AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
ADHYATMA RATNA KUMBAKONAM C N GURUSWAMI SARMA (1900-1968)
CHAPTER 10
MY FATHER
MY FATHER
My happy sojourn came to an end one day with the news that my father had arrived at Melur and wanted me. i was rushed back half walking and half being helped into a passing cart. When I arrived at about noon, my father was sitting in the raised pial in front of the Melur house. That was to be his seat for another six months when he again he left the place. One great effect of his coming there was the resumption of my English study. Many people from outside places also visited him. They had discussions with him and profuse quotations in Sanskrit were given. My father in his solemn undisturbed way was replying them and each one seemed to return satisfied. i was very unlearned there and I could only grasp that something very important was being discussed but I was all agog to sit through these discussions without much comprehension. The words "Upanishads" and "Geetha" and Paramacharya's slokas very often entered the talks and it led me to get concerned in the idea that without knowing some of them I could not be anything great and respectable like my father. The great disparity in age (58 year difference -Ed) and his majestic appearance made me timid to approach him and talk to him. He used to call me once or twice in a day and seemed to be perfectly satisfied with the conditions of life*.Someday after coming to this place, something like a morning class started in the morning to four or five elderly people and one or two ladies including Andalu chithi. (Ref 1) His usual routine was to get up and bathe hy 4 to 5 AM while I was sound asleep. When I woke up, he was in his usual seat in the pial with the black wooden box and one or two books a top with a pen and an ink bottle besides and a sheaf of paper, post cards envelope, stamps etc. By 6 Am others arrived after a bath and with Vibhuthi adorning their faces brightly. They all made namaskars to him and he began giving a line and they repeated the same twice. (Ref 2). After half an hour they left to gather again at 3 PM on a discourse on those lines or on some other topic. One day, I made bold to adorn myself with Vibhuthi stripes all over and made my namaskars with them. My father smiled and asked me what I wanted to which I requested him to permit me to learn with them and recite those lines in unison. He smiled broadly and said that I had not yet had upanyanam. My enthusiasm was choked. Probably seeing my down cast face, he added " But it is alright. You will join from today. This day seems to be auspicious." I was proud at this announcement and I felt big for two months on end. I had the morning chanting in my shrill voice along with the aged and all seemed to relish it. But none more than myself, as I thought I had entered in to a privileged association. I could easily recite three Upanishads (Ref 3) then and nearly 100 stanzas in various sthothras of Sri Shankaracharya about whose immortality and greatness I learnt in interludes from the talk of my father. This morning routine over, my father sat with the tapals (letters) he received from many places chiefly from Madras, Benaras and some place from where one Mr A shiva Row (Ref 4) was writing. he used to receive a lot of printed book-posts. He used to sit at them after his meal exactly at 1030 AM.(or the clock was wrong) correct them, pack them, write over certain sheets of paper in his neat and wry hand and pack them separately, address them and stamp them and send them to post through me. I used to post them one after another in the post box but i was not sure where at all they were bound to go and how. i was that much lettered to find them addressed to various places and was dreaming whether these places were as big as Melur and how people were reaching them and why my father was going to those places as he used to disclose in his talks. Subsequently i was given the choice to stamp the various prepared items for despatch and the stamps were given to me in various denominations to stick them on the envelopes. If the stamps were not properly and correctly stuck, my father removed them while they were wet and properly stuck them.. I learnt he would not suffer anything done slovenly and without care. (Ref 5) He used to often state that doing things in a clean proper and artistic way was God's way. But then Of course, I had no idea of God at all.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Editor's note:
Ref 1: Apparently the classes did not bar the ladies. Though it is not stated, I think Rajammal the elder sister also learnt in the classes because she, in her later days, was teaching Upanishads to many ladies in Matunga, Mumbai. She could not have learnt the Upanishads with such a rigour after her marriage and subsequent stages in her life when she had brought up her two children amidst a lot of difficulties. The next generation did fairly well and her grandson through her daughter Mr K Kannan became the Chairman, Bank of Baroda in the years 1992-1995 after an illustrious service in the Bank for almost 20 years.
Ref 2: A line told once by Guru and repeated twice by sishyas was the popular way of teaching vedas as it helps sishyas to memorise the verses without resorting to books. This is called "santhai patam" and a person who could memorise at one repetition was called "eka santha grahi".
Ref 3 Most probably, Kenam and isawasyam were taught to my grandfather and the third one could be Isa.
Ref 4: Mr A Siva Row was referred to earlier in Chapter 3. He was the person who worked with the writer's father in publishing translation of rare books under the auspices of theosophical Society. the books were published in Mr Siva Row's name.
Ref 5 : My grandfather inherited this quality from his father. He never could tolerate disorderliness. He always said " A place for everything and everything in its place'. For the excuse that "I have too many things to do", his reply was " one thing at a time and that done well is the best of rules that any can tell". whenever I fold the morning paper after reading every day, his words ring in my ears. "Fold the paper with care that it looks almost as it was delivered so that the next person who reads the paper gets the experience that he is reading the paper fresh" what an amount of consideration to others!!.
* One general observation about the way my grandfather writes about his father: He writes in such a respectful tone that one does not detect any rancour or even regret about the fact that his father did not spend adequate amount of time with him though he was the much prayed for and the only son and living without the comfort of a mother. In 21st century, such an aloofness could be termed as parental neglect. Those were different times indeed!!
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Editor's note:
Ref 1: Apparently the classes did not bar the ladies. Though it is not stated, I think Rajammal the elder sister also learnt in the classes because she, in her later days, was teaching Upanishads to many ladies in Matunga, Mumbai. She could not have learnt the Upanishads with such a rigour after her marriage and subsequent stages in her life when she had brought up her two children amidst a lot of difficulties. The next generation did fairly well and her grandson through her daughter Mr K Kannan became the Chairman, Bank of Baroda in the years 1992-1995 after an illustrious service in the Bank for almost 20 years.
Ref 2: A line told once by Guru and repeated twice by sishyas was the popular way of teaching vedas as it helps sishyas to memorise the verses without resorting to books. This is called "santhai patam" and a person who could memorise at one repetition was called "eka santha grahi".
Ref 3 Most probably, Kenam and isawasyam were taught to my grandfather and the third one could be Isa.
Ref 4: Mr A Siva Row was referred to earlier in Chapter 3. He was the person who worked with the writer's father in publishing translation of rare books under the auspices of theosophical Society. the books were published in Mr Siva Row's name.
Ref 5 : My grandfather inherited this quality from his father. He never could tolerate disorderliness. He always said " A place for everything and everything in its place'. For the excuse that "I have too many things to do", his reply was " one thing at a time and that done well is the best of rules that any can tell". whenever I fold the morning paper after reading every day, his words ring in my ears. "Fold the paper with care that it looks almost as it was delivered so that the next person who reads the paper gets the experience that he is reading the paper fresh" what an amount of consideration to others!!.
* One general observation about the way my grandfather writes about his father: He writes in such a respectful tone that one does not detect any rancour or even regret about the fact that his father did not spend adequate amount of time with him though he was the much prayed for and the only son and living without the comfort of a mother. In 21st century, such an aloofness could be termed as parental neglect. Those were different times indeed!!
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