those who patiently read through and encouraged me.
Sharade connected me with one putra Rayaru down the hill and the other, Abhinava Vidyatheertha up the hill. River Tunge washes their feet all the time. All the debates, discussions, deliberations that resulted in pravaga of knowledge, articles , books will be flowing through Volume 2: jnAna Tunge .
It will have less of Sringeri Mutt but more of what I received from there.
Why would Rayaru support an ‘Pracanna Abhinava Shankara’ they said.
ReplyDeleteAnswer - As he was advaitin himself in his purvashrama.
Eagerly waiting to read Volume 2: Jnana Tunge. Pranamas :-)
ReplyDelete