Sringeri Days
Bowing to the repeated requests of a few disciples of Sringeri Jagadgurus I am sharing some of my experiences through a series of posts. More I think of my 40 years of mental association with Sringeri Gurus, more i am stunned as to why it happened to me.
There is nothing remarkable in me or my life. I have never been blazing brilliant student in schools, nor have i been an erudite scholar in sanskrit or Shastra Literature. I am not a great adherent of Karma Mimamsa which has meticulously laid dow rituals from dawn to dusk; nor an I a great contemplator looking at a single word for days trying to understand the meaning. My Yoga and dhayana practice is tardy at best. I don't have a deep belief or commitment to any specific religious practice and I have a great aversion to getting entangled with Bhajans, Satsangs, discourses, visiting punya Kshetra Dhams. I can't recite Vedas properly nor can i quote any great passage from Scriptures. I don't have great attachments, relationships with family or friends ;nor am I known to be the Go To guy if any one needs help....
With all these, why did Shri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswaminah, the great Tapasvi /Yogi Jyestha Mahasannidhanam take me under his benign grace? Why did the then young successor Shri Bharati Theertha assure me that I will be dear to them wherever I go, whatever I do or don't- he declared his doors will be open for me any time.
Considering I was born in an orthodox Maadhwa family this is remarkable indeed - Madhwas hate Shankara Advaitha so much they call it Halahala , the most dangerous snake poison, and declare Shri Shankara Bahagavtpada was an incarnation of a demon sent to earth to mislead millions to hell.
The photo attached in the post shows Shri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahas Swaminah teaching Shri Bharati Theertha and other Sanyasis. Whenever I visited Sringeri, Jagadguru would ask me to sit through such classes - even though I could understand very little of Sanskrit. He would say that this will help my samskara and the meanings will find me over a period of time.
It all began in a radically different way far away in Chennai , some 700 Km away, in an engineering college. It was a hot summer evening in 1977 and I was delivering a lecture on Quantum Mechanics to fellow students; it was the usual extra curricular science club thing.
I was explaining the Louis De Broglie's Matter wave equation λ = h/mv (where λ is wavelength, h is Planck's constant, m is the mass of a particle, moving at a velocity v). The fellow students listened with awe as well as disinterest. It all changed in a moment into a commotion.
In walked a tall , fair, young man with a face that dazzled like thousand suns - sporting his usual pure white pant and white shirt, sacred ash adorning his broad forehead. It was R.M.Umesh. He came in with a few of his friends and sat in the first row. He was so brilliant that he could complete all requirements of a PhD even as undergrad student. He was in EEE while I was in ECE major. He was very famous in the campus for making professors squirm with his trick questions.
What is he going to ask me ? This was bothering me all through my talk , but he kept smiling at me without any interruption. I started to calm down and thought he wouldn't ask any question at all; may be i was brilliant too ! I had thought too soon.
" Is the De Broglie equation valid for all reference frames" a voice rang out. It was Umesha asking that. Every one sat up in rapt attention. The Roman circus was now open for business and the Lion was ready to pounce on the Gladiator me. "It is valid for all reference frames" , I answered.
" If so, am I a DC Generator?", he asked with an innocent smile. It took a while for me to get him and tried answering; most fo the students never understood us but sure did they enjoy my squirming under his laser sharp questioning.
As happens always, I met him outside after the lecture and he walked me towards his favorite tree behind the building .We sat there, he started talking and mentioned I should come with him and meet his Guru in Sringeri - Abhinava Vidyatheertha and his young successor Bharati Theertha. I promised I would and went home, with no idea that my life was changing for ever from that moment.
I Had not even an iota of inkling that Umesha will become a permanent thought in my mind ; or i will find a father in jyestha Mahasannidhanam and a affectionate elder brother in Bharati Theertha. Slowly and steadily i lost control of my life; it would be as per Sringeri Acharyas wishes and conveyed through mentor Umesha , many times through telepathy.
Umesha is such a recluse he would not share any photo with us. He continues to be just a thought in my mind , even after 40 years. Nearest I can point out is the protagonist character in Cho Ramaswamy's "Enge Brahmanan" series in Thuglaq Magazine.
But how do I go to Sringeri and meet Shankaracharya in close audience ? My father had passed away some 14 years back when i was just 8. So, we were very poor and had no money to make that 700 Km trip. More importantly we were an orthodox Madhwa family and family elders would excommunicate me if i ventured to meet an Advaithi Guru. In the 13th Century, Shri Poorna Prgana, a young ascetic broke away from Advaitha to form Tatva Vaada philosophy that Maadhwas followed. Why would i throw away Nectar and drink Halahala , my uncle growled at home.
So, I plotted a scheme to secretly visit Sringeri. Had to wait for a year to make it happen
After that eventful lecture on Quantum Mechanics, Umesh, a few of his ‘disciple’ classmates and I started meeting every day in the campus. We shared our thoughts, life stories and experiences. We were all very eager to know more about his spiritual experience.We looked very desperately for proof of God and wanted him to guarantee that we will have similar if not same ‘results’ as him. Obviously we were so ignorant about what jignAsa, the individual effort meant.
He narrated how his life changed dramatically. He was a teen ager at Don Bosco school with dreams of going to US for higher studies; just a chance meeting with Sringeri Shankaracharya turned him into an accomplished Siddha Yogi with vow life long asceticism and Tapas. With lots of coaxing from us, he shared that incident.
His grandfather had taken him to have a darshan of Sringeri Shankaracharya Abhinva Vidyatheertha who was visiting Chennai. One look at Umesh , Acharya understood who he truly was and suggested he visit Sringeri for a leisurely conversation. Umesh was deeply impacted by him and he visited Sringeri a few months later as asked. There Acharya blessed him by touching his head and this single touch triggered the dormant Yoga Shakti in Umesh. After that, there was no looking back and Umesh progressed very fast into an accomplished yogi. Needless to say he had to face opposition at home that melted away over a period of time.
He asked me about myself and I had nothing dramatic to tell. My father died suddenly in Bangalore when I was 8 years old. We had to come to Triplicane, Chennai and live under the roof & kindness of grandfather.
As a teenager I was fascinated by Thakur Rama Krishna Parama Hamsa and spent every evening reading spiritual books in a nearby library. There was enormously voluminous biography Raamakrisha Kathamrita written by M running to a couple of thousand pages. It was more of a meticulously catalogued diary of Thakur’s life every day.
By the time I finished I was inspired by Ramakrishna’s life. Every day I waited for my family to go to sleep and start meditating for an hour or more.
I also shared an interesting aspect of our family. Our maternal grandfather lived in Madurai. It is believed in family circles that this was the house in which the great Maadhwa Yogi Shri Raghavendra Theertha spent his teen age studying Vedas & Shastra under his brother in law. It is believed we are some branch’s descendants. This meant Raghavendra Theertha was so emotionally important for us , he was in every family members mind, thought and breath. Raghavendra swamy would show up at every key turning point in my life and we will see him many times in this story.
I told Umesh that beyond this I followed nothing else; was feeling some push, some urge to go after something that was not clear to me. He suggested if I wanted I could join his Satsang every Saturday. His friends Neelu, Suresh, Jayaraman were part of that satsang. I decided to try it out. Umesh was extremely funny and hilarious making parody of things, cutting jokes, etc.Every one will be laughing all the time and hours will melt away in minutes. No one would have any idea he was a great accomplished yogi. He made Vedantha such a fun and enjoyable.
I was the odd man out in the group-the only Maadhwa among the bunch of Smarthas. Maadhwas are very orthodox and strict in religious observance with enormous focus on Madi & Achara. The daily life has so many do’s & don’ts , making the modern non-veda-patashala life very difficult. For example, we need to take bath every evening after coming from school/college without touching anything and wash the clothes worn to college. Any contact with outside world would harm the spiritual purity and this was just simplest of all rules. Smarthas - who follow Shankara Advaitha - are lot more relaxed on these ritualistic disciplines. I was also different from others in another way - I was incessantly debating with Umesh on contrast between Advaitha & Tatva Vaada Dwaitha philosophy.
Umesh was a great tease, always pretending to be scared of Maadhwa madi Achara , caution every one in stern voice to be careful as I walked in every time. It did not matter to him that I never followed any of it;He just wanted to make every one laugh. While every one was rolling on the floor laughing, his mood will change abruptly. He will explain his deep meditation experience in detail in a sombre voice. We would sit dumbfounded as he explained how Lord Nataraja appeared dancing in the sky ,occupying the whole firmament. He would nonchalantly tell us of an incidence where Lord Shiva was debating with him, golden hued body, matted locks flowing down to shoulder, sitting on Shiva Linga, gently rocking his legs like a boy !
I was so ignorant and did not get that this was an ultimate spiritual experience.Being able to see God form with eyes open wide is the ultimate -aparoksha Anubhuti. This was the clear indication that Umesh was a jiVan Mukta , a liberated soul. We never understood it at that time. Shri Abhinava Vidyatheertha would later tell me not treat Umesha just as a friend - he was a liberated soul ,a great yogi and any one he touches will be liberated.
It would take decades for me to understand this, that too through an endorsement from totally unexpected person. Some thirty years later, I was researching Shri Ananda Theertha Muni’s Tatva Vaada Philosophy. I was in my quest for establishing harmony between Advaitha and seemingly contradictory Dwaitha Tatva Vaada.
Shrimad Ananda Theetha had written 37 books in all establishing Tatva Vaada; of the 37, I was focused on his ‘Blue book’ Tantra Sara Sangraha. It is breathtakingly short work that has amazing breadth & depth. I have never seen any guide book on spiritual practice that has a technique for any which way one wants to practice. A statement in that book hit me straight, taking me back decades to Umesha’s experience. “ Without directly seeing the Ishwara there is no possibility of Moksha”, he had written. Proof of pudding is in eating after all . If God exists, we should be able to see him/her just as we see each other. Finessing that God is just a feeling is begging the question.
Ananda Theertha was being his usual brief, direct and up to the point.
“अपरोक्ष दृषेरेव यस्मांमोक्षो नचान्यथा
अपरोक्ष द्रिषश्रचैव श्रवनान मननान अदनु
समयङ्निश्चत तत्वस्य निदध्यासनया भवेत्|4:135”
This tallied with the answer Thakur Ramakrishna gave the rebellious youth Narendra Dutta. “I see Mother Kali clearer than I see you” was his response to the budding Vivekanada.
We kept meeting several times a week and engaged in weekly satsangs in different homes across Chennai. Umesh kept bringing the issue of my visiting Sringeri and one fine day he was definitive. He wanted me to take the plunge and stop dilly dallying .“When & How are you planning to visit Sringeri?” he asked. I could no longer duck the issue and time to catch the bull by its horn was getting closer.
I thought for long and answered, “This summer, with the help of Beer Lambert & JC Bose”
When I said I will take the help of Beer Lambert & JC Bose , Umesh was not puzzled. Intellectual giant that he was, he very well knew that I was talking of Skin effect theory and electrical activity in plants. He was just curious to know the intersection of the two and how I planned to harness it. He always liked my energy ,enthusiasm, reading some new stuff and trying ‘path breaking’ stuff. Never mind I didn’t make a big success of it; the whole restless quest was endearing to him.
He already knew I was chasing the scientists at Institute of Mathematical sciences with a theory to prove Einstein wrong. He knew I was pursuing famous Dr George Sudarshan of University of Texas on this-until Dr Sudrashan wrote back saying theoretical physics was a full time job, and it will ruin my engineering studies; I should finish my engineering degree and plunge full time he said.
Umesh regaled our Satsang members how I was troubling ‘the Mad engineer of Mylapore’ with my quest for ‘Delta Antenna’. By applying the skin effect , I had come out with a design of Yagi antenna with wood electroplated to skin depth. I was trying to persuade them to manufacture the Delta Antenna until his cautious wife put an end to the plan.
So he teased me wondering who was at receiving end of my new quest this time. “It is University of Agricultural sciences, Hebbal , Bangalore”, I replied. Umesh burst out laughing and asked what this part time, amateur, quantum physicist attempting in U of Agri and how it was connected with Beer-Lambert theorems.
I explained this time around I was studying electrical activity in plants , the field in which Sir J.C.Bose had done pioneering work. Why not use plants as antennas ? Why not let your Rose plant receive the Doordarshan TV signals ? This is where I started working with Hebbal University of Agri Sciences.
Bangalore was only 330 km away from Sringeri and more importantly it gave me a cover, a ruse to tell my mom why I was going. The opposition I was facing in family circles for getting involved deep with Umesha and Advaitha was escalating. Enormous pressure was being applied to ensure I don’t go the ‘Shankara’ way. My family even enlisted oracles , astrologers and Maadhwa scholars to persuade me.
I secretly intensified my meditation with gusto; now I had a great Yogi Umesha guiding me and so why worry. Due to his guidance and grace of Sringeri Acharya, I started making rapid progress. Umesha used to converse with the Acharya from time to time and apparently Acharya was very pleased at my efforts. Some times, in meditation, I would feel I was expanding bigger and bigger till I felt as if filled the universe; another day I would feel I was spinning at such a great speed I would feel I was everywhere at the same time; Occasionally it would be as if there was a tube in my back bone that was getting filled with ice cold water. Every next day I would consult Umesha on my experiences and he would guide me how to handle it.
From time to time my other friends would request me to bring Umesh to their house for a short visit. Every one believed they will be blessed enormously if Umesha’s feet just touched their home once, just once. Though he was a recluse, Umesha would oblige once a while, and he would come to my humble home on his Motorcycle, pick me up and I would take him to a friend’s home. Of all such visits we made, one visit is etched in my memory-visit to my friend PMJay’s house. PMJay was my closest buddy and his parents are such humble and simple souls. They would treat all of PMJay’s friends as their own children.No wonder we spent most of our free time in their house. His parents were overjoyed to see Umesh and in traditional Indian style prostrated to Umesh who was just as young as their second son. Such a humble couple.
As my family continued to grow jittery about my involvement with Umesh, they decided to take action.They decided to take me to Mantralaya, where Maadhwa Yati Shri Raghavendra Theertha had walked alive into Brindavana tomb way back in 17th century. Shri Raghavendra Theertha is an unparalleled Yogi- his compassion, Vedic scholarship, Yogic achievement, mystical power, musical talent, erudition in all shastra was unmatched by any one in the history of India. Even 300+ years after his entry into Brindavana, he continues to inspire, guide, help and give succor to troubled people.
My elder brother & his wife were making a pilgrimage to Mantralaya and I was commanded to go with them. It was hoped that Rayaru would bring me back to ‘right ways’. We reached the dusty village Mantralaya in the late evening and checked into a small accommodation. The plan was to go the temple early morning next day.
As I sat down for meditation in the night, an image flashed in my mind - Rayaru was sitting in the Brindavana , a few feet below the ground, smiling at me.I was intrigued as all the portraits show him above the ground level.
I just let it go and went to sleep. Next day as we entered the Brindavana area, the same image flashed into my mind. Later did I find out that the portraits we see of Raghavendra Swamy siting above the ground level is not the right one. Brindavana super structure was built on the top of the vault into which th great Yogi had walked down to sit on meditation; once he went into Samadhi, the devotees filled it up with sand, saligrama and granite.
The Brindavana temple was located on the banks of Tungabhadra river. Tungabhadra was a confluence of Tunga and Bhadra rivers , both originating in the western Ghats near Sringeri. That was totally lost on me as I took sacred bath in Tungabhadra. I was fated to start my journey downstream at Mantralaya and slowly move up the hills of Western Ghats to Sringeri!
Yet another aspect of this journey dawned on me years later. Goddess Sharade was there in Sringeri, with her son Abhinva Vidya Theertha, while the other son Raghavendra Theertha was down at plains at Mantarlaya. All of us know how Sharade appeared in young Venakatanatha’s dream and persuaded him to become Raghavendra Theertha.
My brother & I got Mudradharana done by the then pontiff and returned to Chennai. I bought a few books written by Raghavendra Theertha including his magnum opus Sudha Parimala. I didn’t have much scholarship in Sanskrit but was sure that with the blessings of Rayaru I will understand them some time in life. After all Rayaru made a cowherd Appanna a scholar Appannacharya merely by blessing him. I was very comfortable being an Appanna for ever.
We started our journey back to Chennai. I had no idea that Lord Nrusimha and a 14th century Madhwa Yati Akshobhya Theertha were being enlisted by my family to block me from meeting Sringeri Acharya. They were waiting for me.
After an eventful trip to Mantralaya, I was back in Chennai . Umesh wanted to hear all the details of the visit and I gave a very elaborate account of the trip. He was very pleased about my experiences and promised to share it with Acharya during his mAnasIka conversations (telepathy).
Umesh was getting invited to conduct Satsang by many devotees of Sringeri Acharya all over Chennai. After one such a Satsang in Thiruvanmiyoor, we went to a local Shiva Temple. We were all standing and watching the priest perform puja to Shiva Linga. I found Umesha smiling and mumbling something. I waited for all the puja to be over and asked him if he was seeing Rudra sitting on the Shiva Linga or he was content talking to Linga. Umesha had shared his experience of talking to Shiva in Buddy terms many times. I thought I was being smart in asking that.
Umesha looked at me for a moment , gave his magnetic smile and asked me in return, “ Do you think Rudra as a young boy is different from Rudra as a Shiva Linga ?”
I stood there frozen and the true meaning of all Itihasa Purana, all our rituals , worship practices flashed in a moment. As it happens with Sringeri Acharya or Umesha always, it will take several years to fully understand their statements. Some 30 years later found an elaboration of this in Shrimad Ananda Theertha’s Tantra Sara Sangraha.
As Dr Bannanje Govindacharya explains in his commentary, we Hindus are NOT idol worshippers; we worship the God that we invoke and request to reside in the idol.God takes the form we want him to take, for our sake, while he is beyond the concepts of forms. This statement may appear like a rhetorical one that means nothing. It actually means everything Indian philosophy stands for.
Every ritualistic worship we do has a structure if we analyze carefully. They always start with an objective ( Sankalpa), a target form ( Upasana Murty), Invocation requesting god to come into that form ( aavahana), 16 different offerings ( sodasa Upacara), and then flagging the god off the form ( visarjana). There are rule books called Agama that define these procedures in minutest detail. The most important factor is that, as a worshipper, we should see no difference between the God we worship and the form into which we bring him to worship. If we miss this, sanctity is lost. This holds psychologically as well; if we see a difference between a principle and its form, we lose interest in the principle.
The greatness of Umesha was that in the midst of all fun, laughter and frolic he will make a single statement that will summarize a whole book. Sringeri Acharya Abhinava Vidyatheertha would accomplish this in just a look or gesture. He wouldn’t even utter a word but we will get the meaning in a flash.
My family took a similar viewpoint while creating a hurdle for me , although in a misplaced way. Some believe in a concept of Gods occupying a human being for a brief period, crudely termed ‘possession’. As opposed to a devotee invoking a god into a form, this was about a person invoking the god into himself/herself and talking like God. In my mind the former is an aid for concentration while the latter is about distraction bordering on autosuggestion. Hence I am always reluctant to take such thins seriously.
My family got in touch with an Oracle lady who would get ‘possessed’ by God Nrusimha . She went into trance once and had told my mom that I was going around with a Sanyasi who was all about money and she promised to wean me away from him. My family was insistent that I should meet her and take her blessings.
I got enraged to hear this and refused to see her. I consulted Umesh on this and he laughed it off. He advised me to have faith in Acharya and happily go meet her. No one can stop me from meeting Acharya as long as He wanted me to come and see him. So, I went to one of her sessions with my mom. The lady went into trance and started forcefully advising me not to go and meet Sringeri Acharya. My family was relieved to hear her give such a clear instruction. “So, you would stop associating with Sringeri Acharya, won’t you?”, they asked as soon as we reached home. “ It is Nrusimha devaru himself, don’t you see?”, they asked.
My response shocked them. “If we believe the lady’s claims she gets possessed by Nrusimha, we have to believe the story of Nrusimha saving Adi Shankara from Kapalika by possessing PadmapAda’s mind. Why would the Lord now speak against Sringeri Jagatguru who is heads the pitha set up by the very same Shankara?”. Shree Shankara stoically offering himself to Kaapalika and later pacifying Possesed Padmapad have been chronicled ….
आसीनमुच्चीकृत पूर्वगात्रं सिद्धासने शेषितबोधमात्रम् ।
चिन्मात्रविन्यस्त हृषीकवर्गं समाधि विस्मारित विश्वसर्गम् ॥……
त्वमेव सर्गस्थितिहेतुरस्य त्वमेव नेता नृहरेऽखिलस्य ।
त्वमेव चिन्त्यो हृदयेऽनवद्यें त्वामेव चिन्मात्रमहं प्रपद्ये ॥
Undaunted my family next pressed my brother’s father in law, a Dwaitha Scholar, into the game. He came home one day, gave elaborate defense of Tatvavaada and pitfalls of Advaitha. He tried to floor me by saying even the great Vidyaranya Theertha of Sringeri was defeated by one of Madhwacharya’s direct disciple in a debate. What is more, the debate was adjudicated by none other than the great Vedanta Desikacharya.
He suggested I read the Madhwa Historian Dr BNK Sharma if I did not believe him. He advised me to go to Mulbagal and see the Jayastamaba erected to commemorate the event to get reassured. For corroboration, he quoted from Vedanta Desika Vaibhava Prakasika, a eulogy on the great Vishishtadvaita scholar.
कदाचित अक्षोभ्यमुने विध्यारण्यस्यजातं बहुलं विवादं
विलिख्य भूपो विबुधाय यस्मै सम्प्रेषयामास तमाश्रयेऽहं
तत्वमसिनासिना तं विध्यारण्यं मुनिस्तदाक्षोभ्य
अच्छिनदित्यवदध्यः तं सेवे तत्व निर्णये चतुरम्
“I surrender to that learned person to whom the King (Hakka and Bukka) dispatched a message writing about the raging argument going on between akshObhya muni and VidyaraNya
I serve the wise person who is clever at judging and refereeing the debate on philosophy who declared that then akshobhya muni wielding the sword of "tattvamasi" cut VidyAraNya's jungle of philosophy into pieces”
The ground fell off under my feet. A gnawing self doubt caught me suddenly. Ananda Theertha’s direct disciple had defeated Vidyaranya Theertha of Sringeri Mutt and I am abandoning his Tatvavaada to take refuge into the very same defeated guru parampara?
I tried to reach out to Umesh on this but he had already gone off to Sringeri. I had no option but to make that secret trip to Sringeri with a mind that was reluctant to abandon Tatvavaada . How would I accept Abhinava Vidyatheertha as my Guru, when I am reluctant to accept his philosophy ? What is the point of calling someone as Guru if we don’t accept or follow his directions implicitly ? jignAsa is a serious business in which we need to courageously accept the conclusions we arrive at and move deeply in that path.
It appeared that Akshobhya Theertha was winning where even Lord Nrusimha failed.
Self doubt is the worst enemy one can ask for. Self doubt is a proud peacock, wouldn’t come on its own. We lack courage, seek comfort and end up inviting Self doubt.
My self doubt was not about the veracity of debate; it was tying the decision of meeting Abhinava Vidyatheertha with an unsubstantiated debate that happened 600 years back. The key point that winning an argument is not establishing a philosophy or jignAsa was totally lost on me and I trembled like a dry leaf. With Umesh not being around to stabilize me, I was spinning like a gyroscope that lost its bearings.
Days rolled on and I immersed myself into the voluminous History of Dwaitha Vedantha written by eminent professor Dr.BNK.Sharma. While he did make reference to Akshobhya Theertha’s victory over Vidyaranya, he provided no details. Surprisingly there are no records available for such a historic event. Neither has Akshobhya Theertha left any details nor has Vedantha Desika who reportedly wrote the judgement based on transcripts. The transcripts are no where to find either.To confound it all, the Vijayastamba pillar erected in Mulbagal has no inscriptions.
Some how, we have to accept that the scholarly, erudite Vidyaranya Theertha - who digested 15 philosophies to write Sarva Darsana Sangraha, who wrote the Advaita classic masterpiece Panca Dasi, who was wise enough to guide Harihara & Bukka to establish mighty Viajayanagar empire, was tongue tied and got defeated by Akshobhya Theertha-who had authored no book at all.
While my research did not help, I did not want to disbelieve Akshobhya Theertha’s story either. We are not talking of average people but those who gave up everything in their quest for Truth. Why would they lie which was against their svadharma?
As I continued to reel under confusion and self doubt, a magical thing happened. My brother gifted me a thin book , ‘Dialogues with the Guru”. It was a collection of a few conversations devotees had with
Shri Chandrashekara Bharati, the legendary guru and predecessor of Abhinava Vidyatheertha. This short book tore through my mental block , destroyed all self doubts and brought in clarity, like the brilliant sun after a cloudy monsoon rain.
Shri Chandrashekara Bharati came across as a no nonsense, rational, logical, tough talking guru who does not pull a punch.The book did not mention Akshobhya Theertha and what is more, he defends every faith and even advises a Christian fascinated by Upanishads, not to try to convert but first become a true christian. He even declares conversions are not needed as every path prepares the aspirant for the next level. He even ridicules the idea of debating whether Advaitha is correct or Dwaitha. When we are not even following common ethics, what difference does it make if final Truth is One, Two or even One & half, he thunders in the book.
The book gave me was a fresh perspective - how to see the validity of a different opinion, even as you don’t agree with it. It was more about what is right for the individual, rather than what is correct as per you. His approach shifted the focus to the benefits to the person concerned, than establishing one’s own point.
Things started to fall in place in my mind. It no longer mattered that said debate is not mentioned anywhere, including the works of Akshobhya Theertha’s legendary disciple Jayatheertha; Or that only reference we have is just two couplets in the eulogy written by a devotee of Vedantha Desika, some 200 years later. It did not matter that the only argument Akshobhya Theertha had against ‘Tatvam asi’ was to say it was actually ‘atatvam asi’, the way his guru Ananda Theertha argued.
Shrimad Ananda Theertha would argue that Tatvam asi is actually ‘Atat Tvam asi svetaketo’, based on the examples Svetaketu’s father Uddalaka gives in the Chandogya Upanishad conversation.
“Like a bird and the string; like the juices of various trees;Like rivers and the sea; like fresh and salt water;Like a robber and the robbed; like a man and his energy;So are soul and the Lord diverse, for ever different”.
Dr BNK Sharma quotes references from Vacaspati Mishra’s Bhamati and Madhusudana saraswath’s Advaitasiddhi conceding that the examples quoted in the Upanishad do talk of plurality.
“नदिपाथः परमाणूना तु समुद्रपाथः परमाणुभ्यो भेद एव नाभेदः एवं समुद्रादपि तेषा भेद एव”
“स्पष्ट भेद भाव अभिप्रायेण”
While rivers that merge with oceans are indistinguishable from the ocean, a particular of atom of river continues to be different from atoms of the ocean - if we continue to tag them as specific atom.
But then, this is the core of Advaitha Vaada- an experience is predicated by the a-priori definitions and boundary conditions. Granted that an H2O molecule, electron, Proton and neutrons are all same as Ocean components ; but if you choose to keep the artificial identity of a particular molecule or atom , you can see the difference always.
I thought it was quite possible that Shri Vidyaranya Theertha gave a conditional agreement for the Atatvam Asi argument from Tatvavaada point of view. After all he writes like a true dwaithin when he covers Poornapragna darsana in his Sarva darsana sangraha. It was perhaps a technical acceptance of an alternative interpretation of examples; I am sure he did not agree with Akshobhya Theertha that “Tatvam Asi” should have been “Atatvam Asi”. Tatvavaada protagonists must have been thrilled that their new fledgling philosophy scored an agreement, at least on a point, from a great guru of Advaitha.
That Shri Abhinava Theertha, who I was yet to meet, would help me find clarity, that too through his jIvan mukra guru Chandrashekara Bharati would appear like a miracle. But it is not.It is a wrong notion that we have to work hard to get divine grace and blessings. God’s grace is always available, we are immersed in it all the time. The tragedy is that we block it with Five doors - Avidya, Asmita, Raga, Dwesha, Abhinivesha; and fortify with 6 locks -Kaama, krodha, lobha, Moha, Mada, matsarya.
With this new found conviction, my pride was swelling to no limits. I decided to challenge Umesh on this when I get to meet him in a few days in Sringeri.
Little did I realize that Umesh I would see will be totally different.Nor did I have any clue about was waiting for me in Sringeri.
With the new found confidence and pride I set out to Bangalore with the secret visit to Sringeri planned.First stop in my friend’s apartment in Mathikere, Bangalore, shared by three friends; one of them, a talkative Nair from Kerala, gave me a hard time - he talked more than me, faster than me, knew more of Quantum Mechanics than me . He had a unique way of cooking that fascinated me. He would not stick to any recipe and make curries with the set of ingredients that came to his mind at that moment.
This ‘Recipe for the moment’ style cooking stuck with me and came very handy in my bachelor life and thereafter. Some times I make Rasam with Sambar powder, Cabbage salad served with coconut and Rasam powder, a lemon rice without lemons and so on. I stopped after trying to make a Kheer with mirchi powder!
After making the overt meeting with the scientists at University of Agricultural sciences , I took a night bus ride to Sringeri. Needless to say they were very confused at my plan to make the Rose plants capture TV signals. They couldn’t decide if I was a genius Einstein in the making or a Forrest Gump. They took the usual bureaucratic route of asking me to publish a paper and come back with a project plan. I didn’t bother either, it was only a cover for my secret trip to Sringeri.
After enduring a bumpy ride on bad roads, shivering in the cold of Western Ghats nights, I reached Sringeri in the wee hours. Sringeri was a quiet village those days with just one bus service per day. One of the Umesh Satsang members was waiting for me. After completing early morning anushtana , he took me to the Sharada Temple and then crossed a bamboo bridge into the island called Narsimhavana, location og Shri Abhinava Vidhya theertha’s ashram.
As planned, we waited on the steps of Chandrashekara Bharati Samadhi at Adhistana complex for Umesh to show up. Umesh always stayed in the Guru Nivas doing seva to Shri Abhinava Vidyatheertha. He was Acharya’s spiritual son. It was a strange feeling, standing at the very place where the wandering young monk Adi Shankara established the Dakshina Amnaya Peetha. Vedic chantings reverberated in the Veda Patashala there, the young students in traditional attire took me to land of Sapta Sindhu described in Rg Veda.
All of a sudden , Umesha walked out of Guru Nivasa and came towards us. Boy, he looked so different, traditionally attired, shaven head but for a short Shika at the crown, three shining white lines of Bhasma on the forehead , face dazzling, sporting a stubble and eyes shining like bright cool blue diamond. His countenance was very serious there-the rigor and ugra tapas he was into was discernible. He pleasantly enquired about the travel and for a moment he was his mischievous self asking how I managed to come to Sringeri secretly beating hurdles of Narasimha and Akshobhya Theertha.
This triggered a fierce debate. Standing on the steps of Chandrashekara Bharat adhistana, I started challenging Umesh on validity of 'Tatvam Asi' considering Vidyaranaya Muni lost the debate to Akshobhya Theertha. He just opened all the guns and went blazing, asking me to provide the detailed arguments put forth by Akshibhya and I said no one has details; he asked me to provide the core argument used by Akshobhya- I responded the foundation argument is that the nine examples quoted by Uddalaka Aruni to his son Svetaketu all denote difference rather than unity. He asked the basis for this conclusion and I responded by pointing out Chandogya Upanishad Bhashya of Shrimad Ananda Theertha Muni in which he points out the none of us ever feel we are omnipotent, omniscient, ever blissful without misery.
Almost all sacred texts describe only multiplicity and difference. So, the articulation of unity of jiva and Ishwara is a distortion.
“कथं च जीवपरमात्मैक्ये सर्वश्रुतीनाम् तात्पर्यं युज्यते|
न हि 'अहं सर्वज्ञः सर्वेश्वरः निर्दुखः निर्दोषः' इति कस्यचिद् अनुभवः |
अस्ति च तद्विपर्ययेणानुभ्व:|न च मिथ्यानुभवोयं तद्विपरीतप्रमाणभावात् |
न चाभेदे कश्चित् आगमः| सन्ति च भेदे सर्वागम:|”
Hearing this, Umesha launched a long critique on those views.
He concluded asking how I can believe a story of a debate that has no evidence - historic, archaeological, corroborative text or even a transcript. He ridiculed the whole idea that Vijayanagara King living far away would have someone write down the transcript of the debate that happened in Karnataka, and despatch it to Vedantha desika in another far away Tamil Kingdom and have him adjudicate by reading it. I replied I don’t believe this story and yet had a feeling it must be true.
There was a look of utter disbelief. “If you are not fully convinced of the story why do you believe the debate happened and Vidyaranya Lost?”. My reply pleased him to no end and he smiled. “Akshobhya Theertha wouldn’t lie as the hot axe would burn him otherwise"-after all the debate was about a mahavakya in Chandogya Upanishad including its statement “सत्येनात्मानमन्तर्धाय परशुं तप्तं प्रतिगृह्णाति | स न दह्यते | अथ मुच्यते||स यथा तत्र नादाह्यते”. (It is said that in the hot axe test, one would be asked to hold a red hot Axe and if one were lying it would burn him; else not as the Truth envelopes and protects the hand ). Moreover, his Illustrious disciple Jayatheertha mentions in Tatva PrakAshika “दुर्वादि वारण विदारण दक्ष दीक्षम् अक्षोभ्य तीर्थ मृगराजं अहं नमामि”
“ So, what do you want to do now ? You want to meet our Acharya or not?”, he asked keeping a poker face. “Of course I do. One small debate means nothing in this regard”, I mentioned. He laughed off my suggestion that he should write down his repudiation for others sake. Experience cannot be replaced by eloquence was his firm statement.
It was not lost on me either that there I was standing in Sringeri, challenging the core tenet of Advaitha, on the very same grounds walked by the great Yati Vidyaranya. That too, just before meeting his parampara successor Abhinava Vidyatheertha!
“But I am keeping this debate issue pending and will continue to evaluate”, I said. “As long as you want," he said with a twinkle in his eye.
My hunt for ‘Akshobhya Theertha debate’ continued for nearly 40 years until it dawned one me that all of us are looking in wrong places. All his arguments are hidden in Shrimad Anand Theertha’s ‘Vishnu Tatva Vinirnaya’. It is complicated masterpiece, goes back and forth, metaphysical, abstract , theological all in one. As always, he writes in simple Sanskrit; but it is tough to understand him without tons of patience, memory, and sharp intellect. He quotes from so many other texts to buttress his arguments, some of which are not available for any. It is difficult to argue against a reference that you will never see and the only option open is to be silent or concede in a debate.
Umesha took me inside the guru Nivas as the devotees milled away slowly for a private audience.
I stepped into the chamber where Abhinava Vidyatheertha was sitting with his successor designate Bharati Theertha. For a moment I froze, standing paralyzed, hands folded in respect. I have never seen such a face that dazzled with tejas, never see such a penetrating eyes, never seen such a bewitching smile. I was tongue tied and kept gazing at him. Something was entering my mind, my intellect, my brain and felt as if my Soul was getting redrawn. It felt as if millions of years of search was coming to an end; as if I was putting down a heavy burden accumulated over thousands of years. A torrent of relief poured in, as if a terrible Rakshasa demon who was sitting on my shoulders and pressing my neck all these janmas jumped down and ran away.
“ Welcome my son” he said smiling, “I am very glad that you finally made it to Sringeri”.
(To be continued)
As I stood before Shri Abhinava Vidhyatheertha Mahaswaminah, I did not know what to say. I have never seen a face shining due to intense Taps ; nor have I seen any yet, ever after. I simply stood speechless and could see Umesh smiling from the corner of my eyes. It looked as though both of them were exchanging opinions without speaking a word.
“ I heard a lot about you, your thinking, background and conflicts coming from a Maadhwa family. Rest assured that I am not going to ask you to abandon anything of your heritage. Actually I am happy to help you master and excel in your heritage. This is not the time to worry if you will be different from Vishnu or merge with Vishnu when you get to Moksha . Let us work on getting there first and leave it to Vishnu to decide" he continued with a benign smile. His entire approach appeared to reassure me, put me at ease and help me.
“ My guru Shri Chandrashekara Bharati used to say that we call ourselves Jagat Guru not because we arrogate ourselves to be Guru of the world. Rather, we are available for any one in the world who seek our guidance. In doing so, we will try to make a Christian a better christian, a muslim a better muslim and so on. You see that gentleman sitting there ?” , he asked pointing to an Shrivaishnava Iyengar who was keenly watching our conversation. He was typical Iyengar with Urdhwa Pundra on his forehead. “He is Dr Ramesh, professor from IIT Bombay. Like him I have very many people following different view points coming to meet me. I will only teach and encourage people in Advaitha only if they are keen and I feel they are ready for it. Not every one will grasp it as their predisposition will come in the way of accepting Advaitik concepts”.
“ I have no reluctance on accepting Advaitha”, I tried to mumble. In fact I was not committed to any ideology as I was at the quest stage.
“Umesha will guide you on my behalf .He is constantly in touch with me and he will do the mantropadesha and dhyana method to you”. With this he gave me the Prasada akshate and his benign smile. “So, Lord Narasimha did not stop you from reaching Sringeri”, he said with a chuckle. “Rest is up to you”. I understood what he meant; after all I was still carrying Akshobhya Theertha in my head.
Umesha asked me to meet him again that evening in front of Chandrashekara Bharati Adhistana and went along with Acharya. The Satsang friend and I came out and visited the famous Sharada Temple. The temple was reverberating with young vidyartis of Veda Patashala singing Ganesha Pancaratna song in a melodious sing song voice but in a fast rhythm. We see a very slow paced delivery by many nowadays; when you hear the young Brahmacharis sing the very same song in a rapid pace, you feel Shankara. He was a bold thinker, strong player breaking through resistance form nyaya, vaiseshika, Sankhya, kApalika, Budhist, Jainist. No Moon walking for his songs.
It was fascinating to see the beauty of Mathe Sharada; to think it was established more than 1000 years back by Adhya Shankara was stunning. That young wandering monk Shankara was a renegade, a daring philosopher who challenged several norms of his day; he was extremely bold to declare that even Vedas, Yagnas , God forms and even Guru can be a hurdle to progress.
न मे द्वेष रागौ न मे लोभ मोहौ मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्य भाव:
न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो ना मोक्ष: चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥
न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दु:खम् न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा: न यज्ञा:
अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥
न मृत्युर् न शंका न मे जातिभेद: पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्म
न बन्धुर् न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्य: चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥
Shrimad Ananda Theertha who came some 400 years later was a direct contrast - humble, total conformist, extremely devoted, inclusive and compassionate. There is no abandoning scriptures or God forms for him. Unalloyed Bhakti described in the scriptures will fetch us Vishnu’s compassion that will result in Moksha as His Prasada.
“न च केवल तकेर्नाक्सजेन केनिचत्| केवल आगम िवज्ञेयोभिक्तरेवन च अन्यत
परमो िवष्णुरेवैकतज्ञानं मोक्ष साधनंशास्त्राणांिनन्यर्स्त्वेषतदान्य मोहन्याह ही”
How on earth was I going to balance the teachings of these two great Gurus who are poles apart ? I was in no mood go divest Shri Ananda Theertha’s Tatvavaada nor was I keen on turning my back on Advaitha. While it was comforting to recall Sringeri Acharya’s assurance he was only going to help me evolve in my heritage, I knew well enough that ideas are immortal ;once they get into your mind, they never leave and find a way to alter your belief system. How can both Advaitha and Dwaitha coexist in the same mind? I was very apprehensive about this, but the sheer impact of the holy land I was standing on somehow stabilized my mind. Great Gurus have walked that very same ground for 1200 years and all their voices were still there for me to find. Sound decays to zero intensity only after infinite time said physics to me.
So, I stood there in front of Chandrashekara Bharati’s samadhi waiting to be initiated by Umesh. There he was, walking briskly towards us, coming straight from the Guru Nivas. He was beaming with smiles as he seated me and himself in front of the Samadhi.
(to be continued)
There were no one at the Adhistana complex at that time. Not all those visiting Sharada temple would cross the bamboo bridge to Narasimha Vana. Sringeri Acharyas being great Tapasvis, keep a low profile. Chandrashekara Bharati rarely made public appearances . It was left to Shri Abhinava Vidyatheertha mahaswaminah to be more accessible for the ordinary people.
The ‘initiation ceremony’ is traditionally a confidential process about which no one would talk about. But Umesh is an absolute recluse totally avoiding any public presence. If is left to a few of us to share some experiences about him. Else, no one will eve know that in the midst of hustle and buzzle lives a Jivan Mukta Yogi par excellence. Something tells me that he will disappear into a forest or a mountain cave very soon.
We were just two of us sitting there, and after the customary acamana, Paranayama and sankalpa, he asked me to repeat after him - taking a vow to pursue the jignAsa lifelong and not forget even in the dream. Then it was over. He didn’t give me any mantra for Japa, and a roopa for mental upAsana . He just said that Acharya has advised that I should continue whatever I was doing , ie, meditate on Aum with no specific roopa in mind. He added that unlike other disciples, there would be no restrictions on eating habits, entertainment habits, socializing habits etc for me. This was also as per Acharya’s direction.
I was terribly disappointed at this simple ceremony; No magical shaktipatha with whole world disappearing from my eyes? He was there, I was there and so was the whole world as before. Nothing happened.
I Tried to argue this with Umesh and he was very amused. As I kept at it , he would only say that Acharya knows what is best for the individual and I should really be happy that there were no social restrictions. “As it is, you are having trouble in the family in view of Maadhwa heritage and why do you need noticeable changes ?”, he asked in bewilderment.
“Why do you think standing upside down or shutting oneself in a dark room is the only method? Being in the midst of everything is the best isolation for you. You should learn to trust a Guru”, he said a bit sternly. “Of course I do”, I added in a hurry, “but still, how will I get the result without the rigor and discipline?”, I protested.
“Whatever Acharya says is the rigor and discipline for you; the results depend on you following the guru upadesha diligently. Don’t be a Kumarila Bhatta," he rounded off the conversation with his inimitable smile.
We all know the story of Kumarila Bhatta who championed Purva/Karma Mimamsa. This was the dominant theme of the land till Gautama Buddha appeared. Siddharta Gautama had revolted against the brahmin society that was immersed in extreme rituals of karma mimamsa and enunciated his middle way Madhyamāpratipad. His approach caught on like wildfire and Budhism was born which totally eclipsed Vedic way.
Kumarlia wanted to contain buddhism and regain glory for Karma Mimamsa. He infiltrated buddhists in Nalanda to learn the intricacies of their theory for eventually defeating them; his intention was discovered and was hurled down the university tower. He prayed that If Vedas were true he should survive the fall. He did survive, but his eyes were damaged as he harbored an iota of doubt. As an atonement, he was self immolating in a slow burning saw dust. It was then that Adhya Shankara came to seek for a debate on Jaiminiya purva mimamsa. The story goes that he asked Shankara to go and debate with his disciple Manadana Mishra. Some believe Mandana Mishra was the Sureshwaracharya, the first head of Sringeri Peetha.
Very few of us realize that agnosticism & atheism were part of Indian ethos always. Purva mimamsa holds such a view point; a view that Universe was depended on actions and no God was necessary for creation, sustenance or dissolution. In fact they challenge the very notion of creation and ridicule the idea of prajapati as the first born. They hold a firm view the rituals enjoined in Vedas are the only means of salvation and dismissed the concept of liberation or mukti. In their view living being come and go.
Vas were 'Perpertual motion machine' equivalent ; the karma representing the ‘Entropy'
It is important to recognize the continuity and evolution of thought from Karma Mimamsa to Budhism to Advaitha in some sense.
While primacy of any one dimensional view of shad darsana were contested by the three great Acharyas, they nevertheless integrated it in their philosophy . Shri Raghavendra Theertha of Maadhwa sampradya has written a Bhashya on Jaiminiya Karma Mimasa - one of the handful to do so in the history of Indian philosophy. His Bhattasangraha is the most comprehensive, clearly structured, up to the point work, oozing with humility which is hallmark of Rayaru.
Umesh would always demand that one should have implicit faith in Acharya and no validating effort was conducive. He would always tease me by stating ‘unlike paddhu, letter is the spirit for me’. He was perhaps the Kumarila with me as Prabhakara; for him every word is valid by itself while I would seek the spirit by taking the sentence as a whole.
The night rolled on and we moved to witness the Chandra mouleeshwara puja done every night by Acharya himself. As we waited in the hall, an elderly traditional vaidika started singing Shiva aparadha kshampana stotram in a loud voice. His emotional rendering was captivating every one. Even the Acharya stopped his japa for a while and was listening with attention.
It was a strange song , coming from ever bullish Adhya shankara; posturing humility is not given to Shankara. He was an alpha male among the philosophers. For him to plead that he did not do anything right in rituals and devotion to Mahadeva to seek pardon was beyond belief.But there it was and the Vaidika put all his emotion in the rendering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AQ3O0l-zw8
Veda patashala students chanted Rudram, Camakam, Suktani and Aashirwada. Their synchronized voice reverberated in the hall, taking me to land of Sapta Sindhu . I could hear the Rtviks pleading with Aditi to get the grace of Rudra for all in the Rg Veda hymn
कद रुद्राय परचेतसे मीळ्हुष्टमाय तव्यसे | वोचेम शन्तमं हर्दे ||
यथा नो अदितिः करत पश्वे नर्भ्यो यथा गवे | यथा तोकाय रुद्रियम ||
All these learnings will come to me over four decades after the initiation ceremony. Looking back I realize how momentous that gift has been from Umesh. And to think I was tad disappointed over the simplicity of ceremony and absence of any magical power is deeply embarrassing now. Obviously a shaktipata had taken place , giving me the ability to read volumes of Shahstra and understand without a formal learning from a teacher or with detailed knowledge of Sanskrit.
That I was asked to continue my arUpa meditation with mind fixed on Aum was the best one could get would also dawn on me, after 30 years of staying away from Sringeri and Umesh. I would be schooled into this by an unexpected person - my daughter in law’s grandama! She was a great soul, well learned and related to ParamAnanda Bharatai in his pUrvAshrama. If only she were a man, people would have lined up to learn from her.
It is pretty obvious that I just did not understand the value Umesh’s touch.
Another thing I didn’t recognize at that time was that Acharya was taking me through practical learning of Shad Darsana over the next few years. It will take years to understand that as well.
After the life changing event of initiation, I took leave of the then young successor designate Shri Bharati Theertha. His innocence, erudition, vairagya and discipline was visible even then. He was very happy that I made it to Sringeri and that Umesha was forming a group of disciples committed to jignAsa. He said it reminded him of his teen age days when he formed a ‘vAnara sEna’ of Raam Bhaktas.
After giving his blessings, he advised me to adhere to some discipline voluntarily, even as Acharya had relaxed for me. “Acharya is a compassion sagara and so he always looks from sAdhaka situation. We should look at what is needed from our objective and act accordingly”, he cautioned me.
I got back home in Chennai carrying all the memories and mental images of Sringeri. No one at home suspected anything and my family was keen on knowing what happened in U of Agri in Hebbal. My brothers made fun asking if I successfully talked to the plants. Next to Lord Elmsworth who talked to his pigs, I was perhaps the next in command, just coming after Sir J. C. Bose and Prince of Wales.
Armed with Sringeri blessings I plunged more into dhyana. The debates on Dwaitha Advaitha within the family also grew in frequency and intensity with cousins joining the fight and Uncles banishing me from their family for crossing over to the dark side of Maya Vaada.
My Masters degree needed me to do a project in a company and I got placed in ITI Bangalore as an intern. Umesh discussed this with Acharya who advised I stay in Sringeri Mutt in Shankarapura. Bangalore during the six months. The Mutt manger was instructed accordingly. We checked in and the Adhikari reluctantly gave us a room in top floor corner. He was a vaidika and didn’t like the idea of putting couple of Pants & shirts wearing engineers in a mutt. “ You can’t play radio, cine music nor can you eat nishidda food here. This is Mutt and not a lodge. No one should even notice that you live here. I don’t even know why Acharyaru let non vaidika folks like you in”, he grumbled. We both nodded our heads vigorously like the sacrificial goats.
“By the way there is no hot water facility in the mutt. We start our pUja at 6 AM which means you need to go to the backyard and take bath under the tap by 5 AM” . This was a shocker. Cold water bath in the open at 5 AM in Bangalore for Chennai boys? Those days Bangalore used to get very cold early morning. We nodded more vigorously. “I will be watching you”, he thundered.
He was indeed watching. This elderly vaidika used to wake up at 4 AM and take bath in cold water. We could see him in deep japa as we walked to the tap. His face was so clear and serene due to mantra japa. He was as much kind as he was tough on us. He arranged for Saativik home food to be delivered to us every night from a family nearby. We largely kept our discipline and only once caused a crisis - we locked our room and went to see another Satsangi and came late. The whole mutt was in commotion as the LP record player was in the room and they were to play Sharada Bhujanga Stotram every evening at that time. The adhikari suspected that we violated curfew and went to see a movie in spite of our repeated denials.
As advised by Umesha, I started my monthly trips to Sringeri, alone without Umesh or a Satsangi. I was apprehensive if Acharya would recognize me and talk to me. Reached Sringeri early morning, completed ablutions and ran to Narasimha vana. It was the monsoon season and it was raining non stop. Sringeri was less than 30 km from Agume which receives second highest rainfall, getting some 300 inches of rain every year. Tunga river would flood , washing down mud, rocks and trees as it roars towards Mantralaya. Water level would rise and the bamboo bridge would be closed at times. During those times, we would have to use ‘Harigolu’ circular boats. It would ply only some times as the Tunga would not only be rushing but swirl as well.
My anxiety was totally unfounded. Shri Bharati theertha was very pleased to see me and enquired about my sadhana. When I mentioned I had difficulty doing 108 Gayatri japa as mind was going still he chastised me.
“ All our anushtana need to be done with discipline and rigor. If your sankalpa is to do 108 Gayatris every time it should be 108. What is the meaning of Sankalpa if we don’t adhere to it ? Are we so progressed that we go into Samadhi and we can’t do japa any more?”, he asked with a twinkle in the eye. In a matter of few months I would get a taste of that experience.
The devotees filed out once the Chandra Mouleeshwara puja was over. I was stepping out of the puja hall and Acharya was retiring to his Guru Nivasa. He stopped me with a hand gesture, “ did you eat your dinner ?”he enquired. I hadn’t as it was amavasya and I had to perform monthly tharpana for my dead father. I said I skipped as it was amavasya.
“ As a young boy you are juggling so many things balancing loukika and jignAsa. You should not starve. A strong and healthy body is the starting point for any saadhana. I will ask the mutt cook to make uppittu for you”. He wouldn’t accept any of my protests and had a special Uppittu khara bath made for me. I was moved to tears. Why should a Jagat Guru take care of an insignificant creature like me ? How did he even know that I had not eaten?
I gobbled the tasty Upma and rushed to the river banks to cross to temple side where choultry was situated. The bridge was closed and the last Harigolu was about to leave and I jumped in. As the Harigolu tried to cross the river, the rushing waters pushed the boat in an elliptical path and I could see entire Sringeri temple complex circling around me as the rushing waters swirled the boat. It was very scary and the oarsman’s tale of boat capsizing didn’t help. I reached the shore just in time to take the bus to Bangalore.
This experience shook me leaving a permanent impression and would resurface some 35 years later, in far away New Jersey. In a Satsang our friend Mrs Malini Murthy sang a Kanaka Dasa Mundige song in a such a melodious voice, it took me back to Sringeri. There was so much emotion, devotion and sweetness in her voice. It was allegory of human life to Harigolu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGGgf4W3PXA
What a genius Shripada Rajaru & Vyasa Theertharu have been for starting Daasa koota . Great philosophy was made available in simple songs set to soul stirring tunes! Why this division of Advaitis & dwaitis? What difference does it make when our life is a Harigolu swirling in the rough tides of samsara ? Kanaka can help as much as Shankara ….
ಅಂಬಿಗಾ ನಾ ನಿನ್ನ ನಂಬಿದೇ ಜಗದಂಬರಮಣ ನಿನ್ನ ನಂಬಿದೇ
ತುಂಬಿದ ಹರಿಗೋಲಂಬಿಗ ಅದ ಕೊಂಬತ್ತು ಛಿದ್ರವು ಅಂಬಿಗಾ
ಸಂಭ್ರಮದಿಂ ನೊಡಂಬಿಗ ಅದರಿಂಬು ನೊಡೀ ನಡೆಸಂಬಿಗಾ || 1 ||
ಹೊಳೆಯ ಭರವ ನೊಡಂಬಿಗಾ ಅದಕೆ ಸೆಳವು ಘನವೈಯ್ಯ ಅಂಬಿಗಾ
ಸುಳಿಯೊಳು ಮುಳುಗಿದೆ ಅಂಬಿಗ ಎನ್ನ ಸೆಳೆದುಕೊಂಡೊಯ್ಯೊ ನೀನಂಬಿಗ || 2 ||
ಆರು ತೆರೆಯ ನೋಡಂಬಿಗ ಅದು ಮೀರಿ ಬರುತಲಿದೆ ಅಂಬಿಗ
ಯಾರಿಂದಲಾಗದು ಅಂಬಿಗ ಅದ ನಿವಾರಿಸಿ ದಾಟಿಸೊ ಅಂಬಿಗ || 3 ||
ಸತ್ಯವೆಂಬುದೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಂಬಿಗ ಸದಾ ಭಕ್ತಿಯೆಂಬುದೆ ಪಥವಂಬಿಗಾ
ನಿತ್ಯ ಮುರುತಿ ಪುರಂದರ ವಿಟ್ಠಲ ನಮ್ಮಾ ಮುಕ್ತಿಮಂಟಪಕೊಯ್ಯೊ ಅಂಬಿಗ || 4 ||
I continued my meditation regimen and one day I felt ants biting me all over and a lightning struck and the world froze.
I had come on a short break to Chennai to visit my mom at brother’s home. It was an old Chennai Tiled roof house with a small little area of the roof flattened and concreted. One needs to climb a wooden staircase to get there.
Sitting there I was doing my dhyana.Something was stinging my legs and felt a swarm of ants running across my body; a powerful lightning flashed. Or so it appeared to me as I sat in meditation. The world froze and everything became stand still. I was baffled when I came out of that and assumed that some insects from the tiled roof must have bitten me and the street tube light must have simulated the lightening. I ignored it and headed back to Shankara Mutt ,Bangalore next day.
As always, finished my ablutions at 5 AM, sat down , closed my eyes and focused in between eyebrows, contemplating on AUM for my arUpa dhyana. Breathing quietened and everything around me vanished from mind and I was getting dragged towards a room filled with bright, cloudy light. And then there he was, Raghavendra Swamy, standing at the entrance of the room. He smiled benevolently. Startled , I opened my eyes and didn’t know what to make of this. Should I be happy that Rayaru showed up to bless me or worry that a rUpa is showing up in an arUpa dhyana?
I decided to do it differently next day and performed more rigorous pranayama before starting arUpa dhyana. Next day experience was an improvement-my breathing quietened, world disappeared from the mind and “I” managed to enter the room filled with bright light. I kept observing that without any thoughts .
And he appeared again . Rayaru was now sitting on a large lotus floating on the sea of bright light and kept smiling. I was startled more and didn’t know how to deal with this.
There was also a gnawing anxiety that Rayaru was not approving my arUpa dhyana approach. Does he want me to stick to Tatva Vaada and not explore advaitha ? After all, his close disciple Appanacharya wrote in his magalashataka that Rayaru rejected Advaitha as a Halahala poison on the basis of teachings of Vyasa, madhwa, Jayatheertha et al
वेदव्यास मुनीश मध्व यतिराट् टीकार्या वाख्या अमृतां
ज्ञात्वा अद्वैत मतं हलाहल समं त्यक्त्वा स्माख्याप्तये
This couplet would become the weapon my fellow Maadhwas would use in many debates and menacingly ask me if I wanted to adopt a philosophy that Rayaru, Gur Saarvabhouma, called Haalahala ? Years later, I would turn the tables on them by defining poison as an entity that harms only because the affected persons are unprepared for it. There are toxins every where - in insects, animals, plants (even common tomato plants have toxins) and the toxins don’t affect them but only those who don’t have a defense mechanism. Some insects separate the poison and store to use against predators later; some critters developed mechanism to process toxins into safe compounds !
As Bhagavata says, hAlahAla spread every where during the Samudra Manthana until Rudra Shiva drank it to stop further spreading. Nothing happened to him as he could ‘digest it’. What spilled over was absorbed by various insects, animals and plants.
परस्कन्नं पिबतः पाणेर्यत् किञ्चित् जगृहुः स्म तत्
व्रुश्चिकाहि विष औषधयो दन्दशॊकाश्रच येपरे ( SMB 8:1:46)
One needs to build Shiva capability to understand the ‘Halahala’ Advaitha without getting hurt. Advaitha is a hurtful Halahala only for the unprepared.
I reached out to Umesh to ask him about these experiences. Umesha was nonplussed , he didn’t show any reaction. He felt I should not dismiss the Chennai experience of ‘ants bitting’ as insignificant; he would discuss with Acharya and get back on that. He discerned I was knocking the doors of samAdhi anubhava, if not already in it. As for as Rayaru showing up in my arUpa dhyana, he suggested I go to Sringeri and discuss with Acharaya directly and he would guide me.
I ran to Sringeri and took this up with the then Sannidhanam Bharati Theertha. He smiled and comforted me stating that he was pleased at the progress being made and I should not get confused. Why would a great Yogi like Raghavendra Swamy come in the way of any one’s quest he asked.He promised he would discuss this with Acharya and I could ask him directly when I meet him.
So, with lots of apprehension I reached Acharya’s chambers. There was a scholar discussing with him and he looked very troubled. The Scholar had taken part in vakyartha Goshti with Dwaitins and faced the onslaught of their arguments drawn profusely from Teekacharyaru ,Shri Jayatheertha. Teekacharyaru came some 100+ years after Shrimad Ananda Theertha and put Tatva Vaada on firm footing. His scholarship, mastery over language, grammar, logic, dialectic skills, and force-fullness is unprecedented.
Among his 23 works ‘Nyaya Sudha’ is considered to be Magnus opus - a graduation requirement among Maadhwa scholars. It led to the popular saying ‘Sudha va patanIya vasudha va pAlanEya’. nyAyasudha is a teeka Commentary on Madhwacharya’s Anu Vyakhyana-which itself was short explanation for his Brahma Sutra Bhashya. Nyaya Sudha takes some 20+ interpretations including Shankara’s and establishes how they are off the mark and only Madhwacharya’s interpretation was the right one. It is a large work with scintillating analysis of metaphysics, cognitive psychology, theory of errors and alternative hypothesis.
Jyeshta Mahasannidhanam’s response to the lamentations of the vaidika was a surprise to me.
“In jignAsa you need to keep an open mind. You should either know how to differ from Teekacharayaru or accept his views. I know how to prove it wrong but this is your jignAsa and you must have the courage and humility to accept the conclusions. Follow what you are convinced about and not on what I or other Gurus say”. He pointed at my direction and continued, “Look at this maadhwa lad. He has the courage to walk to advaitha smartha sampardaya in spite if his family being devout maadhwas and connected to Rayaru. This is what you need to do”. He dismissed off the Vaidika and asked me to sit down.
There were only three of us including his personal assistant who lingered a little away.
“I heard from Umesh about your ants crawling experience. This is a great progress in dhyana. Don’t worry about Rayaru showing up in your meditation.Such great Yogis always come to bless and never to stop any jignAsa. Hereafter he won’t come and interrupt your dhayana. He has blessed you and gone. We ,as Acharyas, do not force any views on any one. The way is for you to choose and our role is to help you succeed in anything you choose”. This talk was reassuring.
“I know what you need.You are neither in Chennai with Umesha nor here with us. You need a mentor. I will ask Umesha to connect you with our disciple Dr Subbaramaiya in Bangalore. Visit him every weekend and participate in his Satsang. You will learn a lot”.
After getting back to bangalore I called Umesh and asked him about Dr.Subbaramaiya. He gave one of his mischievous laughters and said, “ He was one of the Six students of Dr C. V. Raman in IIsc and he specializes in Viacara marga. As commanded by Acharya you spend your Saturdays in his Satsang ;but bear in mind, he path is different from ours and he is not a great fan of Yoga & Dhyana. His school is analysis and strongly feels understanding of an experience does not come from experience itself but from analysis of such experiences. He can be very strict at times”.
Once agin, I was getting pushed into another new zone with attendant discomfort . Hesitantly I made to his home in Vasanth Nagar on next Saturday morning. There he was sitting with his disciples. He looked at me and smiled. His face was serene, eyes twinkled in brightness and gray beard added to the luster. “Let us welcome our dear Maadhwa boy" he said.
Dr.Subbaramaiya’s benign welcoming smile could not hide the brilliance of his intellect radiating from his eyes. The current generation may not know him-he was one of the best students of Nobel laureate Dr Sir C.V.Raman.
The IISc ( known as Tata institute in namma Bengaluru) Department of Physics was inaugurated in July 1933 with Prof. C. V. Raman as the first head of the Department and eight students including D. S. Subbaramaiya.Student Subbaramaiya’s natural brilliance was amply strengthened by the rigor of Dr C.V.Raman’s approach. It is my understanding that young Subbaramaiya was deeply influenced by Indian ancient Nyaya Sutra of Gautama Akshapada . It showed up emphatically as he matured into Dr.D.S Subbaramaiya and later as jIvan Mukta sishya of Sringeri Acharya jyeshta mahasannidhanam.
NyAa , science of logic, was one of the earliest Darsanas or View points of Indian Philosophy. Gautama Akshapad is credited to have collated the prevailing knowledge and written nyAya sutra - an astounding edifice of logic and syllogism. Many believe Indian nyAya Shastra predates Aristotle’s Categories that ushered in Logic as a philosophical science in Western World.
nyAya sutra by Akshapada is a formidable book that establishes categorization, syllogism, logic rules and methodology to understand the relationship between objects, attributes and our experiential knowledge. It makes a giant leap to define the ultimate goal of human kind and using logic as means of achieving it. There is not one philosopher, not even one, who has not integrated nyYaya in his philosophy.
The most scintillating nyAya demonstration can be seen in the great Maadhwa Yati Shri VyAsa Theertha’s NyAyAmruta and its rejoinder Advaithasiddhi by equally great Shri Madhusudana Saraswathi.
In my mind, along with vaisEshika and Sankhya , nyAya constitutes the trinity of theoretical framework of Indian Metaphysics; Yoga, Karma Mimamsa and Brahma Mimamsa constitute the Action Play book to realize what the former three promise. All the six are collectively known as ‘Shad Darsana’ of Indian philosophy, as precursor to later day philosophies of Advaitha, Vishista Advaitha and Tatvavaada Dwaitha. An open minded seeker would see a continuity of thought and evolution of view points as he/she wades through the systems.
Obviously I did not carry this understanding when I walked hesitantly into Dr Subbaramaiya’s house. I was actually confused as I sat down in the circle of his disciples. They were a motley crowd - there was Dr.Ramesh , a Shrivaishnava professor from IIT Bombay -his son Jayaram would later become world famous economist politician as Dr Jayaram Ramesh. There was Shri Narasimaiyah, a senior Manager from HAL and his wife Smt Manikarnikamma. The pious couple successfully Integarted laukika and jigNasa.
Then there were their children-Lakshmeesha, Lokamata , Lalitha and Shankara. I have no idea what they thought of me but I was very fascinated by their devotion and dedication. Even after 40 years I still remember them reading out every session how they were trying to integrate Shri Subbaramaiya’s teachings in daily life ( their words ‘himbalisutteve’ still echoes in my mind). I would incorporate this model of facilitated learning, as opposed to teaching , 25 years later when I started to ‘teach’ Vedanta in a Boston suburb.Shankara Sharma would spend years serving jyeshta mahasannidhanam at Narasimha Vana and remain committed life long. I would meet Lakshmeesha years later as fellow GE guy at Jack Welch Technology Center.
Shri Subbaramiya introduced me to others as Umesha’s diciple. They all looked at me with respect-they revered Umesha so much. Shri Narasimhaiah and Smt Manikarnikamma gave me a worried look bordering on sadness. I got to understand that later as they opened up. They felt traversing ‘Umesh way’ was an uphill task and my mother would never consent.She used to ask me every week about it with her motherly feelings were very evident. It is very rare to see such parents, who strive to help their children sustain connect with our ancient heritage while letting them grow in modern world.
As Umesha had cautioned Shri Subbaramaiha was very strict and never minced words. He told categorically that in the current world it was foolish to attempt to live a bramhacahri life with all degradation of society ; it was much worse to take sanyasa and join a mutt.
He would also indicate the ultimate truth was discernible only critical analysis using nyAya Shahstra and we couldn’t go just by karma, bhakti, Yoga and dhyana. Ultimately we have to make something out of all these experiences and only Analysis would help. Inquiry was the King of Shad Darsana, of which I knew practically nothing. I don’t even want to mention Vedangas without which one cannot understand Vedas.
I could not understand what he was getting at; but it was clear that jyeshta mahasannidhanam had pushed me into a learning cycle. Given that I was not a traditional brahmin with formal shastric learnings of Vedangas & Shad Darsanas, he had actually made me learn through experience and watching them play out.
Play out it did and for long. What started at Shri Subbaramaiya’s house in Bangalore will play for five years; its echoes lasted forty years even in far away Boston and New Jersey when I started sparring with young maadhwa scholars on a social site. This was the most fruitful years of my learning with a host of young maadhwa scholars taught me intricacies of Tatvavada through debates. archives.org turned out to be my asharIri guru dumping all scarce Shastra books through internet. As the young maadhwa scholars helped me understand Shrimad Ananada Theertha more and more, my conviction on the harmony between Advaitha and Dwaitha became clearer and clearer. What was a vague feeling born out of dhyana regimen became grouted on string shabda pramAna over a period of time.
Innocuously it started with my listening to Dr Subbaramiah’s rigorous analysis of shahstra and our experience every week end . I would get a taste of his method as he started sharing his Magnum Opus work - commentary of Dakshinamurthy shloka. The way he took this 10 stanzas sholka and made into a two volume 1400 pages commentary shows his erudition, nyAya, vyakarana, nirukta skills and more importantly his experiential wisdom. Weeks into my attending his sessions, he had not even crossed the first stanza
विश्वं दर्पणदृश्यमाननगरीतुल्यं निजान्तर्गतं
पश्यन्नात्मनि मायया बहिरिवोद्भूतं यथा निद्रया ।
यः साक्षात्कुरुते प्रबोधसमये स्वात्मानमेवाद्वयं
तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥१॥
The photo attached in the post shows Shri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahas Swaminah teaching Shri Bharati Theertha and other Sanyasis. Whenever I visited Sringeri, Jagadguru would ask me to sit through such classes - even though I could understand very little of Sanskrit. He would say that this will help my samskara and the meanings will find me over a period of time.
Umesha is such a recluse he would not share any photo with us. He continues to be just a thought in my mind , even after 40 years. Nearest I can point out is the protagonist character in Cho Ramaswamy's "Enge Brahmanan" series in Thuglaq Magazine.
After that eventful lecture on Quantum Mechanics, Umesh, a few of his ‘disciple’ classmates and I started meeting every day in the campus. We shared our thoughts, life stories and experiences. We were all very eager to know more about his spiritual experience.We looked very desperately for proof of God and wanted him to guarantee that we will have similar if not same ‘results’ as him. Obviously we were so ignorant about what jignAsa, the individual effort meant.
He narrated how his life changed dramatically. He was a teen ager at Don Bosco school with dreams of going to US for higher studies; just a chance meeting with Sringeri Shankaracharya turned him into an accomplished Siddha Yogi with vow life long asceticism and Tapas. With lots of coaxing from us, he shared that incident.
His grandfather had taken him to have a darshan of Sringeri Shankaracharya Abhinva Vidyatheertha who was visiting Chennai. One look at Umesh , Acharya understood who he truly was and suggested he visit Sringeri for a leisurely conversation. Umesh was deeply impacted by him and he visited Sringeri a few months later as asked. There Acharya blessed him by touching his head and this single touch triggered the dormant Yoga Shakti in Umesh. After that, there was no looking back and Umesh progressed very fast into an accomplished yogi. Needless to say he had to face opposition at home that melted away over a period of time.
He asked me about myself and I had nothing dramatic to tell. My father died suddenly in Bangalore when I was 8 years old. We had to come to Triplicane, Chennai and live under the roof & kindness of grandfather. 
As a teenager I was fascinated by Thakur Rama Krishna Parama Hamsa and spent every evening reading spiritual books in a nearby library. There was enormously voluminous biography Raamakrisha Kathamrita written by M running to a couple of thousand pages. It was more of a meticulously catalogued diary of Thakur’s life every day.
I was the odd man out in the group-the only Maadhwa among the bunch of Smarthas. Maadhwas are very orthodox and strict in religious observance with enormous focus on Madi & Achara. The daily life has so many do’s & don’ts , making the modern non-veda-patashala life very difficult. For example, we need to take bath every evening after coming from school/college without touching anything and wash the clothes worn to college. Any contact with outside world would harm the spiritual purity and this was just simplest of all rules. Smarthas - who follow Shankara Advaitha - are lot more relaxed on these ritualistic disciplines. I was also different from others in another way - I was incessantly debating with Umesh on contrast between Advaitha & Tatva Vaada Dwaitha philosophy. 
We started our journey back to Chennai. I had no idea that Lord Nrusimha and a 14th century Madhwa Yati Akshobhya Theertha were being enlisted by my family to block me from meeting Sringeri Acharya. They were waiting for me. 
