Passage to Bharath!!!

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 6 Feb 1998, Chandran, Nanda (NBC) wrote:

> I'd been to Bharath for a short vacation and returned just a couple of days
> back. The advantages of being in Bharath for somebody who is interested in
> Vedanta is tremendous.
>

Indeed but don't sell this country short.  Everythings a lot more
disorganized and it's hard to find the time but if you make the effort
there are people here you can learn a lot from too.  Still I'd love to be
able to spend some time there.  I hope to be able to go at the end of this
year.

> One morning I turned on the TV and on one of the local cable channels there
> was a program on Ramana Maharishi. At the end of the program I switched
> channels and there on another channel was Jayendra Saraswati (the pontiff of
> Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham) discussing the five kosas and the merits of
> Advaitam! The swami made a remarkable sight - for even while he talked his
> half lidded eyes revealed that he was simultaneously immersed in meditation
> - One has to see it to understand what I'm trying to say! Right after this
> there was a scholarly discussion on Thirukural. I heard that these were
> regular programs.
>
> Another morning accompanied by my brother and sister, I went to Kanchipuram.
> When I entered the small hall which adjoins the entrance of the Kanchi matt,
> I was greeted by rows of bare backs with the traditional sacred thread
> clearly visible, gazing with reverence at a small dias. On the dias, with
> almost his back to the crowd sat the young Shankaracharya performing pooja
> to the Lord. So intense was his concentration and sublime his posture, that
> I was drawn down the ages and felt that it was the young Adi Shankara
> himself performing the pooja. My kin impatient and not too eager to witness
> the whole pooja dragged me out so that we can pay our respects to other
> deities and return just before the pooja was over.
>
> We went to the Kamakshi Amman temple. Legend has it that the Amman was very
> ferocious and Adi Shankara, at the request of the populace, had placed a
> chakra or a wheel, before the idol of the Amman, so she couldn't get out.
> The chakra is still there even today for all to see! This is the only temple
> where I've seen Adi Shankara as part of a temple's deities. We went to
> another ancient temple and the architecture was just magnificent - Pallava
> architecture. The Pallava dynasty had Kanchi as their capital.
>
> We came back to the matt and the pooja was still on. There was a series of
> paintings on tile, on the wall detailing the life of Adi Shankara. The
> crocodile incident, learning from Govinda Jatti, meeting Kumarilla Bhatta,
> defeating Mandana Mishra, getting the sacred Spathika Lingams from Lord
> Shiva etc. Adi Shankara, since he's quite young during all his exploits is
> generally pictured as young, handsome, with his face radiating divinity. I
> was surprised to find even Gaudapada and Govindapadacharya pictured the same
> way. Trivial, I suppose, but I felt that somehow it reflected their purity
> and purpose of existence and also questioned mine.
>
> My uncle who lives in the matt, I heard was quite close to Jayendra
> Saraswati. Just when I thought I could probably use his influence to see the
> saint, I heard that the saint had gone to Coimbatore the previous day! The
> pooja completed the young Shankaracharya was giving holy water to all. All
> men, bare chested, went up to him to receive it, I followed suit. I, who am
> always full of questions, at his presence realized the futility of all such
> questions! What should I ask - Should I take Samnyaasa? Is Brahman, Saguna
> or Nirguna? Is a Guru necessary?  Are the non-Brahmins not eligible to study
> the Shruti? Or the Paul Brunton question! - Futile, because in my own heart
> I know the answers or question the necessity of my knowing the answers or
> even my right to ask such questions! For I realize that, until I've full
> control of my senses and steadied my mind against the troika of lust,
> jealousy and anger, there's no point even asking such questions!
>

This is why our shastras proclaim the glory of satsang.  Just being in the
presence of the great can be so beneficial.  Nevertheless you missed out
on a good chance to ask questions.  As the word acharya suggessts, that is
his main function.

> There were more surprises in store for me. My best friend turned out to be a
> descendent of Appaiya Dikshitar! Yes, he confirmed that the saint had
> declared that he would teach the shruti to anybody who would undergo the
> rigors of the years of training. He also told me that Dhayananda Saraswati
> preached the same thing.

Intrigued by Vaidyas comment, I've been doing some research on this.  See
my post on the subject.

> I'd been to atleast a couple of book shops and the
> collection they have just defies description. I had wanted to meet an Indian
> Buddhist monk, but due to the short period of my stay I couldn't search and
> from what I hear they're a rare breed. If anybody has any information on
> Buddhist monastries in India, I would be grateful for the information.
>

If you want to meet an Indian Buddhist, your best bet is to find an
archaeologist.  Maybe he can dig up the remains of one for you.

> As they say, if one's not really looking, even the most obvious doesn't meet
> the eye. I suppose most of what I saw during my trip was always ever present
> before me when I lived in Bharath, but in my ignorance I'd failed to see it
> before!
>

It's true.  Sometimes you have to be at a distance to see what you took
for granted before.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>