A COTTAGE IN SWAMI HILLS *
14. ADVAITHA SABHA
My grandfather was a member or an office bearer of many organisations which had nothing to do with his profession. One such organisation was Advaitha Sabha. Advaitha Sabha was operated from the Kanchi Periyava Mutt in Mutt Street. It was coordinated mainly by one Mahadeva Sastrigal, a dark complexioned, short and heavily built man from Baktha puri Agraharam.
The meetings were held quarterly and the annual meeting was a big affair. I accompanied my grandfather for meetings but I could not understand anything as the discussions were in Samskritham, the language in which I had no knowledge.
The discussions were sometimes very "heated" and the Pandits fought on the interpretations of the sacred texts vehemently. I remember one such occasion in which the word "anthakaranam" was mentioned almost by every one atleast 100 times. I thought it is necessary to know what is "anthakaranam" if you have to know the religion. I felt bad that such an improtant word was not known to me. The debate went on for hours together with the Pandits showing no sign of tiredness. Atlast, it was over and after taking some snacks, we were on our way back home. I asked my grandfather to explain to me the "anthakaranam" as it seemed to be very important. my grandfather did not explain it. He just smiled.
Almost all the Pundits were having tufts and my grandfather was the only person who was having the hair cut in western style. In fact, he appeared not much knowledgeable in scriptures and did not take aggressive position in the debates except one or two occasions. On one occasion, he was pitted against a Pundit who was a Madhva and at one point of time, my grandfather told him "Your mind is just like the theertha sombu you are carrying with you. Its neck is so small. Nothing goes in it nor can it be cleaned thoroughly to make it pure". It was a very blunt comment and it was made in Tamil.
Raju Sastrigal was "Mudradhikari" of the Mutt and because of his commanding stature we called "Sarvadhikari". He dropped in many times to talk about the affairs of the Mutt. One day, he told that Periyava was getting weak as he did not have food at all. On the contrary he said," That nehru is eating Dosas made of Horlix and is glowing though he is of the same age. But our Periyava does not take anything." . It was a very imaginative statement. Making Dosa from Horlix? It must be a culinary invention straight away.
Normally, the sastrigals who assembled in Sri matham spoke in Samskritham. When Periyava or any other Sankaracharya visited the conversation was only in Samskritham. Of these, Sri Lakshmikantha Sarma (the other Sarma in our Street one being my grandfather) of Lalitha Pharmacy was a notable figure. He was the richest of the group. He had a big Institution and earned well. He looked after the Veda Patasala. He was always dressed in silk Dhotis and angavastrams and presented a picture as if Perumal had come to see us. With golden garlands and bangles, he looked very royal. I was a bit surprised that he could dress so ostentatiously even when visiting a saint or a sanyasi. I developed some feeling that he was pretending to be having great respect for the Matham and probably it was a show off.
Though my grandfather was close to the Kanchi Matham and invariably was called by Periyava whenever he was in Kumbakonam, actually we are followers of Sringeri Matham. Many people were not aware of it and this led to comical situations. Some sastrigals wrote a booklet condemning Sringeri periyava. They said "Mahasannidhanam" was travelling in car and was wearing dark glasses whereas "our" Periyava was always walking on foot and not wearing glasses. They distributed and we got one copy of it personally delivered by a Sastrigal who also gave a lecture for half an hour about the contents. When Sringeri Periyava sent a vehicle to preach about Adhi Sankara's teachings, some of these Sastrigals went around telling people not to go and have Dharshan as that belonged to the "rival" Matham.
My grandfather was awarded the title "Adhyatma Ratna" by Swmi Sivananda in 1959 when he visited Rishikesh but he never used to mention it to anyone. It was mentioned for the first time during his shashtiabdhapurthi in 1965. I asked him why he never used the title for instance in his letter head etc. he told me that he would not deserve that title if he flaunted it. It seems Swami Sivananda mentioned that the speakers who spoke in his Ashram normally Gave a catalogue of books to be referred for understanding Vedanta. He said as as a welcome change "Sarma gave no list of books. He just shared his views and experiences". When Sivananda Vijayalakshmi came to Kumbakonam for Ramayana lectures, she was enquiring about some one in Kumbakonam who had been awarded "Adhyatma Ratna" intending to meet him. My grandfather and myself attended the lectures daily but he never gave away that information to any one. Once when a Swamiji came in search of a sri Vidya Upasakar and he told my grandfather that the message he got was that he would be tall and having his hair cut etc, my grandfather told him to go to the opposite house and speak to one watch repairer who fitted the description.
My grandfather had regualar flow of Swamijis and some genuine and many not genuine. He did not criticise any one though it was obvious that some people were frauds. I recall one Hanuman Baba who claimed to receive messages from Rishikesh. he used to stand infront of a glass pane and read the meessages like we read from computer screen. He told my grandfather "Leave the practice. Concentrate on spiritual"etc.
My grandfather believed in many paths though he was, in essence, a Devi Upasaka. This made him a Vedanti but not "sushka" (dry) like his father. For him, Upanishads are OK provided they are part of the worship. Vedas are fine if they fit in his worship. But, he would not accept any reduction of the Bhakthi to his Goddess, whether it comes in the garb of vedanta or Mimamsa.
He was very clear about the existence of one God. I one asked him about Satan as it was an interesting subject to me in my high school. He said "Satan cannot exist at all as there can be only one pwer and no power can exist outside it." He did not believe in evolution as described by Darwin but too the view that any kind of being can be created at a moment's notice at God's will and it does not have to necessarily take millions of years. "God can and in fact created many many things simultaneously and we cannot retrofit a pattern now to creation." He said.
Our past President Dr S. Radhakrishnan taught in Presidency College where my grandfather also studied there and hence my grandfather had a lot of respect for him as teacher. But, Dr Radhakrishnan's approach did not find favour with my grandfather. He told me that Radhakrishnan leaned towards Buddhism while explaining the Indian philosophy.
In his collection. I had seen one book titled "Civil suit" which was totally against advaitham. In that book Yama is the Judge and two advocates one for Adhi Sankara's philosophy and the other for Madhwacharya's philosophy are pitted against one another. Written as if it is a regular case, it carries out a tirade against Adhi Sankara and goes to the extent of calling him "Prachchanna Boudhdhar". (as the book equates Sunyam with advaitham). The author says advaitham is equivalent to "sasha vishanam" (முயல் கொம்பு ) and "மலடி மகன்" . My grandfather received such books regularly but probably ignored them.
* Cottage in swami hills refers to the house in which we lived in Kumbakonam. This phrase was used once by my grandfather when I asked him that as some people go in summer to Kodaikanal and Ooty where they have a cottage whether we would also be able to go and stay like them one day. My grandfather replied that he already has a cottage near swami Hills (swamimalai) and he referred to his house as the cottage.
My grandfather had regualar flow of Swamijis and some genuine and many not genuine. He did not criticise any one though it was obvious that some people were frauds. I recall one Hanuman Baba who claimed to receive messages from Rishikesh. he used to stand infront of a glass pane and read the meessages like we read from computer screen. He told my grandfather "Leave the practice. Concentrate on spiritual"etc.
My grandfather believed in many paths though he was, in essence, a Devi Upasaka. This made him a Vedanti but not "sushka" (dry) like his father. For him, Upanishads are OK provided they are part of the worship. Vedas are fine if they fit in his worship. But, he would not accept any reduction of the Bhakthi to his Goddess, whether it comes in the garb of vedanta or Mimamsa.
He was very clear about the existence of one God. I one asked him about Satan as it was an interesting subject to me in my high school. He said "Satan cannot exist at all as there can be only one pwer and no power can exist outside it." He did not believe in evolution as described by Darwin but too the view that any kind of being can be created at a moment's notice at God's will and it does not have to necessarily take millions of years. "God can and in fact created many many things simultaneously and we cannot retrofit a pattern now to creation." He said.
Our past President Dr S. Radhakrishnan taught in Presidency College where my grandfather also studied there and hence my grandfather had a lot of respect for him as teacher. But, Dr Radhakrishnan's approach did not find favour with my grandfather. He told me that Radhakrishnan leaned towards Buddhism while explaining the Indian philosophy.
In his collection. I had seen one book titled "Civil suit" which was totally against advaitham. In that book Yama is the Judge and two advocates one for Adhi Sankara's philosophy and the other for Madhwacharya's philosophy are pitted against one another. Written as if it is a regular case, it carries out a tirade against Adhi Sankara and goes to the extent of calling him "Prachchanna Boudhdhar". (as the book equates Sunyam with advaitham). The author says advaitham is equivalent to "sasha vishanam" (முயல் கொம்பு ) and "மலடி மகன்" . My grandfather received such books regularly but probably ignored them.
* Cottage in swami hills refers to the house in which we lived in Kumbakonam. This phrase was used once by my grandfather when I asked him that as some people go in summer to Kodaikanal and Ooty where they have a cottage whether we would also be able to go and stay like them one day. My grandfather replied that he already has a cottage near swami Hills (swamimalai) and he referred to his house as the cottage.
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