[Advaita-l] Padma Shri Mathoor Krishnamurti

[subhanu saxena]

Namaste all
I just wanted to inform the list that the great vedic scholar Padma Shri Mathoor Krishnamurti from Mattur village passed away yesterday. He was steeped in the ancient tradition of India and was a well known scholar of veda and vedanta.For those outside of India , who probably did not know him, Mathoor Krishnamurti was one of the most loved spiritual scholars in India and the UK (where he was the Executive Director of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan London), especially in the South of India, where he had recently been Executive Director of the  Bhavan's Bangalore centre. Just by word of mouth, when people heard he was speaking somewhere, thousands would show up. He has recorded hundreds of hours of discourses on Mahabharata and the epics and was the epitome of living a life of dharma in the 20th/21st century.He came from an extremely poor family in Mattur and worked his way up doing the most menial jobs. He had a dedication to do his work the best that he could which lead to some astonishing achievements. At the age of 13 , he heard Gandhiji was visiting and that his staff were looking for volunteers. He approached them and was rejected because he could not speak Hindi. He went away and learned hindi with a teacher in 4 days! He was accepted and Gandhiji was a major influence on his life.I found him a perfect counterpart to the various long discussions I have had over the years in Mattur in Sanskrit on the vedas,  Shankara's commentaries and the finer points of Shankara's advaita tradition. He would always provide the practical example and application of the vedanta teachings by quoting and discussing stories from the great epics. His life reminded me that the spiritual quest is an experiential journey of inner discovery, not an intellectual academic exercise, which it can sometimes feel especially in email exchanges over lists etc.He will be sorely missed yet we can all be grateful for his immense contribution to keeping the ancient traditions of India alive and flourishing in the modern age.For those who wish to know more about him, please read the interview below from a couple of years agohttp://www.ourkarnataka.com/Articles/starofmysore/mkmurthy008.htmRegardsSubhanu