[Advaita-l] A few moments with Paramacharya by Dr Raja Ramanna

[Dr D Bharadwaj]

In recent years I have been interested in the philosophy of science. This
approach to knowledge has been neglected and is only now becoming an
essential part of science. The fact that the various components of science
like Physics, Chemistry, Biology have merged into one, makes a philosophical
approach inescapable, as it used to be in the past, and in fact the old name
for science is Natural Philosophy. It is indeed an anomaly that many of the
Doctors of Philosophy as fabricated in our Universities each year, know
little of philosophy as an integrated approach to knowledge.
It was in this frame of mind that I accepted an invitation from the
Theosophical Society at Adyar to contribute an article for their Centenary
celebrations. I chose the title "Physical Reality- Is there any other?" I
chose the title "Physical Reality- Is there any other?" and stressed the
strength of the scientific method of analysis-both ancient and modern-and
the paradoxes we face in understanding consciousness on the basis of
scientific postulates.
I made a passing reference to Adi Shankara and Advaita, on the need to throw
to our materials constraints to understand a higher reality. The paper was
reprinted in the Journal Dilip. This Journal, I believe, was inaugurated
with the blessings of Shri Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. I had
heard of the Acharya from various people but many of them went to him to get
relief from the usual disappointments of life-family disagreements,
injustices promotions, solace from persecutions from unsympathetic and
sadistic bosses. But whoever it was, whenever mention was made of the
Acharya, it was always in connection with his erudition and his simple life.
I, in my cynical ignorance, presumed the people designate others as learned
only when they are unable to understand what is being said. I was indeed
greatly surprised when one day, someone who had seen the Acharya came to me
saying that the Acharya would like some answers to questions he had,
concerning my paper reprinted in Dilip. After looking at the question, I
replied that the answers could not be transmitted through an intermediary
but if I were permitted, I would seek darshan of the Acharya during one of
my visits to the Reactor Research Center at Kalpakkam.
On arrival at Madras airport, I asked my friends if they had fixed a day and
time with the Acharya. They seemed bewildered for they did not know how they
could `fix a day and time' as there was no one is the Ashram who could do
this, I, soon, began to realise my smallness in expecting to get a time and
place from an Acharya who had realised the vastness of Advaita. In our
stupidity we try to transform the entire universe into our own small world
restricted to seeing the Acharya as though I was seeing a Minister or
Secretary in Delhi. This itself was a lesson in higher philosophy.

I soon realised that I just had to go to the Ashram to imbibe the atmosphere
and sink into the vastness of something beyond the material world around us.
In Advaita what after all are time, place and the material aspects of life?
If one has to realise something of Advaita from the feet of the Acharya
himself, the atmosphere around must be consistent with the aim of acquiring
supreme knowledge. I had not understood the need to such consistencies and
this was my second lesson.
It was on the morning of July 5 that I set out to Kanchi. I was accompanied
by Sri Krishnamurthy, an Accounts Officer, who is also in his spare time a
Veda lecturer. (How much greater is his spare time activity!) I requested
that I be accompanied by a Sanskrit scholar in case the Acharya led me to
difficult discussion on ancient knowledge and science, again assuming that
it was going to be like a meeting or one of the so called learned bodies at
Delhi, Bombay or Calcutta. How ignorant I again was!
We arrived at the Ashram at about 8.30 a.m. The place encloses a small
temple with a building to its side which is no more than a glorified hut.
This serves as the residence of the Swamiji. There were several devotees
waiting for the Acharya to give darshan, and in one corner a student was
being assisted by one of the inmates in the recitation of the Rig Veda. At
another spot, there was somebody reciting Sanskrit Stotras with an excellent
intonation. For all this, I was grateful as I had not yet come to resonate
with the atmosphere and was not sure why I was there at all.
The worship, at the small but ancient temple, raised in me the usual doubts
and questions as to why worship must be like this at all. To add to my
questioning state, I noticed some policemen around, not at all in consonance
with the surroundings. Somebody said the Governor of Tamil Nadu was coming
and hence the bandobust. One of the aides of the Acharya spoke to us and
suggested we wait for the appropriate time as the Acharya was busy reading
something inside.
On a raised platform adjoining his room is a small window barely a square
foot wide through which devotees people in to get darshan. I also looked in
and saw in the somewhat dim light the Acharya deeply engrossed turning the
pages of a book. At this moment, the Governor arrived and we all moved back.
The Governor also went towards the window for a short time and left soon
after, but all the while the Acharya continued his search among the books
irrespective of what was happening outside.
A little while later, a strange peace seemed to envelop us and I felt as
though we were in a space where the devotees, the temple and everything
around us were some minor objects in a great enactment. Everything around
was simple to the extreme, and nobody seemed aware of one another's presence
except as objects created for some purpose to disappear soon into
nothingness. In spite of this feeling of negation, it seemed to me that we
were all there trying to get at something which was yet beyond our reach. It
was nothing that this world could provide. Even as I was meditating about
why we- an odd assortment of people- were there at all it began to appear
that the strains of the Rig Veda was the only material thing of value in
that atmosphere.
Suddenly, one of the aides of the Swamiji called us to the window, as the
Acharya wished to see us. He then asked his aides in his very weak voice in
Tamil to open the pages of a book. After selecting the page with his finger,
from a distance, he asked me if I knew enough of Sanskrit. I was happy that
I had Krishnamurthy with me.
The translated version of the page, I give below:
Katyayana, in one of his Vartikas, also shows himself in favour of Advaita
The meaning of the aforesaid Vartika is as follows:
Truth is Brahman, knowledge is Brahman. Brahman is endless. We can
understood Brahman by experience. So what is the use of the sentence taken
from philosophy, etc., which tell about God?
It is repetition only. Is it not?
No. The scholars know Brahman well. Others will have confusion. In order to
avoid if these sentences repeat the same frequently. Even the Bhaskyakara
(Patanjali) while commenting on the Sutra opines in favour of Advaita. How
can we see the mark of (Non-existent)?
Yes, We can see it. It is like mirage.
Explanation: The thirsty deers see the mirage and think it to be existing.
So they run towards the place where they saw the mirage which actually does
not exist. It is due to illusion only.
Similarly we see a beautiful place called Gandharva Nagara in the clouds.
Really it is not there. Due to (illusion) one thinks non-existing thing to
be real. Really only one is there. That is Brahman. While commenting on the
Sutra the Bhashyakara quotes others in support of Advaita as follows:
For example, Kala (time) is one. But for our convenience we have divided it
into three such as past, future, present.
It does not exist, move and is not pushed. Even the waters that seem to flow
towards the sea, really do not flow. Moreover, the world is one and nothing
moves. The things that we are unreal. They are visible because of illusion.
Here, Katyayana, the commentator of Mahabhashaya, says, a person who
understands the world and Brahman in this way is not blind. `He alone sees
really'. Further he says. "He who implements the idea that is, translates
the idea into practice is a real Yogi."
Meaning of the above verse:
To the person whose ignorance is destroyed by real knowledge, God gives
light equal to the light of the sun.

As I do not know Tamil except in the form of a crude dialect, the aide
translated all that the Swamiji had to say into Kannada and I replied in
Kannada. Even the aide had difficulty in understanding the Swamiji as his
voice was very feeble. I referred to my talk on Reality and the questions
the Swamiji had raised and gave my answers. The Acharya pointed to the page
of the book again. Though Krishnamurthy tries, we had to admit that we could
not understand the sloka just at the moment.
The Swamiji suggested to us to study it and return again.
The Acharya then made a mention of my contributions to science and asked
whether I knew of Krishna Iyengar. After thinking of all the Krishna
Iyengars I knew, it then occurred to me that he was referring to Dr. K.S.
Krishnan, the great physicist and philosopher.
Dr. K.S. was well known to me during my early years in the Atomic Energy
Commission and I had listened to his discourses on Philosophy.
The Swamiji then asked me to study the philosophy of Nagarajuna. I said that
it is remarkable that the Swamiji should refer to Nagarjuna, as I was
reading at the very moment his philosophy through the book of the late Prof.
Hiriyanna (Mysore University) on Indian Philosophy, which I believe, is the
best book on the subject. I said, Nagarjuna was the greatest scientific
philosopher of all times. The Swamiji nodded his head and asked me to send
him a copy of Hiriyanna's book, a book which fortunately had been recently
reprinted.
The Swamiji then lifted his hand in benediction and we did our
Sashtanganamaskaras and receded to the background. In the spareness and
austerity of things around, we seemed smaller materially than anything we
could think of and yet the power of the consciousness of the spirit was
enhanced by the darshan. The Acharya's message to me was clear. `To the
person whose ignorance is destroyed by real knowledge. God gives light equal
to the light of the Sun.'
What better inspiration can there be for the pursuit of science and
philosophy? The material world has its laws but human consciousness has a
higher reality which can be understood only when ignorance is destroyed by
the real knowledge, even as the great Adi Sankara himself achieved.
I must have been in direct contact with the Swamiji for less than half an
hour, but in regions outside material time, I must have been with him always
Here at last I knew I had been in the presence of a learned man and an
inspired man.
Physicists have always wondered if there is a direct interaction between two
conscious human beings without the aid of the sense organs. I believe I have
some verification of its possibility.



sarvE bhavanthu sukhinah
sarvE santhu niraamayaah
sarve bhadrANi pasyanthu
maa kaschit duhkhabhAg bhavEt.



Regards,
Dr. D. Bharadwaj
drdbharadwaj at gmail.com


sarvE bhavanthu sukhinah
sarvE santhu niraamayaah
sarve bhadrANi pasyanthu
maa kaschit duhkhabhAg bhavEt.



Regards,
Dr. D. Bharadwaj
drdbharadwaj at gmail.com